Yep, this whole “based on true events” promotional shtick sure gets more complicated when a film company decides to profit off of and excuse a killer. And The Conjuring 3 tells that story with the express premise that yes, this real murderer really wasn’t responsible because of real demons. The Warrens, Johnson’s attorney, and family friends claimed that the murderer was not culpable by reason of being possessed by a demon. In sum: Once upon a time, a man named Arne Johnson stabbed a man named Alan Bono to death. And it’s been immensely profitable.īut it’s all fun and games with Ma and Pa: Paranormal Investigators until someone gets murdered, and that murderer claims “the devil made me do it.”
And sure, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are the Perfect Catholic Couple That I Hope Are Secretly Seeking A Third. Sure, the Warrens saved a British family from some other ghost / demon and definitely weren’t pranked by a gaggle of bored girls. Yeah, sure, a Raggedy Ann doll was possessed by a demon only contained by glass. Hasn’t produced a lot of very tolerable movies, but I digress. But the premise, and the attached promotional materials, were enough for this horror fan to say, “I’m out.”īlumhouse’s Conjuring-verse and its promotion of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s shenanigans has been tolerable up until now. The upcoming The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It is a rare instance in which the exploitation is so clear and so without regard that it crosses that line unforgivably. Entertainment is exploitation, especially in the horror genre.