Arieff Mashaf

1.5 stars. I have really high hopes coming into this movie. I want to explore more cases that The Warren has been associated with. when I read The Devil made me do case, I was intrigued by the history behind it. unfortunately, I was let down drastically. I was hoping that this movie is going to be kind of a courtroom style like The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The warren shows these tapes of recordings that they recorded and get sucked into the tape and saw it first hand what happen. But it didn't and there is a lack of courtroom scenes that make this a believable case. another thing I hoped for is that the movie promises that this story is a "Love Story between Ed and Lorraine Warren and challenges their bond with each other. I was hoping that the movie showing us their relationship by showing us some flashbacks like the first movie was with the Parren Family and doesn't tell us straight away making this more believable. instead, we get a super glossed over flashback and telling instead of showing us their bond, I can see the director's directions with this movie and how they want to break out the conjuring Universe from a traditional house haunting setting to a more open-ended one. however, the side characters and the villain are not convincing enough for us to think that they are real. The villain has no solid motive for why they are evil and why making a deal with a devil. The villain's motivation was dumb and makes me bored with her character overall. the part where it is supposed to be emotional doesn't felt emotional at all instead I feel like I'm watching a badly written Jack from The Shining. I think we are getting into bad movies ever since James Wan decided to gave his role as a director so that he can focus on other projects. It didn't give the same spirit as the other movies and the scares it gives like the first 2 movies where it felt genuinely scary and the fact people don't believe you make you think that you're crazy or delusional. The scares are more toned down than usual which probably is the director's choice to make it a more plot-driven story than a jump scare heavy movie. which I don't mind at all. but what made me so upset about this particular subject is because they tried to make jump scare scenes where you know what they're going to do and wait on that moment to get to the edge of your seat. To me this fails badly as the whole purpose of jumpscare is to shock you at parts you least expected. if anything the scene where The Warrens at the morgue room is like Zombie vs Human which made me laugh in a bad way. If I have to say one good thing about this movie is that I like that they change the villain of this movie compared to the rest of the universe. We didn't just see a demon possesses a person just because they move into another place but instead they are cursed by someone who practices black magic and made a deal with the Devil. I think that is more frightening because it can be someone you know in life and can curse you anything they want to make you suffer under certain things. the fact that you cant end it midway and your life depend on what you started are terrifying as you know the consequences that you gave to the devil and if fail, you need to pay the price. I think that's the only good thing I can say about this movie. Overall this movie is the weakest in the trilogy but not the worst in the Conjuring Universe. I wish we can have someone as good as James Wan directing movies that are as good as the other 2 prequels of the movie.