The Devil on Trial (2023) on Netflix
TV-MA20231h 21mCrimeDocumentaryHorror
A family reports a possession in 1981, and the Warrens come to investigate. After a killing, Arne Cheyenne Johnson's attorney plans to argue in court that a demon was responsible.
- Netflix2.1/5
- IMDb5.6/105,102 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes29%
Trailer
Plot summary
The film revisits a 1981 case, the only one in which an American murder trial heard demonic possession offered as a defense. The account comes from people who lived through it, among them Arne Cheyenne Johnson and members of the Glatzel family, along with Ed and Lorraine Warren, who placed microphones in the house and recorded what the family reported. Their tapes of David Glatzel appear in the film, set beside home video, reenactments and interviews with those who were present. Arne Cheyenne Johnson's attorney sets out to argue in court that a demon, rather than the accused, caused a killing.
Cast
- David Glanzeras Self
- Debbie Glatzelas Self
- Foster Hamiltonas David Glatzel
- Adam Huntas Arne Cheyenne Johnson
- Susannah Spearinas Lorraine Warren
- Beckett Stortinias Carl Glatzer Jr.
- Raine Van Elsackeras Alan Glatzel
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Devil on Trial (2023)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Devil on Trial covers a 1981 murder case in which Johnson's attorney tried to use "demonic possession" as a defense; presiding Judge Robert Callahan rejected the argument. It was the first and only time a U.S. murder-trial defense attorney made such a bid for acquittal.
- In interviews, Carl Glatzel raised the concern that his mother had been drugging her children with the sleep medicine Sominex on a regular basis, in their evening meals; a UCI Health sleep-medicine specialist told Newsweek such medicines are meant for short term use only.
- Dorothy Street Pictures worked with the UK company Make Productions to retouch the Polaroid images the film relies on, and AI software was used to increase their resolution.
