The Devil on Trial movie review: Sloppy Netflix documentary exposes real-life sham behind the Conjuring films

They reached out to their associates in the Catholic Church, and after filling out the necessary paperwork — who knew that expunging your soul of demons required you to briefly turn into Mussadi Lal — arranged for a ‘minor’ exorcism to be performed on David. During the ritual, a family friend invited the devil to try him on for size and leave the boy alone, a twist that even the seasoned Warrens weren’t prepared for. They declared that it was absolutely the wrong thing to do, seeing as it violated step one of their guidelines: permission. The family friend, David’s sister’s boyfriend Arne, appeared unaffected in the moment, but would later murder an acquaintance in cold blood. His trial became known as the “Devil Made Me Do It” case, because it was the first known court case in America in which demonic possession was used as a defence.

It’s all malarkey, of course. And the movie knows it, which is why it’s so strange for it to pretend otherwise for a full hour. Director Chris Holt rounds up the remaining members of the Glatzer family, including David and his two estranged brothers, the convict Arne, the detective who investigated the murder, and a random priest who appears to have changed divine allegiances over the years. But he takes a unidimensional approach to a story that is practically begging for a more careful telling.

We don’t get a sense of the kind of life David leads now; the film literally chains him for over an hour to an unchanging backdrop plastered with a dozen or so crucifixes. His younger brother Alan pops by to corroborate the claims, while Arne (who didn’t actually get away with it, mind you) nods along as they recall traumatic past memories. The Devil on Trial intersperses these talking head portions with real audio recordings of David’s possession, and the many Polaroid stills that his sister took of him during it. But their intended effect wears off within minutes.

Eons after you’ve probably given up all hope, the film finally presents a counterargument to the shared psychosis that it was subjecting you to for so long. It wouldn’t make sense to talk about what happens here, seeing as how this is the only worthwhile stretch in the movie. But let’s just say that The Devil on Trial is able to confront a truth that the Conjuring movies have been wilfully turning a blind eye to for a decade. Being terrible horror movies is the least of their crimes; the Conjuring films are actually propagating (and making a financial contribution to) the legacy of some rather duplicitous people.

But just because The Devil on Trial is aware of the larger context around these incidents doesn’t absolve it of trying to milk them for more ‘content’. A better filmmaker would’ve immediately sensed that this, in its current form, isn’t the real story at all. But The Devil on Trial is satisfied being a standard Netflix shock-doc that Holt has somehow managed to condense down to an hour and 20 minutes. This, more than anything else, is the most shocking thing about the film, because we all know that the streamer has the truly remarkable ability to stretch even a TikTok into a multi-episode miniseries if it wants to.

The Devil on Trial
Director – Christopher Holt
Rating – 2/5