The Conjuring

[KarmaContestant]

I saw The Conjuring on Friday. Security at the theatre was *tight*. There were police all over the parking lots of Denver area theatres this weekend, since it was the one-year mark since the shootings in Aurora during the Batman premier.

For the first time ever, I got ID'd at a movie. Seriously? I'm 40 - a little late to be ID'd for an 'R' movie, guys.

Anyway, The Conjuring was great - one of the best horror films I've seen in years, probably the best since since The Exorcism of Emily Rose. And it was scary, for real, not that cheesy scary that most horror films are these days. Being a true story probably had something to do with the level of fear - it's always scarier when you can say "this actually happened to someone".

I did a little research after watching the movie because I wanted to know how the family felt about the movie portrayal, and while I couldn't find much, I did find an interview with one of the daughters who said after a private screening that while there were a few things she didn't recall, it was likely because the story was presented from the point of view of the Warrens (the paranormal investigators), and not from her family that lived in the house - but otherwise, she thought it was pretty much spot-on.

Did anyone else go and see The Conjuring, and if so, what did you think of it?

[holidayroad]

My husband wants to see it. We're planning to go this weekend. Thanks for writing about it!

[louielouie2000]

I've been reading about this movie & it's background for a while, and have been anxiously awaiting it's big screen debut. I bought reserved seats for a showing last night, but had to cancel them since I was under the weather. All of the glowing reviews have me anxious to cash in my rain check, though!

[madeline]

I am having a movie problem. I was going to go see this movie next weekend, but Wolverine is opening next weekend. I think I might go see The Conjuring on Saturday and then go with my 2 sons to see Wolverine on Sunday. That would work. I can't wait for either one. And yeah the critics seem to love The Conjuring. I happen to be a big Patrick Wilson fan also.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by madeline

I happen to be a big Patrick Wilson fan also.

Me too! For a long time I always confused him with Will Arnett.

I loved Patrick in Hard Candy.

[louielouie2000]

I finally saw the movie last night. I've gotta say, it was very disappointing. I guess nothing could live up to the amount of hype this movie had surrounding it. Visually, it was stunning... some of the prettiest cinematography I have ever seen in a movie. But the whole witch ghost possession thing was just ridiculously bad, and surprisingly cheesy in execution.

[Jondalar]

I liked the movie but didn't love it. It was better than a lot of newer horror movies. The new Evil Dead SUCKED

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I finally saw the movie last night. I've gotta say, it was very disappointing. I guess nothing could live up to the amount of hype this movie had surrounding it. Visually, it was stunning... some of the prettiest cinematography I have ever seen in a movie. But the whole witch ghost possession thing was just ridiculously bad, and surprisingly cheesy in execution.

Could you be more specific? It's based on true events - it might seem cheesy, but it's...well, real.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Could you be more specific? It's based on true events - it might seem cheesy, but it's...well, real.

I thought the visual image of the witch was really corny. It was just so stereotypical & unbelievable. This movie was supposedly about being scared of what you DON'T see, yet they sure showed the old hag an awful lot. And as soon as you saw her face, the movie lost all of it's suspense & believability, IMO.

I guess I just hoped this would be a plain, straight forward, old fashioned ghost story, too. If I would have known it was about posession... much less possession by a supposedly true witch who worshipped the devil, then I would have gone into the movie with much lower expectations. I'm open to the idea of ghosts, clairvoyants, mediums, etc. But when you start throwing possession & 300 year old devil warshipping witches turned demons into the mix, it just comes across as silly to me.

Which is weird, because my favorite scary movie is The Gift, which deals with a clairvoyant & has a couple of ghosts in it. Yet it comes across as utterly plausible to me. The Ninth Gate is another favorite movie, and it's subject matter is the devil & a supporting character is a demon. I think it's when you start throwing too many occult/supernatural things together in one pot that it just comes across as phony to me.

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Could you be more specific? It's based on true events - it might seem cheesy, but it's...well, real.

I think you have to be careful referring to any story involving the Warren's as "true events". The Amityville story has been debunked a million different ways, and the Lutzes attorney even stated that he and they made the whole story up one night over a bottle of wine. I'm not very familiar with the house or family from this film, but subsequent owners of both of this house and the Amityville house have never experienced any paranormal issues. I may go see it anyway because even though I doubt anything about it is real, it does look scary and so many horror movies these days are just about the shock of blood and guts.

[UnwoundDreams]

I'm going to see it this afternoon alone. I'm 16 and the film is rated 15 in the UK (our film rating system is very different to the USA's), so I'm expecting to be ID'd, even though I do have one. I've studied the Amityville case ever since I was nine and find the whole thimg fascinating, even if it did turn out to be a complete scam in the end. The Warrens have fascinated me too and only recently I've been researching into other cases they did (wasn't "The Haunting in Connecticut" one?).

I've heard a lot of stuff about this movie. 8/10 rating on IMDb . Now I don't tend to believe hype surrounding movies (I still haven't seen Avatar because of it) and it tends to put me off watching them. Has anyone seen the warning signs put up in the theatres about how disturbing the movie is and how people should take heed before watching it? I think it's all a stunt to promote the movie, but I've heard it's pretty scary. Maybe going alone wasn't the best of ideas...

I'll let you what I thought when I get back.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I thought the visual image of the witch was really corny. It was just so stereotypical & unbelievable.

That's true. I guess I was too 'in the moment' to think much about it at the time.

Originally Posted by paleshadow

I think you have to be careful referring to any story involving the Warren's as "true events".

One of the daughters of the family in The Conjuring has confirmed that the movie depicts events as she remembers them (I mentioned this in my first post). While I see your point, I would hardly take as true anything an attorney says - they routinely lie to get murderers and criminals acquitted. To this day, Lorraine Warren is terrified of that house and says she will never go near it. You don't invent stories and carry that much fear your whole life. I believe her about Amityville - and the Lutz's have never debunked their own story either. I think you have to be careful referring to any story invovling a lawyer as "true events".

See what I did there.

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

That's true. I guess I was too 'in the moment' to think much about it at the time.




One of the daughters of the family in The Conjuring has confirmed that the movie depicts events as she remembers them (I mentioned this in my first post). While I see your point, I would hardly take as true anything an attorney says - they routinely lie to get murderers and criminals acquitted. To this day, Lorraine Warren is terrified of that house and says she will never go near it. You don't invent stories and carry that much fear your whole life. I believe her about Amityville - and the Lutz's have never debunked their own story either. I think you have to be careful referring to any story invovling a lawyer as "true events".

See what I did there.

The lutzes made up the story because they couldn't afford the house. Don't know anything about this other family, but people lie for lots of reasons, you don't have to be a lawyer.

[UnwoundDreams]

That's true, Pale. The Lutzes had no idea what they were getting themselves into when buying a large Dutch Colonial house on Long Island; taxes and upkeep costs were just as high then as they are now. When they found that the bills were too much and they couldn't afford the house they abandoned it and made up a story to cash in on the DeFeo murders the year before and for their own personal gain.

For me, the real "Amityville Horror" was the murders and that's it.

I thought "The Conjuring" was great! I liked how they built up the suspense and the seriousness of the events. The middle onwards was so intense, especially (SPOILER ALERT) the exorcism scene on the mother and Lorraine falling into the cellar and her encounter with the spirits there. The only thing I didn't like was the whole Annabelle subplot - it really didn't add anything to the plot and it just didn't need to be there. If you do plan to see it, I wouldn't recommend going alone if you're sensitive - there are lot of jump scares and pretty disturbing scenes.

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by UnwoundDreams

That's true, Pale. The Lutzes had no idea what they were getting themselves into when buying a large Dutch Colonial house on Long Island; taxes and upkeep costs were just as high then as they are now. When they found that the bills were too much and they couldn't afford the house they abandoned it and made up a story to cash in on the DeFeo murders the year before and for their own personal gain.

For me, the real "Amityville Horror" was the murders and that's it.

I thought "The Conjuring" was great! I liked how they built up the suspense and the seriousness of the events. The middle onwards was so intense, especially (SPOILER ALERT) the exorcism scene on the mother and Lorraine falling into the cellar and her encounter with the spirits there. The only thing I didn't like was the whole Annabelle subplot - it really didn't add anything to the plot and it just didn't need to be there. If you do plan to see it, I wouldn't recommend going alone if you're sensitive - there are lot of jump scares and pretty disturbing scenes.

Yep. I still think the Amityville movie is scary though! Even Ron Defeyo Jr who murdered his family later admitted from prison that he made the whole story about hearing demonic voices up to help get him an insanity verdict. Plus the Lutzes have never been able to keep details of their story consistent from day one. So the way I look at it is that if the Lutzes based their story on DeFeyo's original statements, then we find out what DeFeyo said, by his own admission was a lie, and that's corroborated by others, it hurts the Warren's credibility for insisting they "felt" the spirits the Lutzes and DeFeyo before them, made up. I suppose they could coincidentally feel the presence of real spirits, just seems unlikely. The new owners removed the iconic windows, and even changed the street address to deter fans from finding the house and disturbing them. If I owned the house, I'd turn it into a bed and breakfast and make a ton of money!

Thanks for the review of The Conjuring! I do want to see it. I love scary movies, but don't like that so many now are just gory. I went to see the remake of The Evil Dead. Well, I didn't see too much of it because I couldn't look at most of it, it was that disgusting.