Scary movies based on, or inspired by, true stories are rarer and more controversial than you may think. One of them I am still a little perplexed over is the 1998 film “The Conjuring,” the story of a young couple’s encounter with a young female demon they believe to be the spirit of their unborn child.
The film, the second in the Conjuring universe, took over $250 million worldwide off a simple $15 million budget, and it’s still on the New York Post’s “the most talked-about movie in America” list.
Here are five reasons why you may want to reconsider this one.
1) It seems like the whole film is set in a fake house of worship, not only did the filmmakers actually make it, but they did so in the most ridiculous way possible.
2) It has a creepy, almost evil quality to it, and I think it was done intentionally – it made me think about how similar the movie was to “Paranormal Activity,” which I guess has been mentioned a lot.
3) There is a major plot hole, it turns out that the demon doesn’t seem interested in killing the family (the film states the demon doesn’t appear to be interested in “babies”), but then again, I’d be willing to bet that most horror movies don’t show these kinds of character arcs, making them seem completely unconcerned with the horror of them.
4) The whole event is told in a couple of scenes, so the actual events that happen to these characters feel unimportant. When it comes to horror movies, though, this is hardly a flaw – think “Twin Peaks,” the film that put a new spin on “home” movies with it’s depiction of the protagonist’s experience in a dream state.
5) There isn’t a proper ending, despite how great the film is, which begs the question: who pays for the postcard the husband is shown after the film? The movie actually ends before the entire family is even out of the house, so it’s pretty clear that no one really wants this to go down.
I don’t think I’m alone in my bewilderment of this movie and its characters.
I was actually really impressed by