The Conjuring O.o

First off, I'm not a huge fan of scary movies. I like some suspenseful, jump-and-gasp films but I'm extremely picky about them. I'm not a fan of exorcist and demon films at all. At first the Conjuring looked like another Paranormal Stupidity film. Then the raving reviews, some more trailers, and some comparisons to The Purge. So then I thought it would be cool to see. Lesson: don't believe everything you read.

 

In 1971 the Perron family decided to move out of the big city with their five daughters to a fix-it-up farm house in Rhode Island. They've tied up all their money in this bring the family together project and all have high hopes (except the one surely teenager) for their future. Then the dog dies. Then there are nasty smells. Then things really start going bump in the night. They do the thing any worried family would do: Call in certified demonologist and clairvoyant Ed and Lorraine Warren to get to the bottom of it all. The Warrens go about doing what they do: setting up temperature trigger cameras, sound recording equipment, and lots of crosses. The goal is to get a big enough demonic reaction to get the approval of the Catholic Church for a certified exorcism. Unfortunately they may have to deal with it themselves when they do the one thing anybody will tell you never to do: make a demon mad.

Honestly this is easily the scariest movie I've ever seen. Not because of terrifying make up  (though that helps), the don’t-walk-down-that-dark-hallway moments, or the horrific violence, but above all that, one of the scariest things about this film is the sheer realism of it all. This is a story based on real events, granted filtered through Hollywood’s fictionism filter but the truth of the terror is tangible. The family that is teased, tortured, and eventually possessed was real. Ed Warren was a real demonologist. Lorraine was really a clairvoyant. As a quote at the end of the film by the real Ed Warren reads: "Diabolical forces are formidable. These forces are eternal, and they exist today. The fairy tale is true. The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow.”
The realness of it all hit me when one demon popped up on screen and the lights in the theater flickered. Everyone screamed but then shrugged it off as electrical, but one never knows. Early in the film, at the first demonic interaction, some people got up, walked out and didn't come back. Unfortunately I wasn't one of them. Easily the thing that disturbed me most was actually when the credits rolled and the lights came up: I looked around the theater to see at least four kids younger than 10 sitting with their families. The fact that some parents think that this movie would be ok to show their children is a scary thought indeed.