The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It cut a demonic character that could have gone on to lead its own spinoff film. The highly successful horror franchise’s latest offering marks the first time that creator James Wan has stepped aside from directorial duties. In his place is newcomer Michael Chaves, whose only previous feature film has been 2019’s La Curse of La Llorona. So far, The Conjuring 3 isn’t a critical favorite, but fans seem generally pleased.
Aside from the change in directors, The Conjuring 3 also breaks with franchise tradition by taking series protagonists, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively), out of the confines of a haunted house. Both The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 dealt with evil spirits that were restricted to homes, but in the franchise’s third chapter, the focus of the Warren’s paranormal investigative skills is demonic possession. Based on the true story of America’s first ever legal case in which a defendant cited demonic possession as the reason for committing a brutal murder, The Conjuring 3 doesn’t quite feel like past entries in the series, yet still manages to not seem out of place among its predecessors.
However, unlike the previous two Conjuring films, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It passed on an opportunity at delivering the sort of antagonist that could lead its own spinoff. As Slash Film reports, the latest entry in The Conjuring universe originally had an “iconic demon” character that was cut. The demon would have worked in tandem with The Occultist, the film’s human antagonist. Unfortunately, having two adversaries made The Devil Made Me Do It too complicated and as a result, the demon was cut. As Chaves explains:
We actually did have what we thought was going to be the new [spin-off] demon, and this is something that was true to the story. We had a demon that was full-on pulled from little David’s interview and description. Arnie said he saw the same thing. And it felt like this was going to be the iconic demon. And [producer James Wan] was with this from the very beginning – James, Monster Maestro. And we shot it. We had a cut of the film with this demon in it. The demon worked with Occultist [memorably played in the movie by Eugenie Bondurant]. It was the two of them together. We’re introducing a human adversary, which was the first time that’s ever happened in the Conjuring Universe. So all of a sudden, [the] relationship [between the Occultist and the demon] seemed a little hinky.
Previous spinoff characters within the franchise to have received their own films are Annabelle from The Conjuring and The Nun from The Conjuring 2. While these films have been profitable, they haven’t been able to surpass The Conjuring franchise in terms of fanbase. Yet despite the decision to cut the demon character from The Devil Made Me Do It, it is somewhat surprising that The Occultist wasn’t considered as a possibility for a spinoff. Arguably one of the film’s few genuinely creepy elements, The Occultist is unlike any other adversary seen before in the series, and the fact that she’s human could have added to the breadth of spinoff films attributed to The Conjuring universe.
In the end, the decision not to include the “iconic demon” character into the plot of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It might seem like a missed opportunity, but ultimately, it was the right decision to make. If the third Conjuring film suffers from anything, it’s not a lack of antagonists. The Occultist could have been used to a stronger degree – something that might have heightened the film’s scares and made the film stronger overall. Judging by audience opinion, however, it seems that The Devil Made Me Do It succeeded just fine.
Source: Slash Film