The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
2021 · Directed by Michael Chaves
Original language: English
- horror
- mystery
- thriller
The story
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren encounter what would become one of the most sensational cases from their files. The fight for the soul of a young boy takes them beyond anything they'd ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.
What it’s like
Dim, candlelit interiors and cold, grey Connecticut daylight give this film a damp, unsettled look, with the camera often lingering in dark hallways and over half-lit faces as shadows gather at the edges of the frame. Its palette leans on muted browns, sickly greens and the flat blue of overcast suburbs, and the grain of its 1980s-set scenes adds to the sense of an older, quieter world slipping into something wrong. Sound does much of the work: long stretches of near silence broken by creaks, muffled whispers and sudden stings from a restrained orchestral score. The rhythm is steady and methodical, building through investigation scenes and ritual sequences toward a fraught courtroom final act, with the emotional core sitting in a loyal, worried marriage. Its intensity is firmly in horror territory: frequent jump scares, sustained dread, possession imagery and a few sharp, disturbing bursts of violence, though gore stays limited. It suits a dark night in with the lights off, or a Halloween-season watch, and it is for people who want an exorcism-driven supernatural thriller with a warm, committed couple at its centre.
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