While hiding under the covers is usually the go-to place when scared, a new image from The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It will have you afraid to go to bed. The intense new image depicts a young boy being grabbed by a ghoulish looking hand that has emerged from inside his waterbed and could well be the moment of possession that kickstarts the movie's plot.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It will once again reveal a chilling story of terror, murder and unknown evil that will shock even our experienced, intrepid paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. One of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they'd ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defence.

Played once again by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, Ed and Lorraine Warren will once again find themselves in deeply unsettling, often terrifying situations, as they try to stay alive and put a stop to this mysterious evil force. Unlike the more familiar Conjuring set up however, the third movie in the franchise is moving away from the haunted house idea and will instead explore one of the Warrens' most famous cases, the murder trial of Arne Johnson, played by Ruairi O'Connor. In 1981, Johnson killed his landlord and became the first person in American history to claim demonic possession as his defence. The movie also stars Ruairi O'Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, Julian Hilliard, Charlene Amoia, Paul Wilson, John Noble, Sterling Jerins, and Shannon Kook as Drew Thomas.

Fear not though Conjuring fans...or perhaps that should be fear a lot, as despite the movie straying away from the usual formula, director Michael Chaves has described the latest installment in the horror franchise as the darkest yet. "In a lot of ways, this is the biggest Conjuring movie," the filmmaker teased. "I showed the final cut to [star] Vera [Farmiga] and her husband and they agreed, and they were like, 'This is the darkest Conjuring movie.' It digs into some really dark material. This is definitely a case where there's real consequence, there's real victims."

"This is really taking the Warrens into uncharted places," Chaves continued. "Being a fan of the franchise, I was honestly really nervous at first breaking with convention, breaking with a lot of things that are tradition, but I think that what we've done is really woven the language and the things that you do want from a Conjuring film - the scares, the Warrens, their relationship - and [pushed them] to the limits in this really fresh and exciting new direction."

Chaves will be working from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, and from a story by Johnson-McGoldrick and James Wan. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is scheduled to hit theaters and HBO Max on June 4, 2021, after being delayed from a release date in September last year. Alongside a traditional theatrical release, the movie will also have a month-long simultaneous release on the HBO Max streaming service starting on that date. This image comes from the summer movie preview in USA Today.