The third installment of the Conjuring franchise opened today in theatres and on HBO Max. I really enjoyed the first 2 films, however, I also knew that James Wan, who directed the previous entries, would not be back in the director's chair for this outing. Instead that job went to Michael Chaves, who gave us the lame, underwhelming Curse of La Llorona. Going into this film, my expectations were lowered, and rightfully so. While this film turned out slightly better than I was anticipating, it still was not as good as the far superior first two entries into the Conjuring trilogy.
The film begins with Ed & Lorraine Warren performing an exorcism on a small boy named David Glatzel who's been possessed. This sequence was well done and strong, as the ritual goes horribly wrong when Ed suffers a heart attack and the demon enters a family member named Arne after he asks it to leave the boy alone and take him instead. Ed is rushed to the hospital and upon waking up, he asks Lorraine to contact the Glatzels to warn them, as he witnessed the demon entering Arne's body and now fears that that family is still in danger. Lorraine calls the police to do a welfare check on them, but it's too late. Arne, possessed by the demon, kills his landlord by stabbing him 22 times. Now he is on trial for murder, and the Warrens have to find a way to prove that he committed the act under the influence of demonic possession.
From here is where the quality of the film starts to take a dive. Instead of focusing on the murder trial, which, if done right, could've been intriguing (Exorcism of Emily Rose did just that with great success), the story delves into the Warrens finding the cause of the demonic possession to clear Arne. The problem with this is that the movie never follows up on whether or not they were able to successfully convince the jury of Arne's innocence. They end up battling against the Occultist who was responsible for cursing the Glatzel family and defeating her. Once that's done, the movie goes back to the court case but cuts out just as the jury is about to announce their verdict. Then a screen paragraph informs us that Arne was found guilty of homicide and served 5 years, then released and married his girlfriend. End of film.
I'm quite familiar with the real case this film is based on (via reading and listening to podcasts), and it's a pretty creepy case. In real life, the Warrens failed to prove demonic possession in court (the judge actually threw out their evidence so it never made it into the trial). But everything that occurred before that was very interesting, and would've probably made a better film than this made up plot about the occultist and her curse. The villain's motives were also not very well fleshed out. What exactly was she getting out of placing her curse? It's not explained, and the way the curse "works" also leaves you a bit confused. James Wan's absence as director is sadly obvious, as the film rushes by and doesn't take the time to make you care about the characters, other than Ed & Lorraine. While I was surprised that director Michael Chaves was able to produce some effective scares and a few surprises, it's still not at the level of Wan's craftmanship.
There are several nods to past films and characters from the franchise sprinkled throughout. There were even some bits of humor that actually worked. One scene in particular dealt with a reference to the possessed Annabelle doll that was very funny, and another Elvis joke was also cute. As usual, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga were great as the Warrens. I loved how Lorraine kept proving her clairvoyant abilities with grace, even in the face of skepticism.
Overall, the film was uneven, giving us some effective sequences, paired with ones that were slightly less. One of my biggest pet peeves for years now has been how film trailers will show too much; one scene in particular, where the Warrens are helping out a detective with a murder mystery that's tied to their possession case in the woods, shows off the big money shot in the trailer, thus, ruining the big payoff to an otherwise well done sequence. Also, the subplot about Ed having a heart attack and having to take it easy or risk another one, tends to go nowhere as he spends the rest of the film battling the demonic entity with not much strain. It's only at the end that it seems like they remembered his health issue, and tacked on a bit about him having to take a heart pill. I'm glad I was able to stream it for free on HBO Max. It's not an awful film, just not as good as the others. I would say it's the 4th best one, after Conjuring 1, 2 and Annabelle Creation. It's worth a watch if you're a fan of this franchise, just lower your expectations.
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