Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ruairi O’Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, Julian Hillard, John Noble, Eugenie Bondurant, Shannon Kook, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Keith Arthur Boldon, Steve Coulter, Vince Pisani, Ingrid Bisu, Andrea Andrade, Ashley LeConte Campbell, Sterling Jerins, Megan Ashley Brown, Mitchell Hoog, Paul Wilson, Charlene Amoia.

The darker the days, the more we seem to look to omens, signs, and wonders to see us through our existence. We may believe we have reached a point in our evolution, in our collected history and ability to weave stories, that the unexplained is by its own insistence, is rationalised, efficiently excused, and our reasoning enhanced…and yet there are mysteries that continue to confound, that cannot be explained by cold logic, nor blamed upon human irrationality.

We may have become enlightened enough to see through devils and gods, but that doesn’t explain the supernatural, the life beyond our narrow-gauge vision, it doesn’t give us the right to sneer at the idea, perhaps even the truth, of the conviction, that out there is a path which leads to its own darkness. The place where human behaviour can be manipulated, where some might implore that The Devil Made Me Do It, but which has a deeper, darker, secret waiting to be unlocked as the paranormal events unfold.

There is a reason for healthy scepticism though, and one that must come with the continuing cycle of films to be found revolving around the erstwhile investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren, and even if you find that all can be explained with rational thought, it still doesn’t quite produce the feeling of how two seemingly ordinary people can be at the centre of such a supernatural cosmic storm, without there being some element of, if not truth, then devotion to sincerity of belief and conviction.

In the latest offering of The Conjuring franchise, The Devil Made Me Do It, the cinematic reveal behind the black veil is pointed at the case of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, the murder of his landlord, and the insistence of the Warren’s that the man was possessed at the time of the act.

It is a case that perhaps is only known for its notoriety, of the inclusion of the Warrens and the best-selling book at the time, The Devil In Connecticut, it is reasonable to ask questions of the story-line, of the actual events, healthy scepticism after all is the counter argument to the snake oil salesmen who prey on the weak willed; and yet as the film continues, as the convincing and truly intriguing acting of both Patrick Wilson and the finest of scream queens Vera Farmiga, coupled with a great performance by John Noble, those questions themselves begin to shroud themselves in doubt.

It must have been considerable a counter argument pursued by the Warrens, as the conviction of Mr. Johnson was able to be reduced to a lighter sentence of manslaughter, and the time in prison shortened.

There are more things in heaven and hell, maybe than we can cast a critical eye upon, and whilst possession by a demon is not likely, it is not impossible to believe that it could happen, after all the conjuring is not an illusion, a trick of the mind, it is just a truth that is just out of our sight.

Ian D. Hall