One of horror's most successful movie franchises continues in 2021 with the release of The Conjuring 3, and some key details have been released that show how the movie can change the already popular franchise for the better. In honor of its impending release, Warner Bros. released a behind-the-scenes video of The Conjuring Universe. The video mainly focused on the previous movies' connections to the real-life Ed and Lorraine Warren, but also provided some new information on the upcoming film.
The video mainly looks back at the growing universe started by the first Conjuring movie. The series initially started off as film adaptations of cases from the Warrens' files. Antagonists and cursed items from the movies began to spin-off into their own individual movie series, which served as the beginning of the now successful Conjuring universe. But every movie always found its way back to the love and faith shared between Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is poised to bring a new chapter to their story.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It takes the Warrens to the 1980s. The movie is inspired by the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who cited the Devil as a reason for committing murder. With a real-life court case, The Conjuring 3 is set to change the course of the series moving forward.
The Real Arne Johnson Is Involved In The Conjuring 3
The Warner Bros. video reveals that the real Arne Johnson acted as a consultant for The Conjuring 3. Johnson himself appeared briefly in the video to describe his alleged possession. Johnson said he remembers opening a door in his home and the next thing he knew, he was in a jail cell being informed that he was charged with murder. To this day, he still has zero memory of what happened in between. He went on to testify that the Devil made him commit murder. The defense was never proven, so Johnson served 5 years of a 10-20 sentence of manslaughter in the first degree.
The Conjuring movies have utilized people from the real cases as consultants in previous movies. Members from each family depicted in previous Conjuring movies provided their real-life insight, and the real Lorraine Warren was a consultant until her death. Even so, there's something that sets Johnson apart from previous victims of paranormal hauntings or other consultants with connections to The Conjuring movies' true stories — they never committed such crimes. While The Conjuring 3 will undoubtedly take a sympathetic approach in depicting Johnson, it'll show a side of possessions and hauntings that the films had never explored before, which could be a great move for the franchise.
The Conjuring 3 Is Changing The Franchise
James Wan, who kicked off the series and still remains heavily involved, said in the video that he wanted The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It to move away from the haunted house feel of the previous movies. This will trigger a significant change in the franchise moving forward. The first two movies were both stories of how a haunting nearly tore apart a family. The case of Arne Johnson received world-wide notoriety, making it an even bigger story and more recognizable story than the first two. Even if people aren't directly familiar with the case, the saying "the devil made me do it" is well-known, and stems from this trial and Johnson's peculiar defense.
The change in style will undoubtedly benefit the series moving forward. The haunted house atmosphere made for two solid horror movies and successful spin-offs, but that style was bound to become overdone if The Conjuring series continued on with it. Should The Conjuring 3 be a success, and it likely will be, this can shift the tone to something of a paranormal true crime series. A mid-series refresher will allow the series to flourish for years to come, proving that The Conjuring universe can continue thriving where many other horror movie franchises have failed.