Less than a decade ago, James Wan made a little horror movie called The Conjuring, and the film’s $20 million budget transformed into over $319 million at the global box office. This has led to a full-on cinematic universe, including three Annabelle movies, The Nun, and The Curse of La Llorona (all very profitable installments), so the time has almost come for The Conjuring 3 to put the primary focus back upon paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Well, mostly! At least they won’t be playing backup to a doll and her crayons.
Oh, and this threequel also sounds like a possible hook to audience members who aren’t entirely into horror movies but love to binge-watch TV procedurals. WarnerBros has now unveiled a title, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and a synopsis about an alleged murderer who is essentially using Satan’s lure as a defense:
“‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’ reveals a chilling story of terror, murder and unknown evil that shocked even experienced real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. One of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they’d ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.”
Deadline has reported footage details from last weekend’s Sao Paulo Expo (where the first Wonder Woman 1984 trailer also debuted). As a result, we now know that the third Warren-centered outing with follow the case of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who was convicted of manslaughter (not murder) over the death of his landlord (upon whom Johnson inflicted 20 stab wounds). It sounds like the demonic-possession defense was partially successful, or it at least mitigated the murder charges to a lesser degree of homicide. Whatever the case, the film sounds terrifying as Hell.
‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It will be directed by Michael Chaves (The Curse of La Llorona) and arrive in September 2020.
(Via Warner Bros. & Deadline)
