My Thoughts On The Conjuring

Let’s talk about The Conjuring.

The latest spin of the “Wheel of Death” at Little Bracket of Horrors ( https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903709 ) gave the team, The Conjuring.

Before I talk about the movie, I want to talk about my experiences with the two real life paranormal investigators from which this movie takes inspiration. For a long time, I was a paranormal investigator based out of Maryland. I prided myself in taking the scientific method into account during any investigation of the unknown, something most groups tend to ignore.

For decades, Ed and Lorraine Warren were considered the foremost in paranormal investigation by many. But not by me. They always seemed to show up at just the right time in highly publicized cases to appear to be experts to the media. The Amityville Horror case would have been debunked much sooner if Ed and Lorraine hadn’t inserted themselves into the case early on. It was clear the Lutzes were going for a money grab until the Warrens stuck their noses into it. And then it was all about demons, demons, everywhere. They always, always, declared the phenomenon as some sort of evil demon when there was no evidence to support that conclusion.

In college, I had the “pleasure” of meeting them when they came to my campus to talk about their experiences. I found them highly superstitious and anti-science. They talked about players of the game Dungeons and Dragons (of which I was an avid player) as if they were all satanists conjuring evil demons to fight a holy war against the church. The game is entirely imaginary. It is simply a form of storytelling. I found the Warren’s entire thought process was based on religion and not intellect. And quite frankly, I was a little offended by their stance on things.

I’ll give Ed and Lorraine props for bringing the paranormal to a modern audience after decades of influence from the spiritualist movement. That praise, though, is tempered in my mind by a reactionary and non-scientific approach which ultimately hurts the investigative community as a whole.

All of this has colored by views of what is a perfectly good horror movie, The Conjuring.

The Conjuring tells the story of the Lutzes, ulp sorry, the Perrons who move into an old house and quickly begin experiencing paranormal phenomenon. Their daughter is pulled from the bed by some unseen force. Strange knocking sounds are heard throughout the house. A secret entrance to a hidden room is discovered. The younger daughter is seeing a young boy though one of her toys. After a particularly frightening incident, the family calls in Ed and Lorraine Warren (who for some reason keep haunted and cursed items in their house instead of destroying them).

Ed and Lorraine are portrayed as a loving couple who God has called to help people who are fighting Satan’s army and may not even know it. From my experience and study of them, they were opportunists and media hounds. I understand though the movie’s characters are different from the real life people. The film Warrens are characters you want to like.

In its essence, this movie is a clone of The Amityville Horror with a bit more of the The Exorcist mixed in and even a scene very reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Overall, it’s not a bad film. I give it about three and half stabs.

The movie is enjoyable but please don’t take the film as showing the Warrens as they really were.