The Conjuring franchise, after that of Godzilla, is the highest box-office grossing horror film series of all time. Although this summer’s quiet installment, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) wasn’t received with accolades, it nevertheless follows the trajectory set from the beginning of the series—demons are here and they must be handled by the Catholic Church. Otherwise, the resourceful are left to alternative methods, as the films in the universe repeatedly show.
There’s a good case to be made that demons, as we think of them today, rely heavily on their presentation in The Exorcist (1973). Although demons occurred in horror cinema earlier than that, The Exorcist delineated them as terrifying monsters, based, in large part, on the premise that they really did exist. Many movies took that premise and used it to compel both audiences to watch and demons to leave. Enter Ed and Lorraine Warren. Read more
