The Devil Made Them Do It: All the Classic Horror Movies Referenced in The Conjuring 3

Father Gordon’s arrival to the Glatzel house is, as Chaves said, “without a doubt, a shameless Exorcist reference.” It almost perfectly replicates the arrival of Father Merrin from the 1973 film, albeit The Conjuring 3‘s Father Gordon fares a tad bit better in his dealings with a demonic entity. Other scenes that seemingly draw inspiration from The Exorcist involve David Glatzel’s demon contortions mid-exorcism, which are reminiscent of Reagan’s spider walk, and Arne Cheyenne Johnson’s levitation in the final moments of his eventual exorcism.

Because Chaves views The Conjuring Universe films as love letters to horror classics, he also included a reference to one of the first horror franchises he ever saw. “The fourth [A Nightmare on Elm Street] was the first one I saw, which was the one with the waterbed. Which, yes, this is a shameless reference to that movie,” he shared in an interview with Bloody Disgusting. “Ironically, my assistant director [Jeffrey Wetzel] worked on that movie, so I had him tell me all the waterbed secrets. I needed to know how they did it.” It’s revealed that David Glatzel didn’t knowingly invite the demon to possess him. Instead, he interacts with a waterbed above a cursed totem in a scene reminiscent of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.

Shortly after Ed Warren is “possessed” by the Occultist towards the end of the film, he picks up a hammer and begins running through the tunnels looking for Lorraine. Everything about this scene, from Patrick Wilson’s costuming as Ed to how he holds the hammer, feels like a parallel to the Jack Torrance chase scene in The Shining. All that is missing is Wilson yelling, “Here’s Eddie!” Although that might have been out of character for the demonologist . . . even if it wouldn’t technically be him saying it.

There were a few Psycho nods during the opening scene of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Of course, there is Julian Hilliard (as David Glatzel) doing his best Janet Leigh impression in the shower as blood rains down on him. While Leigh had chocolate syrup for blood, we’re not sure what Hilliard dealt with. Then there’s the figure in the window when Father Gordon arrives.

“Putting the figure in the window was another shameless nod to Psycho, seeing Mother in the window,” Chaves explained. “When we screened it, I was on the verge of cutting it out. I was like, ‘It’s too on the nose, you’re just shamelessly stealing from the greatest movie of all time.’ But I kept it and I was glad I did because when we started screening it, people loved it, they loved being able to see those references and make those connections.”