If self-described “demonologists, ghost hunters and kooks” Ed and Lorraine Warren didn’t really exist, Hollywood would have invented them.
In addition to investigating 10,000 cases of paranormal activity — including exorcising a “werewolf demon” — they founded the New England Society for Psychic Research, authored three books about their ghostly exploits and were the proprietors of Warren’s Occult Museum in Monroe, Conn.
They are colourful eccentrics whose wild exploits are perfect big-screen fodder.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga played them in 2013’s The Conjuring. Based on a real-life haunted house in Rhode Island, it comes complete with slamming doors, someone or something goosing family members in their sleep and the smell of rotten meat.
Directed by Saw co-creator James Wan, it’s a mashup of The Exorcist and a particularly unnerving episode of Ghost Hunters and earned Farmiga a nomination for the MTV Movie Award for Best Scared-As-S—t Performance.
The demon-hunting duo are back in theatres in The Conjuring 2. This time they’re looking into the Enfield Poltergeist incident. Instead of a ghost in a house, malevolent spirits possess young children who speak in strange voices, levitate and do all manner of spooky things.
“I’ve known about them since I was pretty young, back in high school,” Wan says of the Warrens.
“I was fascinated by what they did and who they are. I’ve sort of kept them in my peripheral all these years, and I’ve always thought their life stories would make a very interesting movie.”
The Conjuring films are scary but they’re not the only supernatural cases the Warrens investigated that went on to get the big-screen treatment.
Annabelle, a 2014 prequel to The Conjuring, proves you can’t keep a good doll down. It tells the story of Annabelle, that movie’s creepy, possessed dolly before she was safely locked away in Warren’s Occult Museum. Echoes of Rosemary’s Baby and Repulsion reverberate throughout the movie’s low-key weird atmosphere.
The Warrens’ much-documented Carmen Snedeker situation gave us The Haunting in Connecticut. In a disturbing flick that breathes the same air as any movie involving evil spirits, a haunted house, an old aboriginal cemetery or former insane asylum, evil forces torment the Snedekers after they move into a converted funeral home in Southington, Conn.
In the real-life 1986 event, the Warrens were called in and declared the Snedeker house to be crawling with demons, the result of former funeral home workers practising necrophilia.
How accurate was the movie?
“I was also told about scratching on the walls, blood and séances,” Lorraine told MyRecordJournal.com. “That isn’t the type of thing … occurring within the house at all. The movie is very, very loosely based on the actual investigation.”
The eerie couple’s most celebrated case happened at 112 Ocean Ave. in Amityville, Long Island. Known as The Amityville Horror, their look into the Lutz family’s outrageous claims of supernatural terror after moving into the large house where Ronald DeFeo, Jr. shot and killed six members of his family, has been the subject of 10 movies and a number of books.
“The case itself has affected our personal lives more than any other case we’ve ever worked on in 54 years of research,” Lorraine said.
In 2013’s “The Conjuring” self-described “demonologists, ghost hunters and kooks” Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) battled spirits in a Rhode Island haunted house. Imagine a mash-up of “The Exorcist” and a particularly spooky episode of “Ghost Hunters.” The sequel, eerily titled “The Conjuring 2,” picks up their story seven years later.
This time around again their exploration of the Amityville Horror house has brought the Warrens fame but the case left Lorraine fatigued, too wearied for the weird stuff. “This is as close to hell with this I ever want to get,” she says. She is tormented by strange visions, unsure if she wants to continue exploring the paranormal. “After everything we’ve seen there isn’t much that rattles us anymore,” says Lorraine, “but [Amityville] still haunts me.”
She is drawn back into the world of ghosts, goblins and things that go bump in the night when the Catholic Church calls on the spooky duo to be their eyes and ears in another Ouija board cautionary tale. This one is the Enfield Poltergeist incident in Britain, a 1977 exploration into a case some called the English Amityville.
Once again there’s a haunting, but instead of a ghost in a house, malevolent spirits possess a young child, Janet Hodgson (Madison Wolfe), who speaks in strange voices—“I’ve come from the grave!”—levitates and does all manner of uncanny, violent things.
Director James Wan takes his time unveiling the scares in “The Conjuring 2,” allowing tensions to build slowly and surely. Even the innocent act of watching a bad sitcom takes on a sinister air, with the canned laughter adding to the audience anxiety. Some will think it moves too slowly, others will be edging towards the front of their seats.
Apart from the mouth-agape scared faces—Farmiga is a master at the terrified visage—“The Conjuring 2’s” terror is supplied by very simple special effects. Chairs rocking back-and-forth and slamming doors are simple, practical effects but the fear they deliver is amplified by Wan’s skill with old school timing and beautiful, atmospheric filmmaking. The story is occasionally silly, but still able to raise the hairs on the back of the neck because Wan carefully doles out details that add up to an unsettling night at the movies. Is it grim? Emotionally, perhaps, but there are no blood and guts, just a positive message that love conquers all, even evil.
What do you do when you write yourself into a corner after just one successful sequel? If you are Leigh Whannell, the screenwriter of the first two “Insidious” frightfests, you look backwards and pen a prequel.
The poor haunted Lambert family (Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins, Andrew Astor and Barbara Hershey) of the first two films are nowhere to be seen in “Insidious: Chapter 3.” In their place are the Brenners, widower Sean (Dermot Mulroney) and teenage daughter Quinn (Stefanie Scott), the kind of teenager who wears a Pixies t-shirt even though their best material was recorded years before she was born. They’re first family to encounter the spooky demons of the netherworld known as The Further that spooked the Lamberts.
Seeking to make contact with her late mother the youngster gets in touch with psychic Elise Rainier (Lin “The Godmother of Horror” Shaye). The mystic warns her about the dangers of dabbling in the great beyond—“You have to be very careful. If you call out to one of the dead all of them can hear you.”—and soon Quinn is attacked by malevolent entity (is there any other kind?) who steals half her soul. To rescue the girl Elise does battle with a demon hungry for human souls.
“Insidious: Chapter 3” is the first of the series not to be directed by James Wan who is apparently too busy making movies like “Furious 7” to return to the lo-fi scares of “Insidious.” In his place is Whannell, who did double duty as screenwriter. He understands the inner workings of these movies better than anyone, but where Wan ensured the first two movies were thrill rides that played on primal fears, Whannell‘s is the stuff of carnival haunted houses. It’s a quiet movie peppered with nightmarish images of creatures with no eyes and giant clawed feet embellished by old school effects created with make-up, sound and lighting. Some are quite effective and there are a couple of scary, inventive thrills late in the game, but far too much of the film is devoted to set up. The first hour and a quarter is a prologue of sorts for the handful of shocks that comprise the climax.
Shaye comes up with several ways to battle demons not even Dr. Peter Venkman had thought of but most of “Insidious: Chapter 3” isn’t scary enough to warrant any ghostbusting at all.
This prequel to “The Conjuring” proves that you can’t keep a good doll down. It tells the story of Annabelle, that movie’s creepy, possessed doll before she was safely locked away in ghost hunter Ed and Lorraine Warren’s cabinet of curiosities.
The story begins in the late 1960s with a gift from John (Ward Horton) to his expectant wife Mia (Annabelle Wallis). “There’s something I want to give you,” he says. “Oh no,” she laughs, “the last time you said that I ended up pregnant.” He gives her Annabelle, a seemingly harmless vintage doll, decked out in a lace wedding dress. “She fits right in,” Mia squeals. The quiet peace of John and Mia’s life is broken by a Manson Family style home invasion, and even though Mia and John survive, strange things start happening in the wake of the attack. “Crazy people do crazy things, ma’am,” explains a detective before everyone starts to realize that Annabelle has something to do with the weird goings on. Barbie she ain’t.
“Annabelle” is like a Haunted House attraction at Halloween. There’s nothing that’s really, truly soul-scorchingly scary inside, but it will give you a few good jolts. It’s part psychological drama, part Paranormal Activity and is filled with good weird atmosphere, but where “The Conjuring” had the benefit of two strong leads in Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, “Annabelle’s” stars, Wallis and Horton, aren’t very compelling. She put me in the mind of Sharon Tate, which is appropriate for the time and story and Horton reminded me of… nothing much at all. More interesting leads might have made me care more about the story.
The actors may be milquetoasty, but the movie’s low key eerie atmosphere isn’t. Director John R. Leonetti works in echoes of “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Repulsion,” amping up the tension without the use of computer generated special effects. Instead he relies on silence and everyday sounds to make your skin crawl. The Self-Operating Sewing Machine from Hell and Satan’s Popcorn are effectively used in a movie that may be the quietest horror film ever made.
SYNOPSIS: This prequel to “The Conjuring” proves that you can’t keep a good doll down. It tells the story of Annabelle, that movie’s creepy, possessed doll, before she was safely locked away in ghost hunter Ed and Lorraine Warren’s cabinet of curiosities. The story begins in the late 1960s with a gift from John (Ward Horton) to his expectant wife Mia (Annabelle Wallis). He buys her Annabelle, a seemingly harmless vintage doll, decked out in a lace wedding dress. “She fits right in,” Mia squeals. The quiet peace of John and Mia’s life is broken by a Manson Family style home invasion, and even though Mia and John survive, strange things start happening in the wake of the attack and it looks like Annabelle has something to do with the weird goings on.
STAR RATINGS:
Richard: 3 Stars
Mark: 3 Stars
Richard: Mark, Annabelle is like a Haunted House attraction at Halloween. There’s nothing that’s really, truly soul-scorchingly scary inside, but it will give you a few good jolts. It’s part psychological drama, part Paranormal Activity and is filled with good weird atmosphere, but where The Conjuring had the benefit of two strong leads in Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, Annabelle’s stars, Wallis and Horton, aren’t very compelling. She put me in the mind of Sharon Tate, which is appropriate for the time and story and Horton reminded me of… nothing much at all. More interesting leads might have made me care more about the story. Were you scared?
Mark: Yes I was, Richard, more from the expert filmmaking than what the actors brought to the picture. The director uses a lot of unusual camera angles and unexpected cuts to raise the suspense. And unlike so many horror movies that take place in dark, decrepit mansions, this one is bathed in light and uses a lot of California pastels. The story is familiar but the look of the movie kept me off balance. But it owes a big debt to Rosemary’s Baby, which you hinted at in referencing Tate, who was married to Roman Polanski. Horton looks a lot like John Cassavetes, the plot involves children and satanic cults and the couple lives in a penthouse. Do I make a decent case?
RC: It definitely has echoes of Rosemary’s Baby and I’d add in a taste of Repulsion in there as well. The actors may be milquetoasty, but the movie’s low-key eerie atmosphere isn’t. Director John R. Leonetti amps up the tension but without the use of computer generated special effects. Instead he relies on silence and everyday sounds to make your skin crawl. The Self-Operating Sewing Machine from Hell and Satan’s Popcorn are effectively used in a movie that may be the quietest horror film ever made.
MB: Yes, the movie is very good at making inanimate objects spooky. I also never thought of Cherish by The Association as being a scary song, but it’s just another example of how Leonetti twists conventions in this otherwise conventional movie. The part of the film that least impressed me was Annabelle herself. Not to malign the doll, but she’s no Bride of Chucky.
RC: She’s no Barbie either! She’s simply the prop that will allow producers to string together a series of prequels and sequels based on devil doll lore. Possessed or not, I’m guessing she works cheaper than the human actors.
MB: Wait! Barbie as devil doll! Talk about rebranding! Let’s get the pitch ready…
The names James Wan and Leigh Whannell may not mean much to you… unless you’re a horror fan, in which case the pairing will send a chill down your spine. The director – writer team brought one of the most influential horror movies of the last decade to the screen—“Saw”—and are back together for “Insidious,” a new exercise in eeriness starring Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne.
The “Insidious” trailer doesn’t give away much of the plot and neither will I. I can tell you that Wilson and Byrne play parents whose child slips into a deep trance-like state. He’s not in a coma, the doctors say, adding, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Not exactly the words you want to hear from your GP. As the months pass strange things start happening in the house and when ghostly figures appear it becomes clear that something insidious is happening in the young couple’s home.
“Insidious” is one of those movies that requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief. For instance when Byrne’s character starts experiencing odd things—strange sounds, children appearing out of nowhere, faces in mirrors—they aren’t chalked up to the sounds of their new house settling or some kind of hallucination, nope, instead of looking for a worldly explanation this bunch’s first assumption is that something supernatural is happening. Luckily Wilson’s mother (Barbara Hershey) happens to have a psychic investigator on speed dial. Get past those leaps of faith and you’re left with a movie that is shrouded with loads of atmosphere but short on actual scares.
Eerie rather than scary, “Insidious” will play on your fears of displacement and feelings of helplessness, but the unless you find the idea of an otherworldly spirit listening to Tiny Tim’s “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” terrifying you won’t be crawling out of your skin. Wan puts away the torture porn of “Saw,” replacing it with lots of dry ice and creepy costumes but keeps the fear level on a par with that of walking through an amusement park’s haunted house.
Bad neighbors. We’ve all had them. People who play loud music at 3 am or park in your spot. They’re a pain but a bit of pulsating bass through your bedroom wall in the middle of the night is nothing compared to the unneighborly jihad Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) unleashes on Chris and Lisa Mattson (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) in the new film Lakeview Terrace.
When Chris and Lisa moved to Lakeview Heights they were excited to own their California dream home. That excitement soon diminishes as their neighbor Able mounts a slow and steady psychological war on the young couple aimed at getting them to sell the house and leave his neighborhood. They soon come to surmise that Able, a decorated LAPD policeman and self-appointed neighbor watchdog, disapproves of their interracial relationship. As his harassment escalates the couple decides to fight back with tragic results.
A well cast movie should leave the viewer unable to imagine anyone else in a particular role. For example it’s impossible to picture someone other than Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop, even though the role of Axel Foley was originally offered to Sylvester Stallone. Or could you imagine anyone replacing Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life? Nope, neither can I. Those actors brought something to those roles that made them special and unforgettable. In Lakeview Terrace the special something Samuel L. Jackson brings to the part of Able is his glare. Jackson has a fixed stare that could melt granite and it transforms his character from stock bad guy to unpredictable menace.
Jackson’s intimidating screen presence is the thing that elevates Lakeview Terrace from average thriller to effective urban horror film. It’s the key to the film’s success. Wilson and Washington are fine as the young, upwardly mobile couple, but any number of actors could have filled those roles. Jackson, however, makes the role his own, and in doing so does something director Neil LaBute couldn’t—make this movie compelling.
The story is average and in most ways predictable. Although there is nothing here that even comes close to the ineptitude LaBute displayed in his last big screen outing The Wicker Man, without the inspired casting of Jackson I’m afraid there wouldn’t be much to this movie. It plays on the kind of real life fear brought to your front doorstep also capitalized on in movies like Fatal Attraction or Play Misty for Me, but it’s a bit too talky and takes a bit too long to get to the juicy climax.
Lakeview Terrace is a forgettable thriller rescued by a joyously malevolent performance from Samuel L. Jackson.
Director James Wan may always be best known as the co-creator of “Saw,” the series of films that kicked off the torture porn, or gorno trend, but his subsequent films have relied more on creepy atmosphere than buckets of blood.
The plasma budget for his latest, “Insidious: Chapter 2,” must have been practically zero, but what it lacks in gore it makes up for in smoke, shadows and eerie red doors.
Once again the story focuses on the Lambert family—wife Renai (Rose Byrne), husband Josh (Patrick Wilson), kids Dalton and Foster (Ty Simpkins and Andrew Astor) and grandma Lorraine (Barbara Hershey). After the haunting events of the first movie they have moved in an effort to put the past behind them. Unfortunately they can’t escape the ghosts who are attracted to what Josh has—life! Increasingly terrifying encounters with spirits threatens not only Josh’s safety but of everyone who comes into contact with Josh.
The movie makes the mundane—Patrick Wilson suddenly appearing in a doorway offering to take the kids to school—feel weird and off kilter and Rose Byrne, with her delicate features and downturned mouth, does Shock Face like no one else.
All that stuff works well. Wan allows the tension and atmosphere to feed the shocks, which is a good thing, because they aren’t going to emerge on their own from this jumble of a story. Jumping around in time and between the realm of the living and the great beyond, the plot will be confusing to anyone who hasn’t seen the original.
But say what you will about the storytelling, no one else makes mainstream horror films like James Wan. Maybe it’s best to think of “Insidious: Chapter 2” as like taking a walk through a haunted house. The exhilaration comes from the scares, not the walk.
By Richard Crouse – Metro In Focus 
