Plot

In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron move their family into a ramshackle Rhode Island farm house and very quickly strange things start happening, with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn reaches out to noted paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren to examine the house.

What the Warrens discover is grounds that are cursed – steeped in a satanic haunting that has targeted the Perron family for destruction. To save themselves and stop this evil, the Warrens must call upon all of their skill and reserves of spiritual strength.

Memorable Lines

Lorraine Warren: Do you remember the thing you said on our wedding night?
Ed Warren: Can we do it again?
Lorraine Warren: No! The other thing, that God brought us together for a reason.

****

Ed Warren: The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow.

****

April: When the music stops, you’ll see him in the mirror standing behind you.

****

Lorraine Warren: You have a lot of spirits in here, but there is one I’m most worried about because it is so hateful.

****

Lorraine Warren: She ran out to that tree by the dock, climbed up, proclaimed her love to Satan, cursed anyone who tried to take her land, and hung herself. Time of death was pronounced at 3:07 in the morning.
Ed Warren: Well, that explains a few things.

****

Ed Warren: We’ve been called ghost hunters. Paranormal researchers. Wackos.
Lorraine Warren: But we prefer to be known simply as Ed and Lorraine Warren.

****

Cindy: There’s a lady in a dirty nightgown that I see in my dreams. She’s standing in front of my mom’s bed.

****

Camilla: What’s an inhuman spirit?
Ed Warren: It’s something that’s never walked the Earth in human form. It’s something demonic.

****

Thoughts from the HauntedHouses.com team

Who’d’ve imagined that the director of Saw, James Wan, would emerge as the most inventive horror filmmaker working in the industry? He brilliantly harkens back to the long-lost retro days of horror, bringing us an extremely stylistic, visually striking horror film that stands firmly among the classics. Without sex, without gore, without profanity, The Conjuring earns its well-deserved R-rating on scares alone.

Set in 1971, The Conjuring tells the story of married paranormal researchers Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren, who lecture at colleges across the US on all the paranormal cases they’ve investigated. Now they’re thinking of retirement, but hold on, dear moviegoer, and cue the Perron family – parents Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn (Lili Taylor) are terrified for themselves and for their 5 daughters, insisting there’s something evil in their new Rhode Island home. Sure enough, the Warrens find that the Perrons are being targeted by something hideous and supernatural — but what is it? And what does it want?

The Conjuring is, quite simply, the most terrifyingly effective film we’ve seen in a very very long time.

It seems that most horror films these days peak somewhere in the middle; and more or less limp to the finish line. Not so The Conjuring, which comes with well-placed comic relief to bring you down from the intensity of its many scares in order to build the tension back up and wring the sweat and the fear from you all over again.

The scares, pacing, sound design and camera work are superb. Kudos to Wan and cinematographer John Leonetti for creating a fresh visual style that for once doesn’t rely on the shaky cam for its realism.

A common problem with films in this genre is their tendency to show too much of their demons and monsters. Wan himself has been guilty in this regard in such films as Insidious and Sinister. It cannot be said too often: fear of the unknown is the greatest thing a horror filmmaker has in his storytelling toolkit. In The Conjuring we have to wait for the apparitions and that is as it should be.

The Conjuring stands head and shoulders above most films in its genre. The acting is impressive, the practical effects are excellent, and the classic 70s feel Wan was clearly aiming for he achieved, in spades. This is a must-see film for paranormal movie aficionados.

VISIT GREAT HAUNTED HOTELS