The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) (USA/UK)

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Hijinks at an exorcism leads to demon transference into a kindhearted teen boy and a major heart attack for our hero Ed Warren. The now possessed young man goes through the usual creepy possession shenanigans, this time showing up in the form of some antique-dress-garbed woman who looks like she has one hell of a pole up her ass. Ed wakes up in the hospital and warns Lorraine of the newly demonized young man but as she attempts to reach out to alert his girlfriend, shit goes down and some evil hallucinations cause him to stab the fuck out of the manager of the dog kennel where the lovebirds work and live. The demon leaves him just as the police arrive and now the young man is looking at some serious jail time. They manage to convince his attorney (they invite her over to say hello to Annabelle) to plead not guilty by reason of demonic possession and now it’s up to the Warrens to prove this shit... made all the more dire because the death penalty is in the cards. A little look under the house reveals a totem and a curse that goes along with it. With that, the realization that someone was doing this shit on purpose. They pay a visit to a retired priest (John fuckin’ Noble) who has a history with Satanic tomfoolery and has nothing but a warning for the Warrens to back the hell off. Looks like The Disciples of the Ram don’t screw around and have left more than a few bodies in their wake but those ghost-busting Warrens ain’t about to let an innocent boy get himself executed. Although, the kid starts getting creepy visits from the same evil entity and an oncoming execution may be the least of his troubles. Ed doesn’t get the rest he needs and his condition worsens but the woman behind the curse may be the most powerful foe they’ve ever tackled and a much greater risk to he and his wife than a problem ticker. The Conjuring universe tackles that old standby “satanic panic” and I’m all for it. It’s meaner than the previous entries which works well with the threat this time around. It loses some of the better jump-scare aesthetics of its predecessors and the black magic baddie doesn’t really convey the same supernatural menace you usually get from these things.