By Dulcinea Zulueta and Gwen Luga
The long-awaited third installment of the Conjuring franchise The Devil Made Me Do It was initially released on May 26 and defeated A Quiet Place 2 by earning 24 million dollars at the weekend box office.
It was helmed by the Curse of the La Llorona director, Michael Chaves, and created a decent follow up to the beloved franchise.
Creating a cinematic universe became a trend ever since the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What was usually forgotten by those who tried to forego this path was that the MCU has little to no competition at all even with the existence of the ever-shifting universe of the DC Comics.
Those who aspired to start their own cinematic universes failed to continue commercially—James Wan, the creator of the Saw franchise, Insidious chapters and Aquaman, the first DCEU film to hit the box office, presented to the moviegoers the Conjuring that was not set off to produce two more sequels and several prequels along the way.
The Conjuring universe is loosely based on the late Ed and Lorrain Warren, the self-proclaimed paranormal investigators' case files. The couple have been portrayed brilliantly by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga whose on-screen chemistry largely contributed to the franchise's ever-growing fanbase and demand for more sequels.
The Conjuring sealed a template of aura and storytelling that the sequels and prequels could emulate from and even though James Wan didn't direct the third film and remained an involvement as a producer, Chaves delivered the same horrific template with a touch of something new that was Wan approved.
The Devil Made Me Do It presented its viewers with something familiar with something different this third time around. The two previous films were only set in one place and the horror revolves around it but this one has the Warrens travelling from one place to another.
Chaves created the third film as an investigative horror and a slow burn suspense which may come as a shock to some Conjuring fans who are used to fast paced horror thrillers. This type of storytelling was what Chaves brought new to the table of the beloved franchise and many critics applauded the film for it.
With vast material to base future films from, the haunted artifacts from the Warren's collection stamped the franchise twice as much with the cast's reverent acting and engaging cinematography – all of which carried the Conjuring cinematic universe where it is now and where it will be in the future.
Apart from leading the creation of fresh pubmats for Manila Standard Dulcinea Zulueta is not only a dyanmic intern for the paper but is also a writer, photographer, and a musician. @dulcineapx