The Devil on Trial (2023) User Reviews

Watchable, could have been so much better.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 18 October 2023]

A young boy is apparently being possessed by a demon. David sees visions, hears things, sounds demonic, and needs an intervention from the Catholic church. A murder happens, and an interesting defence is put forward.

I'm not totally convinced here, it was a watchable hour or so, but it didn't really have a lot of meat on the bone as it were. Sure it's out in time for Halloween, but the wonderfully imagery doesn't quite tell the whole story, yes it's about possession, but it's very talky.

Your enjoyment level is going to depend on where you sit on the whole debate of demons and possessions being real or not. I looked for a plausible solution, for me it felt as though were presented with a very credible one.

Let's applaud it for not being made into a six part series, it's pretty brief, and there is some interesting content, and some startling footage. You will see heavy influences for horror films, those were interesting to spot.

Sominex, wow that advert was quite something, that was a pretty unexpected twist.

6/10.

Fabrication and that's what all these "hunted" cases are

[ab_intra · 7/10 · 18 October 2023]

I was pleasantly supprised by this documentary as it clearly shows that the whole case was in fact fabricated. I've through my own life had experience with people claiming to be psychic and in fact the whole thing is based on their egos and them imagine and making things up for their own profit.

The part where thd mother in the family actually seems to have been giving her family sleeping pills trough the food is shocking to say the least. Using a defence of the "devil made me do it" is so insane and idiotic that it had to have come from people that had something to gain from the situation. The documentary also tells us that Loraine Warren talks about murder to the police and probably also the family before it even happened. She basicly gave the murder in the case an alibi he could use in the case before he commited the murder. It's just insane.

It's great of the creators of the documentary to give us a realistic picture of the case and that it's all been fabricated.

Only gets interesting in the final 15-20 minutes! [+46%]

[arungeorge13 · 5/10 · 18 October 2023]

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.

Lower grade movie with some good truths

[btwxcfz · 6/10 · 18 October 2023]

The first 3/4 of the show was made like a movie, including some scar factors, it was like watching the conjuring movie that was amateurish. Ed warren actor had a cast that looked exactly like him, which was a plus. The acting was pretty ok and watchable. Pacing was pretty much here and there with some unintended funny scenes and sound effects.

The truths included what actually happened from a third perspective, which was something that has never been shown elsewhere(not that I know of). People who believed in the original story would probably hate it.

Overall I had a good lunch watching this.

Finally honesty

[jendevjoss · 7/10 · 20 October 2023]

I went into this thinking it was a horror documentary about possession, it is not. After watching the movie and hearing the Warrens name and the poor acting from the supposed possession I was disappointed. However, listening to the real people portrayed in the movie it had me hooked. There is always two sides to these possession cases it seems and it was great to see it from both angles. I enjoyed the old videos and stories. I knew previous stories of the Warrens were fabricated. The truth comes out in the end of the story, it solidified what I already thought of the church and the Warrens. Decide for yourself.

The Warren's are scammers

[waschaffer · 3/10 · 23 October 2023]

So supposedly this kid got possessed by a demon and the "world famous" Warren's came to investigate. In the documentary, they play the initial recordings with them and the kid and they're asking him all these questions and then they ask for "proof" and tell the demon if you have so much power knock on the table 3 times 🙄. It apparently does more than knock, knocks on the whole house. So they played the actual tapes of them asking all these questions and were supposedly still recording when the "demon" came a knocking but surprise surprise, no actual recording was used.

I had a slight belief when at first several members of the family told the first story of the house shaking when they first realized there was an evil in their house but totally lost me by not providing they proof when they claimed they had it.

Divided opinion

[Chriper7 · 7/10 · 31 October 2023]

There seems to be 2 divided sets of opinion on this documentary. It mainly comes down to preconceptions regarding the reality of the supernatural. Conformation bias will have some people getting near the end, hearing the oldest brother's recollection of events and concluding 'it was all a big lie from the start' and consider the first ¾ of the documentary a waste of time.

Those people who do believe in the supernatural or have had personal experience with the supernatural will find the first ¾ of the documentary a fascinating account of demonic influence and possession.

There's really no conclusive evidence for either viewpoint as we can only base our opinions on what has been described by the those who were there and the audio recordings that were made. The viewer will decide who they believe is the most trustworthy in their retelling of events. Who they consider trustworthy will most likely be the party who mirrors the viewer's own worldview most closely.

The Warrens were no heroes. Quite the opposite.

[d-alston · 4/10 · 28 October 2023]

I have to give this rather uninspired documentary a four rather than a one because it does spend some time stating the well-known facts that Ed and Lorraine Warren were a pair of money-grubbing charlatans who didn't care how much damage they did in order to make a buck.

The dysfunction of the family who were their victims in this case is quite well-revealed The hysteria which, in particular, the mother ("My son has had a scary dream; we'd better call a priest") encouraged puts things in motion.

Then, once Ed Warren had given little David a specific list of instructions on how to act possessed (whilst pretending that he's just warning the family what David might start to do, whilst David is sitting there listening to all of this) the rest of the melodrama is kicked into gear.

David does his best to act possessed: "I'm your mother!" says Mrs Whatever-her-name-is, as her son growls and spits.

"You're a douchebag!" says Satan, via David.

Mr What-ever-his-name is finally spanks his naughty son and tells him to quit all of this nonsense, at which point the boy walks over to a chair and sits there quietly sulking.

(The power of spanks compelled him.)

The next victim of Satan's body-hopping, Arne, has an even less impressive story than his younger brother's, and this older brother is lucky he didn't serve more years in prison than he did for the murder of his landlord. Apparently, Satan hopped in, inflicted four stab wounds, and then hopped straight out again.

Meanwhile, the Warrens get this gullible family to sign over the rights for them to write a book about the events, and then screw the gullible victims out of a fortune. Various members of the family fought to get some money out of he Warrens but with no success, as the Warrens sold movie rights for their various cases and laughed all the way to bank.

If you've seen the Conjuring movie which launched this sad little story into an orbit of the absurd, then don't expect the same sort of shenanigans here. There's nothing to write home about, because all of it is, and always was, nonsense.

People don't understand how reviews work. Oh and the devil didn't make him do it and the Warrens are swindlers

[btzarevski · 7/10 · 15 April 2024]

It baffles me to see people rating this documentary low because they didn't buy into the 'devil made me do it' story, or they found David's 'possessed' episodes funny and unconvincing...yeah that's not the fault of the documentary? You do know they used tape recording audio of everything David said and did? If you have a problem with the 'devil' saying "you're a douchebag" the documentary didn't make that up, David did.

The events are around a religious family (no surprise) in the 80s (no surprise) who claim their youngest is possessed by the devil after he likely makes up a scary story for some attention. Unfortunately his little white lie snowballs into tragedy. Ed and Lorraine Warren (notorious nonsense-spreaders and swindlers) get called in to fuel the hysteria and essentially coach David into what to do next. All this so far remained largely harmless, but it turned into tragedy when during a drunken fight over a love triangle at a friend's house one of the brothers stabbed and killed a friend. Then decided to claim David's devil hopped into him and made him do it, having of course displayed no other signs of 'possession' before, during or after the fight. Very convincing yes. Happily the courts didn't fall for this nonsense and he was duly convicted of manslaughter. The Warrens swindle the family out of the rights to their story, write a book and ride off into the sunsets looking for their next gullible victims.

The documentary uses tapes and photos in the first half to put forward the story the family and David were claiming. You can find it all nonsense and think it's laughable, but those were the genuine claims being made. The second half of the documentary then picks apart the charade to show the Warrens for the frauds they are. The eldest brother also calls it all out as a farce he never believed even as it played out in front of him. He even goes as far as suggesting their mother was putting sleeping meds in their meals that might explain the hallucinations David saw, if he indeed saw any. It's not an entirely unlikely theory - three young boys would certainly be easy to manage if they all went to bed soon after dinner. The best part is David's father, on tape, slapping David and telling him to stop his nonsense and possessed David obeys and suddenly sits quietly - the devil apparently didn't have choice words for dad.

It's a solid documentary and doesn't fall into the trap of needlessly drawing out multiple episodes so overall worth a watch instead of scrolling until your food gets cold.

The truth shall set you free

[Envy_Dogtooth · 8/10 · 21 October 2023]

Demonic Possessions, Ghosts, Paranormal ..... how many of us , (normal people like me who watched a movie and came to write a review) can actually say that they have experienced any sort of anything even relatively close to paranormal . Its just all the stories that goes on from one mouth to other ear.

I liked Conjuring, I'm a horror fan. I won't take anything from the Hollywood aspect of it, but its really disturbing to see and know that how some people like The Warrens weave a so called fabricated reality into the minds of simple people just so that The Warrens can have their fame. And to even think that these people were supposed to be a ray of hope to someone who is unable, that's the most disturbing thing about the whole ordeal.

I don't know why this movie isn't getting the sensational response it so much deserve , forget the acting , forget the verdict, forget the guilty....just show the world what preys and predators look like in actual downright basic form. A man was murdered but somehow someone came up with an idea to make money of the dead.

I'm giving this rating solely for the sole purpose of what and who The Warrens were actually were.

This is a must watch for people like me , who craves for every aspect of something and who are not satisfied until the end.

It was an interesting documentary

[mmd-15018 · 7/10 · 22 October 2023]

It was a very interesting and beautiful documentary. I really enjoyed watching it. When you watch it, you think you're watching a documentary, but you think you're watching a horror movie. In my opinion, this is the first documentary that brought the world of summoning into question. I want to say that this documentary was one of the beautiful supernatural documentaries that I saw. I wish they would make a documentary about the rest of the Summoning series so that the world would be more aware of supernatural events and realize that demons and demons exist just as we do. And finally, if you think that there are no demons and that the movies that start with a lie to make more money, watch this documentary, that all these movies are not like this, and some of the movies and series are really true stories.

Family of frauds

[prolead · 1/10 · 20 October 2023]

The story is fabricated and most of the family is fraudulent. It's clear Arne killed Allan because he was drunk and had a problem with Allan dating his GF in the past.

Even if one were to believe possession is real, there was not one incident where Arne showed any signs of possession before or after the murder.

It's crazy that Netflix is producing such garbage.

The only people who were remotely sane in that house were the father and David. The mother was obviously crazy drugging the family.

In short, it's an attention seeking family trying to cover up their stupidity with this devil story.

Okay if you like possession stories.

[deloudelouvain · 7/10 · 4 November 2023]

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.

Good enough.

[woonila · 7/10 · 24 October 2023]

Those who say skip to the last 20 mins, I'm guessing are skeptics/atheists who are secretly worried that demon possession "may" be real. A lot more convenient if it weren't.

Sure, there was first witness account that it was merely power of suggestion or that it was fake. The truth is, nobody knows for sure. The ones who believed the boy was possessed could be wrong, but Ed and Lorraine Warren recording and documenting instead of helping the boy and the mother agreeing to TV and book deal don't automatically mean it wasn't real possession either.

If those last 20 minutes had been played first and the "proof" of the possession later, viewers may tend to believe it was real.

I went into this looking for some fun October watch. It started like a horror movie, acting was average, but overall watchable for Halloween.

Sooooooo bad!!!

[bringpekoehome · 1/10 · 1 November 2023]

We're supposed to believe that the devil says "frigging" while possessing a young boy!!! Lolll. And insult someone by calling them a "pork chop". This "film" should be billed as a comedy.

A young lazy misfit tries to get attention by making up some dumb story about a haunted house. Is it just a coincidence that it's at the start of the satanic panic? Ahhh the 80's!!!

Thank science that calling someone a dbag no longer constitutes proof of demonic possession or we'd all need an exorcist.

Then some drunk guy claims HE got the demon in him, conveniently enough, just in time to kill someone he was jealous of. And in walk the fame-hungry and greedy Warrens to cash in on it while telling junior exactly what possession looks like.... cue the snarling... Seriously funny stuff

Friggin' pork chop lollllllll.

"THE DEVIL ON TRIAL" REVIEW

[Mr-Topshotta · 7/10 · 24 October 2023]

Directed and written by Chris Holt. A runtime of one hour and twenty-one minutes. Streaming on Netflix with a TV-MA rating.

This dark documentary is about "David Glatzel" played by Foster Hamilton. "David" was a young friendly kid. He was very family-oriented. What was thought to be a normal thing of helping his sister "Debbie" played by Hannah Mae Beatty move turned into something much more.

After that day a string of unusual things happened. To where "David" was perceived as possessed by the devil. The real-life couple based on "The Conjuring" film Ed and Lorraine Warren had to even get involved. Along with the help of "David'" friend "Arne Cheyenne Johnson" played by Adam Hunt.

What was thought to be the height of the issue was only the beginning. As "Arne", "David's" friend unbeknownst to him ended up killing someone. This led to a trial where the defense for the first time, claimed that a demonic entity was the real culprit behind the murder and not him. In this eerie documentary.

"The Devil on Trial" was probably the scariest thing I've seen all year. This was a documentary on real-life events and it scared the crap out of me. So much so that I had to cut it off. Demonic stuff scares me the most when dealing with scary films. But this film having actual encounters and documented events wiged me out.

When you put an aspect of reality to it that just hits me differently. As a documentary it was good. It had reenactments while having most of the actual people that were involved in it.

This wasn't actually about them but I learned a lot about Ed and Lorraine Warren. I knew that "The Conjuring" franchise along with the other films that followed were based on actual events. I didn't know "Amityville Horror" was based on their findings. I had no clue they were involved with that. I also didn't know back in the 60' and 70's they were as popular as they were. Appearing on the news and talk shows. Even getting a series made from their findings.

A good documentary that I want no part of now. Even if you are a non-believer it still was an eerie documentary at a base level. I give it four mor fires 🔥🔥🔥🔥.

#CosmoandtheMovieWithin #CosmoMovieBlog #CosmoLanier #Thedevilontrial.

If you followed this case, you will probably enjoy this

[aronharde · 5/10 · 28 October 2023]

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]

Just an average horror documentary

[funnycommentor · 6/10 · 3 April 2024]

First of all, when I first watched the official trailer of the documentary I liked it and I had high expectations about it. Eventually, it was as good as I had imagined. The main theme of the documentary was about the possession of a child and it was kinda interesting. Sadly, it wasn't very well-explained and some questions were left unanswered. At least, it was an intense documentary from start to finish. Also, it was kinda scary and there were some terrifying moments (for example, the audio clips). Overall, it was just a nice horror documentary and kinda intense, but not very well-explained. By the way, I would probably recommend it to my friends.

No Real Evidence

[Lamborghini_Mercy · 3/10 · 19 October 2023]

I was very interested in watching this movie being spooky season. I wanted to watch a scary documentary with a completely different choice in mind until I saw The Devil on Trial first thing on Netflix. I should have picked the other movie.

They claim to have all this evidence in the beginning but when it comes to the moments to show that evidence, we are given a reinactment instead. The kid who was possessed now has his time to tell his side of the story ..and we barely hear the actual story from him. If they had just shown the audio of the really juicy stuff, it would have been a better movie. I didn't feel convinced that these things were related to possession and seemed more like a scam.

The movie felt disorganized in trying to not be bias? I personally didn't like the editing style and I'm not really sure what the goal was at the end of this film, but I just didn't feel satisfied.

To Grift or not to Grift

[nickijjohnson-16955 · 8/10 · 20 October 2023]

I am a big fan of The Conjuring universe from The Conjuring to Annabelle to The Nun so obviously a fan of Ed and Lorraine Warren as well. Add to that the fact that I'm Catholic and like the documentary states demons, angels, evil entities, and the devil of course is all apart of our faith. I do believe in possession however I believe in it when presented with compelling and strong evidence. This particular case did not provide nearly enough evidence to rule out mental illness or the power of suggestion. I'd read about this case after watching the film and the movie is quite accurate despite a few changes (he was arrested early morning in movie but at night in real life ect.) The biggest thing left out of the movie that is present in the documentary is the fact that the eldest brother never believed his brother or Arne were possessed. That and the treatment of the family by The Warrens who may very well have actually exorcised individuals and had visions that helped many people but also may have been grifters along with it. I enjoy both sides of the story presented in this documentary however I'm inclined to believe based on the evidence presented this little boy was never possessed nor was the boyfriend of the sister. There was nothing the boy said that a boy his age hadn't heard before as far as the obscenities he shouted, his voice never altered, the "demon" did not say things a demon would typically say in a possessed person and at no point called itself the devil though the boy, Arne and others referenced the entity as such. The Warrens suggested in front of the child how a possessed person acts and he did just that. The sister had a relationship with the murder victim Alan Bono prior to her relationship with Arne. I believe they had an altercation on her behalf that after drinking and brawling ended violently. I believe he panicked and used the demonic possession he believed to have witnessed as an excuse for his actions. This is all speculation based on what was presented. They may very well have had a supernatural demonic experience. I believe people do but not in this case. It is unfortunate no video footage of said possession exists because the audio is just not enough. I also as a Catholic have never heard of one being possessed and then suddenly just not being so anymore without spiritual intervention (exorcist of some sort) which Arne claims is the case. The movies based in the Warrens are always entertaining but one must wonder how much is true and how much they actually helped people or if they were more interested in helping themselves. I actually wish the documentary had been longer but good stuff. Fascinating case. I side with the majority of the reviews. It was fabricated but not from the beginning. The mother believed her attention seeking mentally unstable son was possessed and did what she thought would help him then the family was subsequently taken advantage of by the Warrens and enchanted by Hollywood and money. Who knows for certain but watch and decide.

Just skip to last 20 mins

[d_penn · 1/10 · 20 October 2023]

When the 11-year-old David began displaying erratic behaviour in the year 1980, his seemingly regular family decided that it must be the doing of the devil. David's mother summoned the infamous demonologist duo Ed and Lorraine Warren, who had the unique knack of becoming associated with that era's most talked-about paranormal stories, including the Amityville haunting, the Annabelle curse, and the Enfield poltergeist. Based on their own five-step metre to gauge such incidents - permission, infestation, oppression, possession, destruction - the Warrens estimated that David was already on step three.

😂😂😂 He's quite the dramatic manipulator 😂

[enolittle · 3/10 · 20 October 2023]

After about 2 minutes, I knew that this movie had taken place sometime within 10 years of the release of The Exorcist and Guess What?? I didn't hear any backwards Sumerian coming out of that kid. I don't know the motive behind hurting his friend but he was not "possessed" by anything. Give me a break. I'd like to hope it was somehow an accident but he did it alone, completely UNpossessed. He's a really, really good storyteller and director. Might want to give him an Academy Award this year. Of course the main reason I know that his is making this all up is because THE DEVIL ISN'T REAL!! My goodness. This would be funny if it wasn't a real event. I haven't finished watching so I don't know if he got away with murder or not. I hope the answer is Not! He deserves prison.

Don't believe it

[chrisgabe67 · 4/10 · 26 January 2024]

These kids were touched inappropriately and used the existence of demons to block it out. It's a classic case of remembering something different to what it actually was because it is better to believe a demon infiltrated your space than a person that you loved or trusted. A lot of abuse victims do this so instead of playing into it the police should be checking the families hard drives! I guarantee that the family has something to hide but love the attention they are getting from the ghost hunting communities. I'm now just padding this out to make the character count so it gets accepted but everything else is facts.

Kept my interest.

[estelle58 · 10/10 · 28 October 2023]

I fell asleep watching this, not because it was boring. I fall asleep watching tv every night. Shortly after I got up, the next morning though, I figured out where I must of dozed off and watched what I missed. I very seldom do this. But this one is quite intriguing.

To me, Arne Johnson and David Glatzel are believable. I have had things happen to me in my life, that lets me know, there is way more going on around us, than we can discern with are very limited 5 senses. Ed and Lorraine Warren, however, are circumspect. It really does seem like they were out mostly for the fame and fortune of it all.

So in short, I trust Arne and David, I do not trust Ed and Lorraine.

It should have been titled "Demon Possession and Stuff".

[ericfleming-28253 · 2/10 · 13 November 2023]

There's more than one story line being covered. It's really tough to pin this down because you can go in any direction. It's presented in a documentary format but with competing themes. There's the possession of the child, which takes up most of the movie. A supernatural investigative couple that "helps" the family and basically steals their story and gets rich through book and movie deals. Leaving the family with nothing. Then we get to the "meat" of the movie. The actual murder trial, which unfortunately has the least amount of screen time devoted to it. This last 20 minutes or so is the most cohesive in terms of common sense rooted in objective reality. In a nutshell, there was a lot of drinking involved, one of them got blackout drunk and things happened. Then tried to claim he was possessed. If that were true, there'd be an awful lot of possession cases.

Overall, the movie is heavily slanted towards the supernatural. Was anything proven? No. You either believe in this or you don't.