Editorials
The Classic Horror Homages of ‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’
This article contains spoilers.
When James Wan passed the baton to director Michael Chaves for the third entry in the Conjuring series, Chaves shared that part of his preparation entailed studying not just the franchise itself but classic horror at large. He previously told Bloody Disgusting during a press event, “I think the Conjuring movies are love letters to the very best classic horror movies. Like The Changeling in the first movie. There are so many great references in that one.”
That meant that Chaves also drew from classic horror when creating The Devil Made Me Do It, paying homage to formative movies that shaped his love of the genre. Chaves wove in those homages in interesting ways, with some easier to spot than others.
Here are the most prominent nods to classic horror movies found in The Devil Made Me Do It.
The Exorcist
The first and most apparent horror movie nod made its way into the trailer. This reference appears in the opening sequence, which sees series regular Father Gordon (Steve Coulter) getting dropped off at the home of the latest possession case. It’s a tip of the hat to the iconic image of Father Merrin arriving at the MacNeil household with a briefcase in hand.
Carrie
The opening sequence packs in the references, most notably at the moment that sees young David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard) terrorized by the demon that’s fighting for control of his body and soul. Loud pounding drives him from his bed to hide in the bathtub, where he’s doused in blood. Just like Carrie White on prom night.
Psycho
Chaves pulls from Psycho not once but twice. First, he blends Carrie with Psycho in the bloody shower scene during the opening sequence. Then, it’s referenced in an early tease of the film’s villain, The Occultist (Eugenie Bondurant). Arne (Ruairi O’Connor) is up in a tree, sensing that he’s being watched. He is; the Occultist slowly pulls the curtain back to watch, emulating Mother from Psycho.
Halloween II
The Devil Made Me Do It takes place in 1981, the same year the slasher sequel Halloween II was released in theaters. That makes it tough to overlook the similarities between Brookfield Hospital, where Ed Warren was taken post-heart attack, and Haddonfield Hospital. Even more interesting is the station wagon parked out front. While it doesn’t look like the one Michael Myers drove in Halloween, the entire visual seems like an all too perfect coincidence.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
The waterbed scare in The Conjuring 3 might’ve been a highlight for many, but for Chaves, it was a way to pay tribute to the horror movie that introduced him to Freddy Krueger; A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. In The Dream Master, survivor and Elm Street kid Joey (Rodney Eastman) falls asleep on his waterbed. Freddy assumes the appearance of a poster model from within the water. Freddy then attacks, much the same way that the ghastly figure attacks David in The Devil Made Me Do It.
Pet Sematary
David channeled Gage in the opening sequence in terms of scares that saw him attack his dad with a knife. But the most overt visual cue came much later, in the scene that saw Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) seek answers about a totem found beneath the Glatzel home from Father Kastner (John Noble). The introduction to Kastner borrows from Pet Sematary, specifically the first appearance from Jud Crandall.
Vertigo
Psycho wasn’t the only Alfred Hitchcock movie to appear in the Conjuring 3. Ed and Lorraine travel to Danvers, Massachusetts, and aid in investigating the missing person, Katie. Back at the hotel, Lorraine explains to Ed that she’s connected to the one behind the curse and that the connection still lingers. This scene more than visually borrows from Vertigo, but thematically as well. Hitchcock’s classic saw a former police detective become obsessed with a woman that eventually commits suicide. The man then becomes obsessed with another woman that appears to be her doppelganger, discovering much later that they’re the same person and part of a scheme. In Conjuring 3, Lorraine faces off against her counterpart, a woman that matches her background and powers but long ago took a dark path. They’re two sides of the same coin.
The Shining
In the climax, Ed enters the Occultist’s tunnels to find and save Lorraine. Instead, the Occultist finds him first and casts a spell that causes him to channel Jack Torrance. With a sledgehammer, he stalks Lorraine and attempts to murder her, smashing walls along the way.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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