The cases of married paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren have always been unbelievable. For decades their work has been adapted, and exaggerated, for the screen developing into a series casually referred to as “The Conjuring Universe”. But with the latesthorror film from Warner Bros,The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, based on a real murder and subsequent court case, the life of The Warrens has shifted from “inspired by” to legend.
A lot has been written and shown on the work and life of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, famed paranormal investigators whose cases inspiredThe Amityville Horrorand popular franchiseAnnabelleand whose life has influenced horror films since the 1970s. Meeting at a movie theater when Lorraine was 16 and Ed 17, the couple wed after Ed’s military tour when he was 19. Lorraine had claimed clairvoyance since she was a child, a quality Ed (a devout believer) recognized early on, and together they explored the “open door” to darkness and founded a “school” for paranormal investigation known as the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR).
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But it was James Wan’sThe Conjuringreleased in 2013 that placed the Warrens and their highly speculative career into the mainstream. Inspired by Warren case file “The Perron Family”,The Conjuringbecame one of the most successful haunted house films sincePoltergeist(discountingParanormal Activityfor its more often categorizationas a Found Footage horror movie).The Conjuringfeatures a rich story of a family beset by a malevolent ghost with a history of “encouraging” people to murder and kill themselves that has now attached itself to the Perron family and only the Warrens can stop the demon from terrorizing the family to death, a rich story that didn’t happen that dramatically, not even in the presented timeline. The events inThe Conjuringoccur over days or weeks while the events in the case file were recorded spread out over a decade. No one was thrown violently and the matriarch Carolyn Perron’s “demonic fit” was much more muted.
Which is how an “inspired by” screenplay works. The entire career of the Warrens has always been up for debate. Where they could see the dark presence linked to a house, someone else might consider a bad radiator and even they left room for the rational explanation in their research (an introductory scene to the couple early inThe Conjuringillustrates this aspect about them). That Patrick Wilson (FX’sFargo,Aquaman) and Vera Farmiga (A&E’sBates Motel,Godzilla: King of Monsters) are cast as Ed and Lorraine Warren, who in photos appear as the nice older couple next door, should be enough clue thatthe films are to be taken tongue in cheek. The work of the Warrens, if written to fact, would be a very dull movie as the very nature of their work was based on interpretation.
Except in theDevil Made Me Do Itcase. It was inevitable as more Warren cases were explored for film to be added as part of the growing “The Conjuring Universe” thatThe Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do Itwould eventually happen. The trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson for the murder of his landlord Alan Bono was the first court case where “demonic possession” was entered as a defense. Meaning, the Warrens would have to prove demonic possession is real. And they tried, they really tried, but ultimately the defense was immediately rejected and the Warrens never submitted evidence, let alone, testified.
Though other family members and others involved would recant the described events of43 demons leaving the bodyof David Glatzel (who would later be rumored to be suffering from undiagnosed schizophrenia) and entering Arne, fueling him to murder his landlord, the Warrens would never waver from their version of events. Indeed the film sticks to their “interpretation” with David’s body twisting in possession, Arne’s veins darkening demonically and Lorraine losing herself to her own ability to peek behind “the veil”.
And this is what evolves the Warrens and their history from a series of films “inspired by” to the legend of their marriage and life. Previous entries have been based on the basics of paranormal.Limited viewpoints in that the casesusually only involve the Warrens and the “victims” of a haunting, older homes with quirks and often a dysfunctional relationship or family. In theDevil Made Me Do Itcase was a real murder with a real legal proceeding and all the expectations of scientific method and hypothesis expected. A legend is a historical but not verifiable story, in this case, the historical court case of the murder of Alan Bono by Arne Johnson, unverified as caused by demon possession.
The morality of a film with roots to a very real stabbing of a human being is, like the Warrens, up for debate. Arne was in real life convicted and he served five years of the ten to twenty he was sentenced. As mentioned, while some involved have denied the events, there are other family members whohave supported the Warrens' interpretationto this day who, with Lorraine’s death in 2017, have both themselves entered “the veil.” InThe Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do Itthe legend of Ed and Lorraine Warren is born and lives on in “The Conjuring Universe.”
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