WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, now in theaters and on HBO Max.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It proves to be more of a mystery than the other Conjuring movies that focused on hauntings confined to one location. In this case, the Warrens have to track down a mysterious overlord in the shadows, slowly realizing it's an occult mastermind they're up against. They soon discover this entity has power beyond their imagination, making it one of the franchise's most formidable foes.
What's The Conjuring 3's Curse?
Ed and Lorraine attempt to exorcise a demon from young David Glatzel early in the film. However, it jumps into his future brother-in-law, Arne, and causes him to murder his landlord. Lorraine can't sense a demon in Arne as he preps for the possibility of receiving the death penalty. But when they investigate the Glatzel home, they discover a Satanic totem.
They leave their protégé, Drew, to investigate with the authorities. His research sends them from Connecticut to Massachusetts, where another totem popped up in the past at the home of Jessica Strong. Lorraine uses her otherworldly powers at the crime scene. She decides the demon's a serial killer, possessing Jessica and getting her to kill her college bestie, Katie, the same way Arne committed his crime. Jessica ultimately fell off a cliff. Using her body at the morgue, Lorraine taps into Jessica's past where she uncovers the puppet master behind it all.
Who's The Conjuring 3's Occultist?
Lorraine tracks down the woman running the rituals in the astral plane -- Isla. She's the Occultist but warns Lorraine that the gateway works both ways, and she raises a zombie to attack the couple. Luckily, they escape, but Lorraine realizes the person who holds the key to the curse is a relic expert and former priest, Kastner. The Warrens' first foray with him doesn't yield fruit. However, later on, when Ed is almost killed, he admits to Lorraine that Isla is his adopted daughter.
She became obsessed with his relics and Satanic rituals, following cults like the Disciples of the Ram. From convening with Kastner, Lorraine realizes the witch wants souls. However, she can't wait for Ed to stop Isla. Kastner immediately points her to a tunnel network where Isla operates, turning the curse on and off.
How The Conjuring 3's Demon Operates
Once Isla switches the curse on, the demon possesses people such as Jessica, David and Arne and causes them to commit murder. It's why Lorraine saw Arne reading the Bible in jail. Isla basically calls the evil spirit back home, so Arne can hold the holy material. Isla's doing all this because she's obsessed with the Devil. As such, she releases this demon as a soul collector, taking sinners and dead people back to hell.
It's why Isla has no problem using it to stain Ed's soul or even Lorraine and Kastner's. But truth be told, she's set her eyes on Arne due to her hubris. The demon wants to possess him to commit suicide in jail, thus providing the soul Isla has worked hard to break. She doesn't like how he sacrificed himself as a vessel to save David. Therefore, Isla wants Arne to greatly suffer until the end.
Directed by Michael Chaves, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It stars Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ruairi O'Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook and Julian Hilliard. The film is now in theaters and on HBO Max.