The Conjuring (2013)
Last Watch Date - September 5, 2026
Total Times Watched - Twice
Comments
Last year there was a musical release by The Yagas (I should really review this..) that happened to be Vera Farmiga's band. It's QUITE GOOD and I was listening to it again this week. That made me think.. hey I should watch the Conjuring series stuff. I think I have most of the movies, including Annabelle and The Nun, so HEY WHY NOT. It's been years since I saw this and while I remembered pieces, much of it I totally forgot.
One thing I forgot is that Ron Livingston is in this! He's always pretty good. You also have Lili Taylor (pretty solid actor), Vera Farmiga (love her), Patrick Wilson (who is in a lot of horror movies). That's the bulk of the cast, ignoring the kids. I've mentioned how little I like kid actors and movies with kids in them in general, but the kids are important to the plot so I guess I'll mention that they exist and they're .. fine.
This movie is a haunted house sort of story, based on "true" events (don't get me started), and filled with goofy Catholic demon silliness. If you can suspend disbelief for this, you'll be better off, but it does feel like a weird Catholic propaganda flick. The beats of the "demons" are very much what you expect from movies like The Exorcist, Amityville, Poltergeist, etc. There's really not much new in this except possibly the doll? Which is stupid but sets up other movies. It's barely a thing in this one.
I think my biggest complaint about this movie is that it is long, slow, and predictable. You basically know what's going to happen in this because it's the same stuff that happens in every haunting movie in the West. I wanted it to be better than it was. BUT ALSO it's almost 2 hours long which is too much for a movie like this.
I've never seen the other entries in this series/universe with the exception of TRYING to watch The Nun before falling asleep during it. I guess we'll see if I sleep during any of these!
Recommended?
No. It's a haunted house movie but it's very by the numbers. You could say life influenced art here, but I think it's a case of life imitating art. Ed and Lorraine were charlatans.