first the tldr: good for a stream on hbo max just wear headphones or have a good sound system for maximum fun. as always the conjuring movies' greatest departure from the truth is always gonna be that ed and lorraine weren't just shitty con artists.

now the rest: have you ever noticed how once a man's played a sexual predator he continues to give those vibes no matter what role he gets afterward? except for patrick wilson. patrick wilson somehow ascended beyond that hard candy creep factor and it always amazes me.

if you like the conjuring series you'll probably enjoy this installment! it's got fewer scares and effects compared to the other two but it works for it, honestly. if you take out all the scenes where there was only one witness to something supernatural occurring, it sets it up well for the verdict in the movie; there's very little in the way of "real" proof for those not involved. i will say there are a few liberties taken to make the movie work the way they wanted to tell it, but like. it's a supernatural horror based on a real life pair of flim flammers. they're gonna have to take liberties to tell a good story.

onto the things that really mattered to me: patrick wilson lookin real fine for an early 80s man who suffered a heart attack and limps around a lot; vera farmiga looking very emotional even when it's a whole lotta bullshit; john noble being british and heartbreaking (rip fringe), and lastly the sound is So Good on hbo max. i have a samsung smart tv but no other speakers, so i used my headphones. they're a bluetooth pair off of amazon, they're not super expensive and i still managed to get creeped out more than once by how well the sound traveled from ear to ear and how much clarity there was for every single whisper and creak.