2023-10-27 11:25:19
Demons, ghosts, exorcisms: as Halloween approaches, productions on these subjects are skyrocketing in the catalogs of the different channels and platforms. On Netflix, “The Devil’s Alibi” is a new documentary that promises to address the first trial in the United States where a murder defendant pleaded demonic possession as a defense. On Apple TV +, the documentary series “The Enfield Poltergeist”, put online this Friday, October 27, aims to put “the most famous poltergeist in history” into images.
These two paranormal affairs have been the subject of various studies and adaptations on screen, notably in the “Conjuring” saga in the cinema, where they are the bases of the second and third parts. Because if the first took place in the United States and the second in England, they both aroused the curiosity of the Warren couple, heroes of the films in which they are played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson. They were ghost hunters, a self-proclaimed demonologist for Ed and a medium for Lorraine.
Fiction is a fantastic way to stage this type of paranormal story, since the story possibilities are endless and the special effects are available. When, however, we tackle these stories in the form of documentaries, it is not as simple.
“The Devil as an alibi”: testimonies more than forty years after the events
“The Devil for Alibi” is based on the testimonies of the protagonists in front of the camera, more than forty years after the events, by reconstructing several scenes with actors. A process frequently used by documentary authors. What is striking from the outset is that Arne Cheyenne Johnson, accused of murder in 1981 and who claims – even today – to have been possessed by the demon during the drama, is not the central character.
The majority of the story concerns David Glatzel, who also remembers being possessed when he was 11 years old. It was during the latter’s exorcism that the demonic entity passed from his body to that of Arne (who was his sister’s fiancé). We spend more than an hour dissecting David’s case with the help of images and recordings from the period. While Arne’s is barely in depth. However, it was he who was in the dock, but ultimately could not even plead demonic possession, the judge having banned it.
We come away from this frankly boring film with a slight feeling of having been ripped off. A bit like the Glatzel family was manipulated by the spouses Ed and Lorraine Warren, whose intervention was decisive in the scale that the affair took. In addition, the most relevant testimony, that of David’s big brother who goes against the grain of all the others, only arrives very late, reinforcing the viewer’s frustration.
“The Devil for Alibi”, documentary by Chris Holt (2023). 1h21. On Netflix.
« Le Poltergeist d’Enfield »
On the Apple TV + side, the process chosen for “the Enfield Poltergeist” is more innovative. In 1977 and 1978, Maurice Grosse, an inventor curious about paranormal phenomena, made more than 200 hours of recordings in a house in Enfield, near London. The place seemed haunted by some kind of ghost moving furniture, knocking over objects and sometimes speaking through the mouth of the youngest girl in the house, 11-year-old Janet.
Over the course of four episodes, all the scenes from the period are replayed by actors in playback. We therefore hear the voices of the real protagonists and all the strange noises as they were captured by Maurice Grosse, in identically recreated settings.
Surprisingly, it works pretty well. On the other hand, there is no rhythm in the story which spans almost four hours in total. How boring ! Here, the Warren couple only appear furtively, and the relentlessness of the main investigator, Maurice Grosse, seems less and less convincing over the course of the endless reconstructions… In short, if you really want to scare yourself, prefer a good fiction.
“The Enfield Poltergeist”, documentary series by Jerry Rothwell (2023). Four episodes of 54 to 62 minutes each. On Apple TV+.
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