Saturday, July 27, 2013

Conjuring up the Blog Again

I'm back to this blog earlier than I have been in previous years. There's just something in the air that beckons that Halloween spirit. I'm like those crafters who start making vampire jewelry in July (actually I am).

Perhaps I'm inspired because I just saw The Conjuring - the film that documents a chilling case investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren. I was particularly interested in the film because I was lucky enough to attend a few of the Warren's lectures before Ed passed away. Some friends and I were even lucky enough to spend the day with them on a ghost hunting tour, poking around haunted areas of Connecticut.



Anyway, the movie centers on the Perron family who bought an old farmhouse in Rhode Island. Not longer after they moved in, things started to go wrong. Very wrong. As in disembodied hands clapping in an old wardrobe and clocks stopping at 3:07 a.m. wrong. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson do a fantastic job of personifying the Warrens. Vera's eyes are so pretty and she is fragile yet strong like Lorraine. I was incredibly impressed with how well Patrick Wilson mirrored Ed's Connecticut accent. Spot on! Lily Taylor was perfect as terrified mom Carolyn Perron and Ron Livingston was gorgeous as dad Roger. Yeah, he's easy on the eyes. Oh, and his acting was good up until the climactic scene where he seemed a little bored by something trying to yank his wife's soul into hell.





The cinematography was splendid. The early 70s came to life on screen and made me nostalgic for the days when we played simple games like "hide and clap" rather than video games on smart phones.



I won't give any plot points away, but I will say there was lots of chilling use of white sheets. And the climactic scene near the end will stay in my head forever. It's a classic haunted house story, albeit one that is beautiful, lush, and spooky as hell. Director James Wan has alluded to making more movies based on the Warren's cases. Something tells me it's going to involve their famous haunted doll, Annabelle.


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