Double Feature: Spiral: From the Book of Saw & The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

Other than having the original release date of 2020 and being delayed to the summer of 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, what do Spiral: From the Book of Saw and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It have in common?  If the answer is both come from horror franchises created by horror master James Wan, then you are right! Spiral is the ninth movie in the Saw series while Conjuring 3 is the eighth film in the Conjuring-verse. Both franchises have been hit-or-miss unless Wan is behind the camera; having directed the first Saw film and the first two Conjuring films with frightening but fantastic results. Can these latest installments manage without Wan’s guidance?

Zeke Banks (Chris Rock) and his rookie partner
William Schenk (Max Minghella).  

A new serial killer is on the loose. His methods are likening to the notorious John Kramer aka Jigsaw, who has perished since the third Saw film. Who is this copycat killer? Why is he targeting corrupt cops? Why is he sending cryptic clues to Zeke Banks (Chris Rock), an honest cop living under the shadow of his father (Samuel L. Jackson) a respected but retired police officer?

Would you believe that it was hard to find an appropriate poster for most of these movies?  

While the Saw sequels succeed bringing in the green due to their low budgets, critical response has not been kind as each installment focuses on being more gross than scary. Spiral is the second attempt at taking the Saw franchise in a new direction after the first attempt failed with 2017’s Jigsaw. Being a fan of the sanguine serial, Rock is the driving force in front and behind the camera; in addition to starring in the movie, he also serves as executive producer. I was hoping that Rock and company would take inspiration from James Wan and Leigh Whannel’s original Saw film, with its level of restraint and leaving the gruesome outcomes to the viewer’s imagination. While it keeps the detective angle of the original, its more interested in the bloodbaths that the sequels flourished on. For a movie that wants to go in a new direction, it sticks with the same set of filmmakers who have worked on the franchise; from the director who has done three Saw movies and the screenwriters who wrote the critically panned Jigsaw movie.

Jackson explained that he took the role because the ending had him do something he had never done before. Given that he has appeared in movies like Deep Blue Sea and Snakes on a Plane, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. 

Despite the combined star power of Rock and Jackson (who isn’t in the film for that much) and relevant themes regarding police brutality, Spiral can’t escape the sadist cycle of the series, resulting in another generic Saw movie. Both Spiral and Saw raise important questions from corruption and punishment but aren’t interested in finding an answer or challenge the villain. By the time it wants to, it ends like an episode of Everybody Hates Chris. You’ll have better luck finding something more provocative and challenging in one of Chris Rock’s stand-up specials.

Cue the Everybody Hates Chris choir.

Final Verdict: D-

Arne after murdering his landlord.

From haunted house to courthouse, Ed and Lorraine Warren face their latest case in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. To save his girlfriend’s eleven-year-old brother after an exorcism gone wrong, Arnie Johnson (Ruairi O'Connor) begs the demon to take him and spare the boy. It isn’t long before Arnie starts to exhibit signs of possession and leads him to murdering his landlord. Arrested and put on trial in the first ever court case where demonic possession is used as a defense, the Warrens are called in to prove Arnie’s innocence.

Hard to believe that James Wan help create the Conjuring-verse and the gruesome Saw franchise. 

Unlike the Saw films, the movies set in the Conjuring-verse, have had better luck; Annabelle: Creation is seen as the better of the spin-offs and while The Nun has been shunned to the likes of the first Annabelle film and The Curse of La Llorona, I have a soft spot for it (as of this writing I have yet to see Annabelle: Comes Home). My main concern was that Wan’s replacement would be Michael Chaves. His only other film credit is The Curse of La Llorona, one of the worst movies in of the Conjuring-verse. Thankfully, Chaves redeems himself as Conjuring 3 is a much better film. Whereas in Llorona he tried too hard on imitating Wan’s style, Chaves dials it down and makes this film his own, from his tracking shots in the house and the fade-to-black transitions. One element carried over from his last film is the appearance of an ex-priest who is a little out of the ordinary, but it works better here than in Llorona. (I had no idea that the character was played by John Noble, until after the film ended).

Sergeant Clay (Keith Arthur Bolden) and the Warrens uncovering a murder case.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga continue on being the best part of the Conjuring series as the husband and wife paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren. While the cases of the real Warrens are up for debate in terms of factuality, their film counterparts are a wonderful and lovely pair. Wilson and Farmiga have excellent chemistry and you worry for them as the situation around them turns ugly. Why can’t more horror films have smart and likable leads that you fear for their safety? Their Catholic faith is front-and-center as with the other films, proving once again that Horror portrays Catholicism in positive light than any other genre today. Where the last two Conjuring films were essentially a haunted house movie with a touch of the exorcism genre, this Conjuring 3 doesn’t fall into the trappings of telling the same story again and instead begins at the end of such a case. The rest of the film is the aftermath as it evolves into a detective story and a new angle that without going into full spoilers, shows a different type of threat that's not just demonic, but of the flesh.  

As for flaws, the movie is marketed as a court case movie like The Exorcism of Emily Rose when it really isn’t; those scenes last for about a few minutes. After the first act, Arnie takes a back seat to the story occasionally coming back and seeing how he is progressing. Another problem that this film shares with its predecessor is that it introduces a couple of minor characters that play a role in the plot but disappear for the rest of the film. Conjuring 2 had the schoolgirl with the homemade Ouija board and in Conjuring 3 it’s David Glatzel, the possessed boy who Arnie saved.

A nice homage to The Exorcist.

While I miss James Wan in the director’s chair, Michael Chaves atones for his sins for Llorona and craft's a worthy third entry of the Warrens.

Final Verdict: B+

Spanish VHS tape of the movie.

P.S. This isn’t the first movie to tackle the trial of Arne Johnson. In 1982, a made-for-television movie titled The Demon Murder Case was released starring Mr. Footloose himself Kevin Bacon and TV icon Andy Griffith. From the look of its reputation, it’s a film that hasn’t aged well but it makes for an interesting piece of media history.