THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When someone tells you that the events of a horror film actually happened, you don’t want to believe it. But when sources confirm it to be true, the fear kicks in. There is no better example than 2013’s The Conjuring.
PLOT
The film takes place in 1971 and follows Ed & Lorraine Warren, a married couple who are demonologists. While Ed is self taught with paranormal investigation, his wife is a clairvoyant/medium who can perceive past and future events, along with making contact with spirits of the dead. In Harrisville, Rhode Island, the Perron family move into a new home and have supernatural experiences within days. On the first night, the family matriarch Roger, husband to Carolyn and father of five daughters (Andrea [Shanley Caswell], Nancy [Hayley McFarland], Christine [Joey King], Cindy [Mackenzie Foy] and April [Kyla Deaver]) finds a boarded up entrance to a cellar. By morning, they find their dog Sadie dead. Another night, Cindy is sleepwalking to an old wardrobe in Andrea's room. In a separate night, Christine is harassed by a spirit that touches her legs. When she eventually sees it, it slams the door to her room which scares her more than ever. The night after that, Carolyn and Andrea get attacked by separate spirits. After this, Carolyn finds the Warrens and asks for them to investigate, which they agree to. Lorraine confirms that the house is haunted when sensing the spirits latched on to the family. When later doing research of the house, she discovers that it originally belonged to Bathsheba Sherman, a relative to an actual witch named Mary Towne Eastey. She proclaimed her love for Satan by sacrificing herself and her infant, which would curse the house. The curse seems legit when discovering that throughout time, many have died in that house after she did. They intend to get proof by placing thermal cameras around the house with aid of assistant Drew Thomas (Shannon Kook) and officer Brad Hamilton (John Brotherton). On another day, Carolyn gets completely possessed by Bathsheba when she was completely left alone in the house. The following night, Cindy is caught sleepwalking again and that results to the adults finding a passage behind the wardrobe in Andrea's room. When Lorraine goes in, she falls deeply into the cellar. She encounters spirits that were possessed by Bathsheba. Seeing this, she deduces that the witch has possessed mothers to kill their children. This means that Carolyn will be used to kill hers. Just as that is announced, Nancy gets dragged around from her hair by the demon. The next day, the Warrens show their evidence to Father Gordon (Steve Coulter), who promises to volunteer to perform the exorcism after it's approved by the Vatican. As they leave, Lorraine has a vision that her daughter Judy (Sterling Jerins) is in danger. The vision comes true as she gets attacked by Bathsheba who utilizes the possessed doll Annabelle. When she and Ed return to their home, the demon flees. They than get a call from Roger that Carolyn took Cindy and April. This means that Bathsheba is going to move forward with the sacrifice. The Warrens return to the Perrons' house and are able to separate the possessed mother from her children. While Cindy hides in a car, April hides elsewhere in the house. Unable to get to the church in time, Ed must perform the exorcism himself. Carolyn is tied down to a chair in order to defeat Bathsheba. As the exorcism progresses, her body is held in the air being being dropped down. When Drew announces that he found April in the cellar, Carolyn quickly pursues her. She is pinned down again and as Ed finishes her verse, Lorraine makes her remember how much she loves her family. This works as Bathseba leaves her body short after. By morning, she embraces with her family, in relief that their haunting is over. The film ends with Ed taking a music box to a room full of artifacts from past cases. The music box goes off just as he leaves.
THOUGHTS
I recall checking this out sometime in 2014 and my opinion stands tall that this is one hell of a picture. Director James Wan gave us a movie that is so sophisticating that every frightening moment will get to you in one way or another. Even though this actually happened, you still can't figure out how it's gonna go. While Bathsheba is a terrifying and sadistic character that provides an adrenaline rush throughout the film, the one that got to me the most in a limited amount of time is the Annabelle doll. All it has to do is imply that it's alive by tilting its head and I would always bite my nails. Knowing this doll is just as real as the Perron case makes it all the more terrifying. The only difference the doll has from the films to real life is the design of it. Put that aside, it doesn't even have to speak and I'll still be creeped out of it. Seeing its rotten face from the opening, you really can't ignore what this thing has and could do. I was caught off guard seeing the doll intertwine with the main story. While that likely didn't happen in real life, it comes to show that a worse nightmare is the alliance of your enemies. Going into the cast, there is no pun intended when I say Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga were a match made in heaven for playing the Warrens. While Wilson shows off Ed as the charismatic brawn, Farmiga shows us that Lorraine was the sensible brains. They say to each other how God brought them together for a reason, and it goes without saying that it's because they can save people together, not alone. Without her abilities and his conviction, many people like the Perrons would likely be doomed. Speaking of the Perrons, Lili Taylor was the highlight of the family. The way she goes from loving and concerned mother to the villainous demon that is Bathsheba, that was an intense transformation she went through. I also want to give credit to Ron Livingston for portraying Roger as a loving family man to the end. If you're able to be there for your possessed lover during an exorcism, that is true love at its finest. I respect the change on making Roger have faith in the Warrens because it would’ve been challenging to display that he actually did not in real life. The film is outstanding for its genre but despite given praise, I can admit that it has problems. First off, I don't buy it that almost an entire college class bought into the subject of demon possession. I can believe it if it was a quarter of it but not like 90% of it. That's already weirder than the fact that there was a class in the 60s that had strong interest in it. Am I the only one who thought it was weird how no one woke up when the pictures started falling? They immediately woke up when it came to Christine, so how are they heavy sleepers all of a sudden? It just didn't make sense to me. I'm sorry if I'm getting nit picky but the beach picture was the least real of all family pictures the Perrons have. I know they're all photoshopped but that one could've had a more realistic beach setting than just a plain blue sky. And lastly, how in the world did Lorraine not get injured when she fell? That fall looked pretty steep and it's hard to believe she didn't at least sprain something. Putting that aside, you still got a horror movie that'll haunt you. In conclusion, The Conjuring earns its place as a horror classic for sharing a story that had to be told. If the tales of possession are your taste, check this one out as soon as possible.
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