Five years after the franchise’s last entry, the Conjuring series returns via 2021’s The Devil Made Me Do It. The third chapter in the series, we once again meet paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga).

In 1981, the Warrens visit Connecticut to document the exorcism of eight-year-old David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard). After this, a family acquaintance named Arne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor) displays bizarre behaviors.

Arne’s actions culminate in a murder and he winds up incarcerated. Arne blames evil spirits for his actions, and the Warrens become involved to attempt to prove these claims one way or the other.

Because neither the first movie nor the second one did much for me, I went into Devil with fairly low expectations. The movie manages to work pretty well, though – for a little while, at least.

With the film’s opening act, Devil delivers a fairly solid punch. While not groundbreaking, the exorcism that launches the movie does so with a bang, and the development of Arne’s curse manages some creepy and impactful moments.

All of this largely evaporates once Ed and Lorraine attempt to prove Arne’s innocence by reason of possession. Actually, that sounds like an interesting premise, but Devil doesn’t manage to develop it in a satisfying manner.

Essentially, once Ed and Lorraine get into their investigation, we just find a series of bland “spooky moments”. Rather than get into how they’ll convince a judge that supernatural phenomenon exist and harmed Arne, we just wind up with a bunch of scenes in which the Warrens fend off evil spirits.

That theme gets old, especially because it doesn’t really seem to push the plot forward. I guess these moments act to advance their investigation, but they don’t really seem to come up with much that would fare well in a court of law.

I get why Devil follows this path. After all, fans sign up to see horror moments, not a courtroom drama.

Still, I think Devil could combine these two sides better than it does. Eventually it becomes too reliant of jump scares, loud sounds and ominous music. While the movie manages some effective elements, it seems too trite and predictable to become better than average.

Title footnote: the film ran theatrically as The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and that title appears on the disc’s menus. However, the home video release renames it as The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It. I opted to use the original title for this review.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was an appealing representation of the film.

Overall sharpness looked fine. Nary a slice of softness interfered with this tight image.I saw no signs of moiré effects or jagged edges, and neither edge haloes nor print flaws marred the proceedings.

In terms of palette, Devil opted for a muted sense of teal and amber. These colors were well-rendered given the film’s stylistic choices.

Blacks looked deep, and shadows also offered good imagery. This turned into a solid presentation.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I also felt impressed by the film’s atmospheric Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Though the mix emphasized creepy ambience, it still managed to come to life in a dynamic manner when necessary.

This meant the soundscape used the various channels to create an involving setting. Various spooky elements popped up around the room and formed a nice sense of the action. Add a few bigger sequences and this turned into an immersive auditory experience.

Quality also satisfied, with speech that consistently appeared natural and distinctive. Music showed warm, full tones, and effects seemed accurate and clear.

Bass response worked really well, as the track featured deep low-end that contributed to the movie’s ominous vibe. I thought the soundtrack suited the material and added to the experience.

We find three featurettes here, and The Occultist runs four minutes, three seconds. It involves notes from producers Peter Safran and James Wan, director Michael Chaves, screenwriter David Leslie Johnsoon-McGoldrick, and actors Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Eugenie Bondurant.

“Occultist” looks at the movie’s villain. It doesn’t really tell us much we can’t find in the film itself, so it tends to feel like an advertisement.

By Reason of Demonic Possession lasts five minutes, 24 seconds and features Wan, Wilson, Farmiga, Safran, Johnson-McGoldrick, and real-life Arne and Debbie Johnson.

“Reason” covers the events that inspired the film. It mostly seems superficial, but the comments from the Johnsons add intrigue.

Lastly, Exorcism of Fear spans five minutes, 47 seconds with notes from Chaves, Farmiga, Wilson, production designer Jennifer Spence, stunt coordinator Glenn Foster, VFX supervisor Robert Nederhorst and contortionist Emerald Gordon Wulf.

“Fear” tells us about sets and the recreation of the movie’s exorcism. It offers a short but effective glimpse of these topics.

We also find a video comic called “The Conjuring: The Lover #1”. It goes for 12 minutes, 51 seconds and depicts a story that acts as background during Devil. It adds value to the package.

While not a bad horror flick, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It doesn’t really satisfy. After an effective first act, the movie becomes slow and meandering. The Blu-ray boasts excellent visuals and strong audio along with a smattering of bonus materials. This turns into an up and down thriller.