The
Conjuring Universe
The Conjuring Universe is a series of films based
on the exploits of real life occult investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. It
began with the first film starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the
couple. Whether or not these films are faithful to the actual Ed and Lorraine
cases, I’ll leave that to any paranormal investigators out there to decide.
It has so far spawned
prequels, sequels, spin offs, and based on its success, there are more
installments to come. It is the second highest grossing horror franchise ever
(sorry, no one is beating Godzilla).The franchise proves that horror is by far
the most profitable genre of films but it has so far avoided the pitfalls of the
cynical Hollywood cookie cutter system. Effort has been made to bring back
reoccurring cast members and characters and there has been a consistency to the
tone and themes.
2013
Director- James Wan
Cast- Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili
Taylor
This is a
pretty typical haunted house story. Ron Livingston (Office Space and Band of
Brothers) and Lili Taylor (who I loved as Paula Klaw in The Notorious Bettie Page) are the Perron’s, parents of five
daughters who have just moved into their new dream home. Unbeknownst to them,
the home’s first inhabitant was a witch who sacrificed her baby to Satan and
her spirit curses the land that the home is own. The Perron’s are just the latest
victims to the witch’s curse which has stretched over a century.
The
family is terrorized by demonic attacks which escalate in ferocity. The Warrens
are eventually called in to investigate. In stories like this I always wonder
why the family doesn’t leave. I mean, no amount of lost money is worth that,
right? This film at least provides a logical plot device. Lorraine explains
that leaving the home won’t matter as the evil spirit has latched on to the
family and it would follow them anywhere they went. So, as running isn’t the
solution, the house must be cleansed.
The
movie never fully explains, but hints at, some past experience the Warrens had
where Lorraine, who is psychically sensitive, had some kind of close call with
evil and it almost unhinged her. The threat to her loss of sanity, and possibly
soul, is a nice twist to the usual threat to life and limb found in these
stories.
The
director, James Wan (who also did the original Saw) is an adept horror director, with dark moody scenes interspersed
with appropriately timed gotcha moments. The
Conjuring is not the most original horror movie you’ll see but it is well
made and very scary in places.
The
Conjuring 2
2016
Director- James Wan
Cast- Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Madison Wolfe, Frances
O'Connor, Bonnie Aarons
First
off, you’ll want to watch this film at night, or in a windowless room, not
because it heightens the mood, but because much of the film is shot in the dark
and even the slightest bit of sunlight peeping into your room pretty much makes
it impossible to see what’s happening. Now that that PSA is behind, us on with
the show.
In this
3rd installment of the franchise (but second in the Ed and Lorraine
story line) the couple is investigating another haunted house, this time in
England. Another house full of girls (these demons seem to have a thing for
that I guess) is being terrorized. This time the attacks focus on one of the
daughters, Janet. At first Janet is just being harassed by the spirit but later
becomes possessed by it. It seems like the house is being haunted by the ghost
of an old man who died there, but any student of the occult will know something
is up when the “ghost” so casually tells people its name.
Meanwhile,
Lorraine is being haunted by a vision of a demonic nun and a premonition of her
husband’s death. She takes this as a warning that it’s time to get out of the
demon hunting business. Ed, however, has a soft spot for the troubled family,
so they agree to help. I don’t want to tell you more for fear of spoiling the
surprise, though, like I said, any occultists out there will have probably
figured it out before the end of the film.
Part 2
is definitely an improvement over the first movie. Though the plot is close to
the same, this seems better realized, possibly due to the extra 20 minutes of
story time. Also, the relationship between Ed and Lorraine is more important in
this story.
Like the
first film, it has some genuinely scary moments. As you’ll have to watch the
film in the dark, you may not want to watch it by yourself. Added bonus for
long time horror fans; this film begins in the house from Amityville Horror.
How’s that for full circle!
The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do it
2021
Director- Michael Chaves
Cast- Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ruairi O'Connor, Sarah
Catherine Hook, Eugenie Bondurant, John Noble, Sterling Jerins
This
movie was inspired by a real life court case, involving the Warrens. In 1981,
the Warrens participated in the exorcism of an 11 year old boy. According to
witnesses, at the conclusion of the exorcism, the demon left the boy and went
into another person present, Arne Johnson. Several months later, Arne killed
his landlord. Arne’s defense was that he was possessed.
The film
begins with those events and then follows the Warrens as they try to prove that
Arne was possessed. It takes a departure from the two previous Conjuring films
where they were dealing with haunted houses. Here, the forces of evil are being
directed against them by a shadowy occultist, kind of their opposite number.
It has a
dark ambiance and doesn’t rely too much on cheap jump scares. By this point, if
you’ve been following the franchise, you know Ed and Lorraine pretty well, so
not much time is spent on developing their characters. There were some efforts
to make them look a little older. Lord of the Rings fans will be glad to see
John Noble as a former priest whose knowledge of the occult is just a bit too
deep.
The film
was shot in 2019, but like a lot of other films, sat on the shelf collecting
dust during the Covid-19 epidemic. I think the wait hurt most of those films as
either people lost interest or the films couldn’t possibly live up to a year’s
worth of anticipation. I don’t think the wait had much effect on Conjuring 3.
Maybe it’s because after so many films in the franchise, the viewer already has
a pretty good idea of what to expect.
2014
Director- John R. Leonetti
Cast- Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard, Tony
Amendola, Eric Ladin
John and Mia are a
young married couple. John is a doctor starting his residency. Mia
is 9 months pregnant, ready to pop, and the owner of a creepy doll collection.
They are attacked by some Manson type cultists. One of the cultists is
Annabelle Higgins, the daughter of their next door neighbors that had run off
to join the cult. Mia is stabbed but survives. The police save her but not
before Annabelle kills herself holding one of Mia’s dolls.
Mia understandably is
reluctant to stay in the home ,but does so anyway. She keeps having a strange
feeling about that doll and asks her husband to throw it away. He does and the
next night the house catches on fire.
Mia gives birth and she and John
move to a large apartment and while unpacking what do they find, lo and behold,
the Annabelle doll. Instead of being properly freaked the hell out, the shrug
their shoulders and move on. At this point the movie takes on the traditional
haunted house formula. Mia sees demons, those demons try to kill her baby, and
of course, her husband isn’t around to see any of it.
Mia finds a book at her
local bookstore that helps her figure out that Annabelle’s cult was trying to
conjure a demon and that its some kind of Satanic force that stalks her. You know,
it’s funny, how easily people dig up such specific occult information in the movies.
Oh, Satanic hauntings? Aisle four.
I’ve got to be honest; I’ve never been a big
fan of creepy doll movies. Even Chucky only marginally appealed to me. Yes, I
know blasphemy. I just say that to say, maybe I’m not the most objective person
here. Annabelle has some scary
moments but for the most part it’s very formulaic. It checks all the blocks;
mom at home alone, creepy sounds, the afore mentioned books, the helpful
stranger that seems to know an awful lot, the clergy involvement etc. The
ending does have a little bit of a twist but I think the main reason to watch
this is just to stay in the loop of the series. Of course, some people just
like creepy doll movies.
Annabelle:
Creation
2017
Director- David F. Sandberg
Cast- Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Anthony LaPaglia,
Miranda Otto, Lulu Wilson, Bonnie Aarons
This
movie is a prequel to Annabelle which
I guess makes it a pre-prequel to The
Conjuring (a pre-sequel?). I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t we see
the origin of Annabelle in the last film? Ha! You only thought you did.
It
begins with another happily married couple, Anthony LaPaglia (star of
the hilarious vampire-mobster-horror-comedy Innocent
Blood) and Miranda Otto (Eowyn from Lord
of the Rings and the more sinister auntie from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) are the proud parents of a little girl. Samuel (LaPaglia) is a doll
maker, and guess what his most in demand creation is? Their daughter is killed
in an accident that leaves them grief stricken.
Fast
forward a few years and a group of orphaned little girls are moving into that
home (as we have already learned, terrorizing a house full of girls is the Conjuring’s MO). They are led by a young
nun, Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman who by the way played the exceedingly
sexy Valeria Vélez in Narcos and I
don’t think I would have guessed in a million years that it was her). Of the
orphaned girls, the two youngest are best friends, Janice and Linda (Talitha
Bateman and Lulu Wilson, who is probably
the youngest scream queen ever having already done 3 horror movies by the
tender age of 12).
It
becomes obvious early on in the film that there is a dark power at work in the
house and it has its sights set on the two young girls, but to the film’s
credit, it is not immediately obvious what that power is. Is it the spirit of
the couple’s dead daughter? Is it a demon living in the house? Perhaps
something else entirely? There are some hints that it might be the demon nun
from The Conjuring 2 but I won’t
spoil it for you.
The film
has lots of scary moments. Like its predecessors, most of the action takes
place in the dark, and is a little hard to see. We get to see more of the demon
in its demon form here than I think we have in the previous films. Though the
plot is a little thin, the movie is carried by the performances of the two
young actresses. With a total of 28 years of life experience between the two of
them ,they do remarkably well to keep
you interested in the story.
Annabelle
Comes Home
2019
Director- Gary Dauberman
Cast- Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Patrick
Wilson, Vera Farmiga
The next
pre-sequel in the Annabelle story line features not Ed and Lorraine verses the
evil doll, but rather their daughter, trapped in the house. What sounds like a
terrible version of Home Alone, is
actually a pretty good installment in the franchise and a fun, creepy film.
The
story takes place a year after the Warrens have brought the doll home and
locked it up their repository of evil. They are away for the weekend (exorcist
conference at the Poconos maybe?) leaving their daughter (Mckenna Grace) with
the babysitter (Madison Iseman). Their daughter knows better than to mess
around with the evil artifacts, but the babysitter’s best friend (Katie Sarife
looking very Danielle Harris-ish) is more than curious. She lost her dad and is
looking for some kind of connection to the hereafter and goes snooping around.
She sets
Annabelle free. The doll, rather than main menace of the film, sets loose the
evil spirits trapped by the Warrens, including a malicious ghost, a demon, and
a Hell Hound among others. The girls have to survive while trying to get
Annabelle locked back up.
Like Annabelle Creation, the story relies on
some young actresses to sell it and they do a good job. The film has the creepy
ambiance you’ve come to expect from the franchise. The villainous entities are
interesting and original. The best of the Annabelle films.
2018
Director- Corin Hardy
Cast- Taissa Farmiga, Demián Bichir, Jonas Bloquet, Bonnie
Aarons
This
prequel tells the story of the demon that plagues the Warrens in The Conjuring 2. A priest (Damien
Bichir, Mexican Bob in The Hateful Eight
and who also appeared in Perdita Durango)
who specializes in investigating supernatural occurrences is dispatched to a
Romanian convent to look into a suicide and determine if the ground there is
still hallowed. Helping him is a young sister in training who has yet to take
her vows and has a history of visions (Taissa Famiga, real life sister to Vera
from The Conjuring and to my shame ,
through the whole movie I kept saying,
she sure looks like Vera and never realized it was her sister).
Well,
the convent is definitely no longer a house of God. A demon that has been
imprisoned there since the Middle Ages has broken free and its evil is
spreading. There’s no need to spoil the surprises for you but you can probably
assume they don’t meet with total success since The Nun appears later in the
film series.
Though
faithful to the franchise, it differs in a few ways. First off, I could see
most of it. Though almost all of the film takes place at night, it’s not always
pitch black like other installments in the franchise. Plus where the other
films only gave glimpses of the evil, The
Nun seems to relish the opportunity to showcase its Satanic creations. In
particular Bonnie Aarons gets to show off the Nun make up in a few places.
The
story was formulaic and a little silly in places (The Faberge Egg of Christ, I’ll
say no more), but it gave me plenty of scares and lots of ambiance and some
memorable visuals. I was more than satisfied with this installment and hope
these characters find their way into future stories. Like the best horror
villains, the Nun has grown beyond her movies becoming a horror culture icon. I
can’t wait for the next installment in the Nun saga.
The Nun 2
2023
Director- Michael Chaves
Cast- Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Bonnie Aarons, Storm
Reid, Anna Popplewell, Katelyn Rose Downey
This
installment in the franchise continues the battle between Taiessa Farmiga and
Bonnie Aarons. This time The Nun is haunting a girl’s boarding school (continuing
the long Conjuring tradition of houses full of women in peril).
It was
directed by Michael Chaves who has done other films in the franchise, so he is familiar
with the material. However, two things keep it from being as good as its predecessor.
First, we don’t get to see The Nun as much. Second, the setting for the first
film, a abbey in the mountains complete with haunted graveyard, gave it a
Gothic, almost old school Italian horror feel. The change of location in this
one does take the edge off the horror a bit.
An
entertaining film for those who are fans of the first Nun. You should probably
skip it if you haven’t seen the first as it is a direct sequel and you might
not understand what’s happening.
The
Curse of La Llorona
2019
Director- Michael Chaves
Cast- Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velásquez,
Roman
Christou, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen, Marisol Ramirez, Tony Amendola,
From the
home of Santa Muerte, La Llorona is one of the most famous folk tales in
Mexico, and several movies have been made over the past 90 years of the weeping
lady. In short, it is the tale of a woman spurned by her lover and in a fit of
anger or grief, drowns her children. Now she seeks new children to replace the
ones she murdered.
This
story, which takes place after Annabelle
and the first Conjuring, begins with Anna,
a social worker (Linda Cardellini) ,who has to take the children out of the
home of a woman who appears crazed and has locked the children in a closet.
Unbeknownst to Anna, the mother (Patricia Velásquez whom genre fans will
recognize as the sexy Anck-Su-Namun from The
Mummy franchise) was actually trying to protect her children from the
vengeful spirit of La Llorona. Outside of their mother’s protection, the kids
soon fall prey to her and are drowned. Little does Anna know, that the evil
spirit has set her sights on Anna’s kids as well.
She
realizes somethings wrong when her kids show strange burns on their arms, the
mark of La Llorona;s touch. In a bit of irony, she herself is investigated by
child services due to suspected child abuse. She turns to the church and
consults a priest ( Tony Amendola, reprising his role from Annabelle). He tells her that the church can’t help but refers her
to a former priest turned occult investigator and spiritualist (Raynond Cruz
who most fans will know from Breaking Bad
and Better Call Saul, but to me will
always be Ding Chavez, the sniper from Clear
and Present Danger). He helps her fight La Llorona when the spirit shows up
to steal her children.
This is a
relatively small scale story and it is probably the most straightforward of the
franchise. The ending felt rushed and I have the feeling there were about 15 minutes that got left on an editing room floor. It still manages some creepiness
and scares. As it takes its cue from folklore, it has a different feel than the Catholic inspired evil of the rest of the franchise. Elements of folk horror find their way mixed in. Like other entries in the franchise it focuses on a mother
trying to protect her family from invading evil, but adds the twist of another
mother, the evil spirit, being the menace. It’s also the first film to feature
a ghost rather than a demon, though they make the point that La Llorona has been
forsaken by God, so maybe that makes her a sort of de facto fiend.
The Conjuring (2013)
Annabelle (2014)
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
Annabelle: Creation (2017)
The Nun (2018)
The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
The Conjuring 3 (2021)
The Nun 2 (2023)
If you are wanting a different viewing experience, below
is the order in which the movie takes place:
The Nun (1952)
Annabelle Creation (1955)
The Nun 2 (1956)
Annabelle (1967)
The Conjuring (1971)
Annabelle Comes Home (1972)
The Curse of La Llorona (1973)
The Conjuring 2 (1977)
The Conjuring 3 (1981)
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