The Conjuring

Plot synopsis:
In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron move into a dilapidated, old farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island with their five daughters. During the first day, the family moves in smoothly except for the dog, who refuses to come into the house. That night, the children play a game called hide-and-clap; while playing, one of the daughters finds the boarded up entrance to a cellar. After Roger inspects the basement with a match, the family goes to bed. Carolyn expresses concern because the dog is barking outside, and one of the daughters feels someone pulling at her feet.In the morning, Carolyn wakes up with a mysterious bruise and their dog Sadie, is found dead. Over the next couple of days, various paranormal activities occur; doors open and close seemingly by themselves and Carolyn hears clapping when nobody is there. At night, their young daughter Cindy sleepwalks into the eldest daughter's bedroom, where she bangs her head repeatedly against an old wardrobe. The activity culminates in the eldest daughter being attacked by a spirit that looks like an elderly woman.
Carolyn seeks the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren, noted paranormal investigators, to validate their concerns. Lorraine senses that a particular malevolent spirit has latched on to the family. They conduct an initial investigation, and conclude they should get involved, explaining to the Perron family that the house may require an exorcism. However, this cannot be done without further evidence and authorization from the Catholic Church.During the process of researching the house's history, Ed and Lorraine find out that the house belonged to an accused witch, Bathsheba. When Bathsheba's husband caught her sacrificing their week-old infant, she climbed to the top of a tree on the property, cursed all those who would take her land, and proclaimed her love for Satan before committing suicide. This is followed by reports found of numerous murders and suicides in houses that have since been built upon the property.Ed and Lorraine return to the house with a police officer, and another paranormal investigator, Drew. They set up thermal cameras, and alarm systems throughout the house in an attempt to prove the spirit of Bathsheba is inhabiting the house and receive authorization from the Catholic Church. For the first night, nothing happens, and the clocks do not stop at 3:07AM. The next day, they all eat breakfast together and Roger Perron thanks Ed Warren for doing what they can to help. Ed explains that with every exorcism they do, a little piece of his wife Lorraine is taken, but he promises they will do what they can to help them.During another night of investigation, nothing seems to happen until nightfall, when Cindy begins to sleepwalk again. While walking upstairs, thermal cameras observe a temperature drop around her as she enters into the wardrobe, whereupon the door slams shut behind her. The others force their way into the room and find a secret passage behind the wardrobe. After Cindy is taken out, Lorraine enters the wardrobe and falls through the floor boards down into the cellar. There, she sees the spirits of people whom Bathsheba has possessed, and realizes Bathsheba's purpose: to possess mothers and use them to kill their children.After Lorraine escapes the cellar, she and Ed take their evidence to Father Gordan to organize an exorcism while the Perron family takes refuge at a hotel. Their relief is interrupted when Carolyn suddenly drives back to the house with two of the daughters. Ed and Lorraine rush to the house, where they find Roger and the police officer struggling with Carolyn as she tries to stab one of her daughters with a pair of scissors. Ed suggests they call the priest, but Lorraine reminds him that the priest is too far away, forcing Ed to perform the exorcism himself. While the others hold the tormented Carolyn down, Ed continues the exorcism.Carolyn seemingly stops struggling, and for a brief moment it seems the excorism was successful. Suddenly, her chairs flips over end and she is held upside down. Ed yells for the demon to put her down, and after a few tense moments, she is released onto the ground. Ed rushes over to Carolyn, and tells the demon to leave her body. Carolyn slowly turns to Ed and says, "She's already gone.".Meanwhile, Drew finds April hiding under the floorboards in the kitchen. He yells down the cellar that he found her, and this alerts the Demon inside Carolyn and she dashes up cellar stairs to find April, in order to complete the sacrifice. Ed and Lorraine Warren, along with Roger, rush up the stairs after her in order to stop her from going through with it. The possessed Carolyn chases after April thru a tunnel underneath the floorboards. Carolyn grabs a hold of April, but at the same time, Lorraine reaches down through the floor and grabs Carolyns head. She tells Carolyn to remember how much her family means to her, and to remember what she told her about how special they were to her and that they mean the world to her, and what she would leave behind if she went through with it. This seems to get through to Carolyn, as her face relaxes, and her breathing returns to normal. The demonic presence in her eyes seems to fade, and she puts April down.The scene changes to Carolyn being helped out of the front door, to a now sunny morning. As she crosses from threshold of the door into the sunlight, the bruises on her skin fade away and she returns to her normal self. Roger and Carolyn rejoice with their family in the front yard, embracing one another, knowing that it's finally over.After they ward off the demon at the Perron household, the Warrens return to their home. The scene cuts to Ed Warren entering his room of possessed objects and artifacts. He places the old music box from the house on an empty space on a shelf. Lorraine enters the room, and they leave together. After a few seconds, the music box starts to play on its own, and the camera slowly pans back to the music box. The camera zooms in on the mirror of the open music box, and the music slowly comes to a stop. The screen cuts to black, and the credits roll.

Tags: paranormal, horror, haunting, flashback, suspenseful, prank

Review:
Wan understands the psychology behind tension and builds suspense through mere scene construction.While obviously taking notes from the Exorcist and The Amityville Horror, the inspiration for this film derives from real case files from the Warren's, which is still their most famous case to date.
One thing I've always loved about James Wan is how he manages to take something so unoriginal, like the haunted-house- possession story in this case, and shows it to us like we've never seen it before.The scares, pacing, sound design and camera work can only be described as precise.
Letting us use our imagination is what makes this film truly horrifying, and I think horror filmmakers should be taking notes from Mr. Wan.This film is everything I wanted it to be and more, my only complaint about the movie isn't even something wrong with the film.
I appreciate James Wan's films, I love the first Saw, Insidious was a damn good modern ghost story, but like all reviews have stated for it, the movie kinda loses it's momentum in the final act.The Conjuring is better, scarier, and more tense than Insidious.
But all I know is James Wan's The Conjuring is one of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time, and it's been a really long time that a movie has scared me this badly.10/10 Don't miss this one, it's an amazing theater viewing experience..
"Don't summon the devil, don't call the priest ..."I was one of a lucky few to have seen The Conjuring at a preview screening for FrightFest 2013.I went in totally cold, not having seen a trailer, nor knowing anything about the story or plot and it turned out to be one of the best scary horror movies I have ever seen.The Conjuring is a nail-biting, hiding-behind-hands movie.
In fairly Amityville-like circumstances, a family move into a new house and discover the basement is sealed; boarded-up behind a doorway.It's not at all surprising what follows, once they decide to take a look in the basement but it is surprising how James Wan has managed to take such a tired theme of haunting and possession and revive it so convincingly.I am no stranger to these kind of movies but this one truly tops them all for tension and terror.
Free of gore and sex, this was automatically going to alienate a good portion of the lustful members of the horror fan base, but for those who like their horror served with appetising scares and a cauldron of suspense, then this delivers plenty to your particular table.Forget the "based on a true story" tag, since it's kind of irrelevant in this new technological age, it's a selling gimmick that actually means "this story might be true and we might have played with it a bit".
Regardless of hoax charges and embellishments, just buy into the premise, commit to it as a scary story in the same way as director James Wan has, for then the rewards are there for the compliant.Story essentially is based around an investigation in the early seventies by paranormal specialists Ed and Lorraine Warren, who aided the Perron family as they were victims of dreadful supernatural events at their Rhode Island home.
Naturally all the cliché conventions of the haunted house movie are here, strange smells, creaky doors, ominous cellar and etc, yet these are supplemented with Wan's talented knack for a good scare and a very effective production design.
John Leonetti's cinematography has Gothic textures, both in the house and outside of the lakeside farmhouse, while the strong lead cast of Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston come up trumps for sure.Met with critical and box office success, The Conjuring justifies its reputation as a superb haunted house movie.
"The Conjuring" is a high class horror film, its hard not to be scared by it, we care for the characters and the story is compelling enough to make you feel interested the whole time.Based on true life events, Ed and Lorraine Warren are paranormal investigators set to help a family terrorized by a demon, said to be one of the most terrifying cases of their lives which they hadn't shared with anyone...until now.First of all, I loved that it takes place in the 70's, I agree completely with director James Wan's point of view that it is almost impossible to make a horror film set in the present.
For example, the teenage daughters of the haunted family would be taking pictures of the demons with their iphones and would be posting them on posting them on instagram, basically the demons would turn into the victims and the humans would be the bad guys.The movie isn't perfect though, there are a few plot holes in it, but still it does have some great scares in it that had me jumping out my seat and I liked the way it builds up tension and lets us know the characters before it starts with all the craziness.
Thank you James Wan for this great movie and good luck with Fast & Furious 7.I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a great horror film, I guess it gives the feeling audiences must have felt when watching "The Exorcist", "Don't Look Now", or Poltergeist" for the first time..
James Wan's 'The Conjuring' is one of those rare gems in the horror industry that finds a spot beside the classic titles of horror, 'The Shining', 'Poltergeist', and 'The Exorcist' due to James Wan's ability to balance an atmospheric dreadful tale involving wonderfully crafted characters with a haunted house that had my palms sweating and my heart pounding during some of the most horrifying moments (There are a few of those; make sure you empty your bladder BEFORE entering the theater).The things that make 'The Shining', 'Poltergeist', and 'The Exorcist' good is that if the editor were to chop out all the jump-scares and those sequences that fry an image into your brain, you would still have a moody, edgy story that makes you sympathies for the characters and their struggle.
Yet, Wan realizes here that jump scares aren't what moves a story along, but what defines that classic image everyone gets in their head when someone talks about a certain horror movie that frightened them the most, kind of like a celebrity's autograph in the corner of a huge poster of their face.All of this hence to say, "The Conjuring" is an exceptional piece of film that pulls all the right stops to frighten the audience, leaving a lasting impression on your mind as well the recently tired genre of horror.Movie Score: 10/10!.
It also opens a door for becoming quite a paranormal investigator myself, looking up for all the details mentioned in the movie, and getting amazed by it' accuracy.This film it's made to become a new classic in the horror genre, not only because it's quality, but because it's fright factor.The first half of the movie it's paced down, let you know and love the characters.
Time can only tell when a movie like this will come out again but we know now that James Wan is one of the best horror directors of our time..
The Warrens side is a fascinating little exposition of their daily life and job, while the Perrons are introduced like any typical horror film that has a haunted house and family in it, the danger is slow burn until they get to realize they needed help.
The Conjuring is an excellent,scary and suspenseful Supernatural Horror film that combines amazing direction,a great cast,non-stop terror and a creepy,intense score elements that make The Conjuring a great Horror film and is James Wan at his best.Based on a true story and set in 1971,The Conjuring tells the story of Carolyn and Roger Perron(Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston)who along with their five daughters have moved into a new house on the countryside of Rhode Island.
With nowhere to turn,the Perron's ask for the help of Lorraine and Ed Warren(Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson),paranormal investigators to get rid of the evil spirits and save their family.The Conjuring is an amazing and frightening Supernatural Horror film that right from the beginning puts viewers on edge giving people a scary and emotional experience that no one will ever forget.
The Conjuring is also an old school Horror movie in the truest sense because it's a movie that takes us back to the Supernatural Horror films of the 1970s and 80s combining a ghost story with a demonic possession story mixing together and combining elements of classics such as The Shining(1980),Poltergeist(1982),The Haunting(1963)with The Exorcist(1973)and The Evil Dead(1982).
The jump scares are not just in The Conjuring because it's a Horror movie but are in the film because they have meaning and power.
Another thing that I love about The Conjuring is the way the movie uses atmosphere to make the movie scary using the darkness,haunting sounds and the characters reactions to the chaos going on all around which adds to the film's dark tone and the movie works greatly without blood and gore(although there is a couple of bloody moments in the film).
You can almost say that The Conjuring is a continuation of James Wan's other haunted house movie before this one the terrific Insidious which shares some similarities with this film.
One of the great things about The Conjuring is that this film is more of a character driven Horror movie like The Exorcist,Poltergeist or The Sixth Sense because with The Conjuring there is enough time and length for viewers to get to know the main characters in the Warren's and Parron's.
I love that the movie takes it's time with build-up not only with the scares and suspense but also with the characters which in my opinion makes the movie effective and makes The Conjuring a great and remarkable film.
Memorable score,Bishara.In final word,if you love Horror Films,Supernatural movies or James Wan,I highly suggest you see The Conjuring,an excellent,scary and suspenseful Horror film that is James Wong at his best.
I waxed on about how I missed being scared by Freddy and Jason and was thus disappointed year after year by the new horror offerings.So it was suggested, by those a decade younger than I, that I partake in this particular film.While I am not completely disappointed, evidenced by the fact that I was able to sit through an entire viewing without being disgusted by poor plot development, I was nonetheless met with the tired old trope of modern Christian mythology being the centerpiece of the storyline.In short, if you still cling to such ridiculous beliefs, you will likely find this movie entertaining.
"Horror" films are so predictable these days & this effort is no exception,the movie is set in the same kind of setting used countless times before, a run down house in the country side by a lake you just know what's going to happen & of course there was the usual creaking & slamming doors, thunder & lighting, blood pouring from eyes, a TV with no signal, a frightened little girl, a bit of filming like they did in the Blair witch film, religious crosses falling over & the usual Latin reading from a book during a truly awful exorcism.This was 2 hours of my life i've lost.
None of the users reviews comment upon the fact that this "movie" is just a bad rip-off from several horror classics: "The Changeling", "The Exorcist", "Poltergeist", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Sixth Sense", "The Lengend of Hell House", "The Entity", "Curse of the Demon", "Amityville Horror", "The Innocents", "The Haunting",...
Lorraine and Ed bring his friends Drew (Shannon Kook) and Brad (John Brotherton) to help them to collect evidences to convince the Church that it is necessary an exorcism to save The Perron family from evil."The Conjuring" is the scariest movie of haunted house and exorcism that I have seen in years and the best horror movie after "Insidious".
The director James Wan, from "Insidious", makes another great horror movie using the usual clichés of the genre but with high quality.
This movie has such a high rating that I felt like it was time to toss in my two cents, and for the first time because of how BAD a film was, particularly when considered in light of how GOOD it's SUPPOSED to be.
I watched this movie yesterday and it started like any other horror movie in recent years "after a true story", in an old house, unfortunate family and so on.
There's plenty of people filming events during the movie, and you're left with a feeling of "if this was a real paranormal investigation, the only reason for not using real footage is that it's all fake".The only time the real family comes into the picture is a couple of family photos, on the end credits.As other users have mentioned, the ghost scenes are highly exaggerated, way too violent, again contributing to the overall disappointment of what was supposed to be a "real" ghost story.So after you get used to the idea that this is just another lame ghost movie, you're left with half decent performances from Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, and you're left sighing for Insidious.There's basically one scary scene in the movie, the hide-and-seek+clap game.
Last thing you want to do is to believe that this was based on real life events....The jump scares were as predictable as it gets and the plots are being twisted for no particular reason with no positive outcome in any one of themThe only good thing is that the movie gives you an insight into the paranormal world and does it quite effectively, I personally kind of wanted to go and read more about demonology.
Haunted house/demon possession tale, allegedly based upon the exploits of real-life "paranormal investigators" Ed and Lorraine Warren, whose supernatural findings at one such house allegedly inspired the book "The Amityville Horror" (just as this film was obviously inspired by everything from "The Exorcist" to "Poltergeist").
Another creepy film in which keeps horror with yet another haunted house that causes creepy goings-on in a family such as the followings classic pictures : the original ¨Exorcist¨ film (by Friedkin) that spawned a wave of demonic possession movies that continues unabated today as ¨Changeling¨ (by Peter Medak), ¨Amytiville ¨(by Stuart Rosemberg) are two further examples of this sub-genre .
Paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson , this movie marks the third collaboration between James Wan and Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) work to help the family terrorized by a dark presence and ghastly mysteries in their farmhouse .
Based on real events , in fact Lorraine Warren and Andrea Perron served as consultants to director James Wan and the screenwriters , they both claim the movie is accurate to the real story of what happened to the Perrons during the 10 years they lived in the farm house ; as they investigated the Perrons' Rhode Island farmhouse in 1973 and 1974 .
The Warrens face a terrifying battle against a demon unwilling to leave...One thing you can expect from a James Wan film is quality, with an impressive collection of horror titles behind him, disappointment was never an option.
another quality horror movie from James Wan. Director James Wan has really come into his own with 2013's "The Conjuring." He teams up again with actor Patrick Wilson (they collaborated on 2010's INSIDIOUS), to tell the story of a normal family who moved into a house in 1971, and the spirits that haunt the house and then the family.
Like much and more of modern Horror, The Conjuring first arrived on a wave of flashy advertising, gleaming critic's reviews and a swarm of gore- junkie theater-goers prematurely high off the cheap jump-scares and flash- terror to come.
Is worth going to see this movie at the theater, barely just made it over my criteria for paying to go to a theater and watch a movie, it is entertaining and has some good scary and original scenes, let's face it no horror movie comes close to the exorcist but this one sure gives it run for it's money, is hard to make a scary movie, but since it is a true story it makes it a better movie, the acting is good and the movie is well written, it starts slow but it picks up momentum and then we get to the god parts and they are continuous, for the most part is a good horror movie a little better than average worth seeing and you will get a few moments when you get some goose bumps, you will get your money's worth with this one..
Hell, I wouldn't even believe that Ed and Lorraine Warren were real people, if I didn't already know it!This movie is full of jump scares, and creepy 'what just past behind me' setups, combined with shitty dialogue and so-so acting.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good horror film; especially one that doesn't cling to the modernist jump- scare paradigm, but rather builds terror around suspense and immersively- felt danger.But I will never watch this movie except out of morbid curiosity and to justify my disdain for it.
The film primarily utilizes the old bag of tricks for scares very effectively, creating a terrifying atmosphere of bloodless scaremongering.Set in the 1970s, "The Conjuring" tells the story of husband-and-wife demonologists Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson), and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), who are best known for their case involving the Amityville Horror, and are now investigating the secluded Harrisville, Rhode Island home of Carolyn and Roger Perron (Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston.) The family has recently moved into the house with their five daughters (Shanley Caswell, Hayley McFarland, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy and Kyla Deaver), and have begun experiencing a series of unexplained occurrences.
The concept is no different from two other decent horror movies in recent years, Insidious and Paranormal Activity, which both have a family's house being haunted by ghosts.
It's been quite some time since I've seen a film as seriously creepy and spine-tingling as the paranormal horror film, THE CONJURING (2013), from director James Wan (Saw, Insidious).