Le Diable pour alibi

Did he also make me watch it? No pun intended of course. Real life crime things - are they called documentaries as well? Doesn't matter actually I reckon - I try not to watch too many of those, but this popped up in my "this could interest you" list ... and I thought I'd give it a go.

The Exorcist was based on a real life incident ... so I reckon there is some merit to this. Still or maybe because I just re-watched the whole series and it is not or does not fare well for this here in particular. The movie is well researched and it is fine I reckon. You can believe what you want (no pun intended here either) ... and if you believe hard enough things may manifest .. or work out for you (maybe not so well for others) ... are we not responsible for our own actions then? Well, I don't think the movie is answering any questions of that sort ...

I am house sitting for a week, flicking through the horror films on Netflix I have already seen most of them but this feature length documentary caught my eye for something to watch. With a running time of about 80 minutes it felt ideal for a watch before going to bed. It certainly didn't give me nightmares though! This concerns the apparently true story back in 1980 where 11 year old David Glatzel becomes possessed by a demon whilst he is helping his big sister movie into her new home(!). Her boyfriend Arne then becomes possessed and kills his landlord. During the trial his defence sought to prove him innocent based upon him being possessed by a demon. He was convicted of first degree manslaughter. Famous (or should that be infamous?) paranormal investigators Ed and his wife Lorraine Warren helped with the case. The film includes real sound recordings that they made of David but to me they sound far from convincing. David and his brothers Alan and Carl are each filmed talking about the case over 40 years later. David is convinced that he really was possessed, Carl says that it was a hoax and he's certainly get my vote for who to believe. If you are interested in the paranormal or the Warrens and their legacy (The Conjuring movies etc) then it is worth a watch. If like me you are sceptical of such matters then chances are it will only re-enforce your disbelief in the paranormal.

The Devil On Trial might be interesting for people that liked The Conjuring. I'm one of them that enjoy that kind of stories. Do I believe all those things really happened? To be honest, not really, and this documentary turns more towards that way towards the end. Overall it's well made, the re-enactment looks believable, but I doubt that The Warrens are what they say they are. To me they look like conmen in this documentary and because of that all The Conjuring movies look more unrealistic from now on. The Devil On Trial is just for people that like easy entertainment, in this case a horror story based on true or false events. That's up to you to decide.

If you enjoy documentaries and especially about themes like this you will probably really enjoy it. It's an eerie documentary about a case of the Warrens. You have family members talking about what happened from their perspective with reenacted scenes in between to give the viewer a good look what was really going on in this case. The movie is able to generate a whole new perspective on the whole scene and what took place and actually brings some realism to the whole case. That being said it's definitely not a bad movie I would say, however I personally am not the biggest fan of truecrime or documentary movies and since I never really took a deeper look in this specific case of the Warrens I have say that I felt bored at times. The movie is only 81 minutes long which for me was a plus, but I can't say that I had a an amazing watching experience. It's definitely a decent watch though. [5,2/10]

The entire first hour of this documentary plays out like a horror film, and when I realized early on that it's a re-imagining of the third Conjuring film, the events were less impactful. I'd read about the Glatzel case at the time, and while it seemed interesting from a cinematic perspective, I doubt there was enough material for it to be explored as a matter-of-fact documentary. But here, the makers chose not to go that route and spent almost 55-60 minutes detailing supernatural events that may or may not have happened, with scenes re-created in the style of a typical horror flick (replete with jumpscares).

It's only the final 20 minutes or so, that the titular case comes under question. The demonic possession plea was never accepted to begin with, and therefore, it really has no value in any of the proceedings. What did surprise me is how Netflix also decided to question the Warrens' approach to media and money-making when it has several films from The Conjuring universe in its catalog. That, to me, was an interesting take.