Horror James Wan's "The Conjuring"

[Hotwire]

I think a large part of that however was how much was ruined by the trailers.

The clapping. That could have been a much better scene had the trailers hadn't ruined it.

The actors really did a great job. Wan's best since the first Saw.

 

[Matt Mortem]

This was a damn fine horror film. All these other haunted house ghosty ghost movies should take note. I loved that it built a foreboding dread and a spooky atmosphere instead of relying solely on jump scares. The characters were believable and you cared about what happened to the family. The performances were great too. My favorite shots in the movie were the shots of the house with the fog. Superb.

Spoiler

I also liked the happy ending. I've seen a few too many horror movies with a really grim ending or a cliff hanger or some kind of lead into the sequel.

Also this movie is doing great with audiences. The theater I was in was almost sold out and the audience was really getting into it.

 

[chamber-music]

I saw this and thought it was pretty good. A solid 8.5/10

The movie doesn't bring anything new to the table but is well made, acted and has a decent amount of scares.

I could see them making a series out these movies called The Warren Files continuing adapting The Warrens cases into horror films although probably skipping Amityville seeing as that case has already been turned into its own horror movie franchise.

 

[chamber-music]

Looks like the Enfield Poltergeist case may be next

New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures have fast-tracked a sequel, which would continue the adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively. The movie bookends with a tease that the Warren’s next case involves the infamous house in The Amityville Horror, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where the famous duo are heading.

According to Aint it Cool News, the case file writers Carey and Chad Hayes are looking at occurs in the late ’70s and centers on two sisters in Enfield, England, who were allegedly possessed. Warren said she personally saw them levitate and even saw one of the sister dematerialize in front of her only to be found 20 minutes later stuffed into an oversized fuse box, contorted in such an unnatural way that they couldn’t have replicated it if they tried. She also said that the demon spoke directly to her husband on many occasions. Warren cited this case as one of the most terrifying experiences of her career.

 

[thalidomide]

I really liked the movie

 

[Thundarr]

I saw this movie last week. I thought it was pretty damn good. Nothing spectacular, but a solid Haunted House story. There were some scenes that really creeped me out, and I don't get creeped out easily.

 

[Marvolo]

Looks like the Enfield Poltergeist case may be next

Gotta say I'm disappointed it might be another possession case. Do something original.

 

[Thundarr]

Well, the story was obviously hollywoodized, the family said that. Multiple things were changed. Bathseba didn't hang herself on the property after proclaiming her love for Satan. It's still not even positive if she was a witch, she was accused but never convicted. She died as an old woman and most likely not in the Perrin home. Here's an article about it if you're interested.

http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/conjuring.php

Really though, I think it was probably most likely fabricated if just because of what I've read regarding the Warrens. They do seem a little sketchy. At least the way they dealt with the criticism of Amytiville was.

However, I do think if you're religious and you believe in God, then you have to believe in the other guy as well. You can't have one without the other. That's why I still won't touch a ouija board, even though I know 99.9% of the time you'll probably be fine....I just think that it's not a good idea to try and get the attention of something that could be infinitely more powerful than you are.

Well if she was accused, she probably didn't die of old age because accusations of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials were in themselves a death sentence. They'd tie you up and throw you in the lake to find out if you're a witch. If you float, you're guilty of witchcraft and are either hanged or burned at the stake. If you drown, then you're declared innocent (but you're still dead). Either that or they'd just torture you until you confess. Doesn't matter if your confession is sincere or not, they just keep right on torturing you until you admit that you're a witch or you die from the torture, whichever comes first. Of course, once you've confessed you're condemned to death, so either way you're dead.

 

[Thundarr]

I also thought I should add that this movie really hit home with me because I actually grew up in a haunted house. Thankfully the spirits that haunt my house aren't malicious, they just pop up to say "Hello" every now and then. Actually, I think my house (or I should say my Mom's house, as I haven't lived there for 20 years now) was built on a doorway between our world and the afterlife, so spirits are constantly traveling through there on their way to the here after. Some things that I personally witnessed:

1) The TV turning on and off by itself, and there was no one anywhere near the remote.

2) Hearing footsteps going down the hall, then down the stairs, when I was home alone.

3) I once saw three man shaped shadows pass by the basement window. I ran outside to see who was in the back yard, and there was no one there (and they didn't have time to run across the yard and duck around the corner, or enter the back door, without me seeing them).

4) Not so much a singular event, but every time I go into the basement I have this uneasy feeling like I'm being watched.

And things others had witnessed:

1) My eldest sister saw the spirit of one of our uncles (I can't remember which one, we'll call him Robert for now) come into her room on the night that he died. The next morning she asked my mom "Why was Uncle Robert sitting on the edge of my bed last night?" Mom told her Uncle Robert hadn't visited us in months. Later that day, Mom got a phone call informing her of Uncle Robert's passing.

2) My brother in law was fixing up the basement to turn it into a rentable suite for my mom. He was in my dad's old workshop, converting it into a nursery for my niece (my sister was about 5 months pregnant at the time). My sister just entered the room with a sandwich and a cup of coffee for him when the A frame stepladder in the middle of the floor (and at least three feet away from either of them) slid about two feet across the floor. Mike said "Did you see that?" Valerie was like, "Yeah, that was just the ghost."

3) On the day my grandma died, my sister and her husband had just come home from a day out with the kids. As they were taking off their shoes, Mike looked downstairs and saw what he thought was my mom at the bottom of the stairs walk off towards the bedrooms. Mike turned to Val and asked "What's your mom doing downstairs?" They went downstairs calling for my mom, and found the hall door to the bedrooms closed and locked. They unlocked it and went into the bedrooms. No one was there, but my nephew's bedroom had been cleaned, his bed made, and all of his toys put away (it wasn't like that when they had left). Later, when my mom got home from shopping, my sister asked her if she had cleaned Niel's room and she said "No." It was later that day that they had learned that Nanny had passed (that's what we used to call our maternal grandma, Nanny). And for a little extra backstory on our family, Nanny used to babysit me and my sisters when we were little, and her bedroom was in the basement and was the same room that Niel later occupied when Valerie and her family moved into the basement.

So yeah, to me Haunted Houses are VERY real.

 

[thalidomide]

Spoiler

I also thought I should add that this movie really hit home with me because I actually grew up in a haunted house. Thankfully the spirits that haunt my house aren't malicious, they just pop up to say "Hello" every now and then. Actually, I think my house (or I should say my Mom's house, as I haven't lived there for 20 years now) was built on a doorway between our world and the afterlife, so spirits are constantly traveling through there on their way to the here after. Some things that I personally witnessed:

1) The TV turning on and off by itself, and there was no one anywhere near the remote.

2) Hearing footsteps going down the hall, then down the stairs, when I was home alone.

3) I once saw three man shaped shadows pass by the basement window. I ran outside to see who was in the back yard, and there was no one there (and they didn't have time to run across the yard and duck around the corner, or enter the back door, without me seeing them).

4) Not so much a singular event, but every time I go into the basement I have this uneasy feeling like I'm being watched.

And things others had witnessed:

1) My eldest sister saw the spirit of one of our uncles (I can't remember which one, we'll call him Robert for now) come into her room on the night that he died. The next morning she asked my mom "Why was Uncle Robert sitting on the edge of my bed last night?" Mom told her Uncle Robert hadn't visited us in months. Later that day, Mom got a phone call informing her of Uncle Robert's passing.

2) My brother in law was fixing up the basement to turn it into a rentable suite for my mom. He was in my dad's old workshop, converting it into a nursery for my niece (my sister was about 5 months pregnant at the time). My sister just entered the room with a sandwich and a cup of coffee for him when the A frame stepladder in the middle of the floor (and at least three feet away from either of them) slid about two feet across the floor. Mike said "Did you see that?" Valerie was like, "Yeah, that was just the ghost."

3) On the day my grandma died, my sister and her husband had just come home from a day out with the kids. As they were taking off their shoes, Mike looked downstairs and saw what he thought was my mom at the bottom of the stairs walk off towards the bedrooms. Mike turned to Val and asked "What's your mom doing downstairs?" They went downstairs calling for my mom, and found the hall door to the bedrooms closed and locked. They unlocked it and went into the bedrooms. No one was there, but my nephew's bedroom had been cleaned, his bed made, and all of his toys put away (it wasn't like that when they had left). Later, when my mom got home from shopping, my sister asked her if she had cleaned Niel's room and she said "No." It was later that day that they had learned that Nanny had passed (that's what we used to call our maternal grandma, Nanny). And for a little extra backstory on our family, Nanny used to babysit me and my sisters when we were little, and her bedroom was in the basement and was the same room that Niel later occupied when Valerie and her family moved into the basement.

So yeah, to me Haunted Houses are VERY real.

That is freaking cool!

 

[ShadowBoxer]

This movie was way better than You're Next.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Most movies are way better than you're next

 

[redhawk23]

I was greatly entertained by both.

Anyways, here's a great write up of how The Conjuring's title sequences came together.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-conjuring/

 

[The Silent Traveler]

I usually avoid watching these scary movies because I strongly dislike this genre. Yet, its trailer attracted my attention. Since I'm not a fan of horror movie, I decided to watch it in the theater last month. I expect I would be scared but really, it didn't scare me at all except some scenes like a creepy doll staring in the ending. I feel sleepy during the second act yet I paid attention as the second/third act built up. The Conjuring isn't scary at all. It was, overall, a okay movie.

 

[Heretic]

I don't believe in ghosts or an afterlife, and the Warrens are frauds regardless (it's been admitted by various people involved, though not all, that Amityville was a hoax), so it stings that this movie of all the Hollywood Horror films is such a huge hit.

It is well made though...not a minute of originality...but well acted, directed etc.

 

[Infinity9999x]

Well if she was accused, she probably didn't die of old age because accusations of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials were in themselves a death sentence. They'd tie you up and throw you in the lake to find out if you're a witch. If you float, you're guilty of witchcraft and are either hanged or burned at the stake. If you drown, then you're declared innocent (but you're still dead). Either that or they'd just torture you until you confess. Doesn't matter if your confession is sincere or not, they just keep right on torturing you until you admit that you're a witch or you die from the torture, whichever comes first. Of course, once you've confessed you're condemned to death, so either way you're dead.

Well, she died from old age. It's public record. She died as an old woman and actually had a child who had his own family. Check out the link I posted.

 

[The Silent Traveler]

I don't believe in ghosts or an afterlife, and the Warrens are frauds regardless (it's been admitted by various people involved, though not all, that Amityville was a hoax), so it stings that this movie of all the Hollywood Horror films is such a huge hit.

It is well made though...not a minute of originality...but well acted, directed etc.

I thought Amitvyille is based on a true story?

 

[redhawk23]

I don't believe in ghosts or an afterlife, and the Warrens are frauds regardless (it's been admitted by various people involved, though not all, that Amityville was a hoax), so it stings that this movie of all the Hollywood Horror films is such a huge hit.

It is well made though...not a minute of originality...but well acted, directed etc.

Why does it sting that a largely fictionalized film is a hit?

 

[Heretic]

I thought Amitvyille is based on a true story?

Yes, the people involved are real...and the supernatural details were made up by them. This has been admitted at various times by some of those involved.

 

[Heretic]

Why does it sting that a largely fictionalized film is a hit?

Because the Warrens are frauds who have profited for decades off of a lie, and used that lie to convince others that they should be afraid of nonexistent ghosts. It's one thing to write fiction...but to then claim that the fiction is true and use it to scare people for profit is not cool in my book.

It's like...there's a "reality" tv show called Haunted Collector or something...basically the same thing as The Conjuring. This guy goes to peoples homes, tells them something is haunted, and takes it off their hands (for some reason his house is not full of ghosts). I GUARANTEE you that this has now become a small industry...where "experts" tell little old ladies that their diamond rings are haunted. People shouldn't be so gullible...but that doesn't mean they should be taken advantage of.

 

[The Silent Traveler]

Yes, the people involved are real...and the supernatural details were made up by them. This has been admitted at various times by some of those involved.

Where is the evidence that Amitvyille is a hoax?

 

[redhawk23]

Because the Warrens are frauds who have profited for decades off of a lie, and used that lie to convince others that they should be afraid of nonexistent ghosts. It's one thing to write fiction...but to then claim that the fiction is true and use it to scare people for profit is not cool in my book.

It's like...there's a "reality" tv show called Haunted Collector or something...basically the same thing as The Conjuring. This guy goes to peoples homes, tells them something is haunted, and takes it off their hands (for some reason his house is not full of ghosts). I GUARANTEE you that this has now become a small industry...where "experts" tell little old ladies that their diamond rings are haunted. People shouldn't be so gullible...but that doesn't mean they should be taken advantage of.

The Warrens themselves are one thing, but the film is quite another.

 

[Heretic]

Where is the evidence that Amitvyille is a hoax?

See, that is your first problem.

When someone says "I saw a ghost" the proper question is "where is your evidence?" not "Can anyone prove that this is not true?"

The burden of proof is on the one making the outlandish claim.

However, the evidence of an Amityville hoax is out there. They claimed footprints in snow during a period where there was no snow...they claimed doors were pulled off the hinges, and other things in the house were damaged, but it turns out that these things were all pristine, never damaged. The claim is that the cops were called to help them, yet there are no police records of such calls.

Then there is the fact that it has been admitted to be a hoax by attorney William Weber, who claims to have concocted the story with the Lutz family for their financial benefit and for him to get a new trial for his client (who murdered his family in the house prior to the Lutz's moving in). To be clear...he admitted this in court while suing the Lutz family...so...I admit, that admission could be self serving. Pretty much everyone involved admits that a lot of it was made up.

Besides that...no one who lived in the house after ever had any problems.

 

[Gianakin_]

Loved it. Didn't scare the crap out of me, but it was creepy and effective most of the time and its biggest accomplishment was that it made me care for all the characters. Really touching at times, too. Wan's blossomed big time.

 

[redhawk23]

Heretic, you'll probably get a kick out of this.

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