Skip to main content

Conjuring Up a Good, but Unexpected Time


Gentle whispers of a dark, cold room. The feeling of an invisible hand brushing against your face when you're trying to sleep. The inescapable feeling of something or someone stalking you from the shadows with hungry eyes. Are these just illusions made manifest by unfound fears of the night or does the darkness really conspire against you? And if so, who or what does it conspire with? Such unnerving ambiguity is what conjures the thoughts that one day blossom into full blown nightmares - nightmares that we as a society love to explore and indulge through a plethora of tall tales. But perhaps when you've stepped into the darkness one too many times, the nightmares themselves begin to lose their luster and thus their tales lose their sway over no longer fearful hearts.

The Conjuring franchise is probably THE most popular horror franchise of the modern era. And although it’s spinoff titles like The Nun and Annabelle have come up a little short, the main line films have managed to satiate the supernatural tastebuds of both audiences and critics alike. So then, how does the third installment hold up? Well, I’m happy to say that The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do it, stands as a worthy sequel to it’s predecessors. However, before you go charging into the movie theatre or to your tv, there are a few things you should know. 

This time out, everyone’s favorite paranormal sleuthing duo is back investigating another case of demonic possession, centered around the infamous Arne John trial a.k.a. The Devil Made Me Do It case. And although the opening tees you up for the tense, heart-poundingly, exorcist adventure you know and love, very quickly it switches gears and throws you into a different experience. Changing up directors this time around, this particular film has a somewhat more cartoonish and fantastical feel, especially compared to the last two entrees, which very artfully rode a fine line of realistic plausibility. As a result, it lacks the scary and suspenseful bite that the first two had, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still some fun to be had here. In fact, there is still a fair amount of suspense, good scares, great acting, and beautiful cinematography, some of which is nothing short of delectable cinema sweetness, even if some sequences feel like a bit much for a Conjuring movie.

To put in succinctly, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is short on screams, but still an entertaining experience, albeit one that may fall bit outside of bounds of what fans know a Conjuring movie to be. 


Levi Mock (August 19, 2021)





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Never in Theaters; Never at Home; But Perhaps on a Plane? - Breathe 2024

Uninspiring in its appearance. Barely interesting in its premise. Floundering in its conviction. When it comes down to it, 2024’s Breath seems to aim at being nothing more than a passage of time in no measure of impressive or insulting manner, unless you consider the time lost in watching it an insult in of itself. So then what, pray tell, is such a movie good for? What worth does it offer in any real way? Because as a theatrical experience, I’d be an utter disappointment. From the comfort of one’s couch, it may not even be worth having on in the background. But what about as an inflight showing? Do the conditions of coach class crammed seats become numbed with its viewing? Does it in any way pacify the many other pains and annoyances of laboring high altitude travel? If so, it may be the only suitable way to enjoy such a flick. So does it do the trick? Let’s get into it.  This supposed sci-fi thriller Breath weaves a fairly straight forward tale of single mom-scientist, Maya ( ...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Eye-Catching Cacophony of Cardboard Craft - Dave Made a Maze

  Meaning … A kingdom of cardboard I craft and mold with my own two hands. Art … both beauty and  destruction, if left untempered  in expression.  In a world masooned by the ceaseless assault of cinematic cgi, Bill Watterson’s “Dave Made a Maze” breaks the mold with a stunning practical production feat, the likes the modern world has seldom seen. But do all other elements hold up as well as the hand-crafted kingdom put before us? Or does the film whimper and mold like an old cardboard crate left out in the rain? Let’s get into it. Dave Made a Maze centers on the titular floundering artist, Dave ( Nick Thune ), who struggles to complete any project he begins. However, amidst coping with the dwindling good will of his parents and girlfriend, Dave has a stroke of creation and envelopes himself in the construction of a box fort maze in his apartment living room. But problems arise when his girlfriend, Annie ( Meera Rohit Kumbhani ), returns home to find him trapped w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Killin’ at the Job; Not so much at Home - Kill Bok-soon

Blood-soaked contracts. Daggers to the heart. Bullets to the head. All as easy as the next breath. But single parenting and sorting out your love life? Such are challenges not for the faint of heart. Because really, who among us wouldn’t sooner snuff out a life or face down death if it meant putting off being vulnerable for a moment longer? Perhaps, that’s a hair extreme. But when you’re a world-renowned assassin struggling with work-life balance, those seemingly harsh extremes quickly become common far-too-oftens . Then you blink and its decades later, before you realize that maybe, just maybe, you’ve been avoiding what actually matters within your contract-kill-craze existence … actual life. Let’s get into it. Kill Bok-soon is written and directed by Byun Sung-hyun and stars Jeon Do-yeon as legendary killer for hire, Gil Boksoon, a single mom that can best any challenge that isn’t her distant daughter or tenuous love life. And deep within the heyday of John Wick like films and a...
Post a Comment
Read more