*It’s a Conjuring Movie…

IMDB Synopsis

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one of the most sensational cases of their careers after a cop stumbles upon a dazed and bloodied young man walking down the road. Accused of murder, the suspect claims demonic possession as his defense, forcing the Warrens into a supernatural inquiry unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.

“Ed, something terrible happened here”

The Conjuring is a franchise that really has taken over the horror genre in the last decade or so. Since 2013 there have been 3 Conjuring Films, Three Annabelle Films, The Nun, and The Curse of La Llorona all within this universe. All these movies deal with the idea of demonic possession, but are grounded in the true investigative stories of Ed and Lorraine Warren. That is why the Conjuring movies serve as the stable rock for this growing Universe.

This new Conjuring story deals with a case conveniently referred to as the “Devil Made Me Do It” trial. This is a trial from 1981 when the defendant pleaded not guilty by means of Demonic Possession. This sparked numerous questions about the idea of demons and the idea that people accept the idea of God when they swear on the bible, but yet people deny the existence of the Devil. That is something that really sparked my interest about this story. However, the movie just had no interest in staying with that aspect of the story. Rather, it delved more into a classic Conjuring movie instead.

After the opening of the trial we see Ed and Lorraine start investigating the supposed demon who caused this murder. The issue here rather than previous entries in the franchise is that it is just not a scary movie. The original movie directed by James Wan (Saw, Insidious, Aquaman) was rated R for no reason other than it was scary (true story). However, now with Wan not at the helm of this one I think we lose of the natural craft in favor for jump scares that do not work. The movie definitely would have been better off staying with the trial rather than trying to follow this story.

Stock Watch

Stock Neutral – Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson

They can play these roles in their sleep and if they want to make 7 of these good on them. I think they are both great actors and their chemistry is definitely off the charts, so it is always a joy seeing them dive into this world.

Stock Down – Michael Chaves

I was surprised to see he got this directing gig after his La Llorona movie was so poorly received, yet I guess they gave him another shot. Like I said above it just did not feel natural or scary, rather everything felt forced and cheap throughout the whole story.

*A couple other tidbits

• The score did not do much for me which is odd because I am usually all over that.
• Every movie in the world continues to have cold open’s now.
• RATS ARE THE WORST.

I do think this Universe still has legs, I just believe if you make a horror movie it really needs to be scary. That just did not happen with this story and made the diversion from the trial even more frustrating. There is a good movie in here somewhere this just was not it.

Juice Rating:

*You can find my 2021 Movie Rankings here.

*You can find my Conjuring Universe Rankings here.

*You can find all of my Movie Ratings here.

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