The Conjuring

The Conjuring is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes. It is the first installment in The Conjuring Universe. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of haunting.

Their purportedly real-life reports inspired The Amityville Horror story and film franchise. The Warrens come to the assistance of the Perron family, who experienced increasingly disturbing events in their farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971.

It was released in the United States and Canada on July 19, 2013, and received positive reviews from critics. It grossed over $319 million worldwide against its $20 million budget. A sequel, The Conjuring 2, was released on June 10, 2016, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was released on June 4, 2021 in the USA.

Synopsis
In 1971, paranormal investigators and demonologists Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) are summoned to the home of Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger Perron (Ron Livingston). The Perrons and their five daughters: Andrea (Shanley Caswell), Nancy (Hayley McFarland), Christine (Joey King), Cindy (Mackenzie Foy) and April (Kyla Deaver), have recently moved into a secluded farmhouse, where a supernatural presence has made itself known. Though the manifestations are relatively benign at first, events soon escalate in horrifying fashion, especially after the Warrens discover the house's macabre history.

Plot
In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron move into a dilapidated, old farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island with their five daughters: Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy and April. During the first day, the family moves in smoothly except for the dog, who refuses to come into the house. That night, the children play a game called hide-and-clap; while playing, one of the daughters finds the boarded up entrance to a cellar. After Roger inspects the basement with a match, the family goes to bed. Carolyn expresses concern, because the dog is barking outside, and one of the daughters feels someone pulling at her feet.

In the morning, Carolyn wakes up with a mysterious bruise and their dog Sadie is found dead. Over the next couple of days, various paranormal activities occur; doors open and close seemingly by themselves and Carolyn hears clapping when nobody is there. At night, their young daughter, Cindy, sleepwalks into the eldest daughter's bedroom, where she bangs her head repeatedly against an old wardrobe. The activity culminates in the eldest daughter being attacked by a spirit resembling an elderly woman. Carolyn seeks the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren, noted paranormal investigators, to validate her concerns about the house. The Warrens conduct an initial investigation and conclude that they should get involved, when Lorraine senses that a particularly malevolent spirit has latched onto the family, explaining to the Perron family that the house may require an exorcism. However, this cannot be done without further evidence and will require authorization by the Catholic Church.

During the process of researching the house's history, the Warrens discover that the house belonged to an accused witch, Bathsheba Sherman. When Bathsheba's husband caught her sacrificing their week-old infant, she climbed to the top of a tree on the property, cursed all those who would take her land, and proclaimed her love for Satan before committing suicide. This is followed by finding reports of numerous murders and suicides in houses that have since been built upon the property.

Ed and Lorraine return to the house with a police officer, and another paranormal investigator, Drew Thomas. They set up thermal cameras and alarm systems throughout the house, in an attempt to prove the spirit of Bathsheba's presence in the house, in order to receive authorization from the Catholic Church for the exorcism. For the first night, no paranormal activities occur and the clocks do not stop at 3:07AM. The next day, everyone eats breakfast together and Roger Perron thanks Ed Warren for doing what they can to help, upon which Ed mentions that each time Lorraine uses her gift, it takes a toll on her, taking a small piece of her. However, he promises Roger that they would help them in every way they could.

During another night of investigation, Cindy begins to sleepwalk again. While walking upstairs, thermal cameras observe a temperature drop around her as she walks up the stairs and into her eldest sister's bedroom, where she enters the wardrobe, whereupon the door slams shut behind her. The investigators force their way into the room and find a secret passage behind the wardrobe. After Cindy is retrieved, Lorraine enters the wardrobe to investigate, and falls through the floor boards down into the cellar. There, she sees the spirits of people whom Bathsheba had possessed, and realizes Bathsheba's purpose: to possess mothers and force them to kill their children.

After Lorraine escapes the cellar, she and Ed take their evidence to Father Gordon to organize an exorcism while the Perron family takes refuge at a hotel. Their relief is interrupted when Carolyn suddenly drives back to the house with two of her daughters. Ed and Lorraine rush to the house, where they find Roger and the police officer struggling with Carolyn as she tries to stab one of her daughters with a pair of scissors. They attempt to take Carolyn out of the house and to the priest immediately, but Bathsheba torments Carolyn when they attempt to do so, causing Lorraine to remark that Bathsheba will kill Carolyn if they force her outside. Ed suggests they call the priest, but Lorraine reminds him that the priest is too far away, insisting that Ed perform the exorcism himself. While the others hold the tormented Carolyn down, Ed initiates the exorcism.

Carolyn seemingly stops struggling, and for a brief moment, it seems the exorcism was successful. Suddenly, the chair Carolyn is sitting in levitates off the ground, turns upside-down and latches itself to the ceiling. Ed yells for the demon to put her down, and after a few tense moments, she is released onto the ground. Roger rushes over to Carolyn, and tells the demon to leave his wife and family alone. Upon hearing this, Carolyn slowly turns towards Roger and says, "She's already gone. And now you're all gonna die!"

Meanwhile, Drew finds April hiding under the floorboards in the kitchen. He yells down the cellar that he found her, inadvertently alerting Bathsheba to her location, causing her to dash up the cellar stairs to find April to complete the sacrifice. Ed and Lorraine Warren, along with Roger, rush after her, trying to stop her from succeeding. The possessed Carolyn chases after April through a tunnel underneath the floorboards. Carolyn grabs a hold of April, but Lorraine reaches down through the floor and grabs Carolyn's head. She tells Carolyn to remember how much her family means to her, and to remember what she told her about how special they were to her, and that they mean the world to her, and what she would leave behind, if she went through with it. This seems to get through to Carolyn, as her face relaxes, and her breathing returns to normal. The demonic presence in her eyes seems to fade, and she puts April down.

The scene changes to Carolyn being helped out of the front door, to a now sunny morning. As she crosses from the threshold of the door into the sunlight, the bruises on her skin fade away and she returns to her normal self. Roger and Carolyn rejoice with their family in the front yard, embracing one another, knowing that it's finally over.

After they ward off the demon at the Perron household, the Warrens return to their home. The scene cuts to Ed Warren entering his room of possessed objects and artifacts. He places the old music box from the house on an empty space on a shelf. Lorraine enters the room, and they leave together. After a few seconds, the music box starts to play on its own, and the camera slowly pans towards the music box. The camera zooms in on the mirror of the open music box, and the music slowly comes to a stop. The screen cuts to black, and the credits roll.

Cast

 * Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren
 * Patrick Wilson as Ed Warren
 * Lili Taylor as Carolyn Perron
 * Ron Livingston as Roger Perron
 * Shanley Caswell as Andrea Perron
 * Hayley McFarland as Nancy Perron
 * Joey King as Christine Perron
 * Mackenzie Foy as Cindy Perron
 * Kyla Deaver as April Perron
 * Shannon Kook as Drew Thomas
 * John Brotherton as Brad Hamilton
 * Sterling Jerins as Judy Warren
 * Marion Guyot as Georgiana Moran
 * Morganna Bridgers as Debbie
 * Amy Tipton as Camilla
 * Zach Pappas as Rick
 * Joseph Bishara as Bathsheba Sherman
 * Steve Coulter as Father Gordon
 * Christof Veillon as Maurice Theriault
 * Lorraine Warren as Woman in Audience

Development
Producer Tony DeRosa-Grund wrote the original treatment and titled the project The Conjuring. For nearly 14 years, he tried to get the movie made without any success. He landed a deal to make the movie at Gold Circle Films, the production company behind The Haunting in Connecticut, but a contract could not be finalized and the deal was dropped.

DeRosa-Grund allied with producer Peter Safran, and sibling writers Chad and Carey W. Hayes were brought on board to refine the script. Using DeRosa-Grund's treatment and the Ed Warren tape, the Hayes brothers changed the story's point of view from the Perron family to the Warrens'. The brothers interviewed Lorraine Warren many times over the phone to clarify details. By mid-2009, the property became the subject of a six-studio bidding war that landed the film at Summit Entertainment. However, DeRosa-Grund and Summit could not conclude the transaction and the film went into turnaround. DeRosa-Grund reconnected with New Line Cinema, who had lost in the original bidding war but who ultimately picked up the film. On November 11, 2009, a deal was made between New Line and DeRosa-Grund's Evergreen Media Group.

Pre-Production
Pre-production began in early 2011, with reports surfacing in early June that James Wan was in talks to direct the film. This was later confirmed by Warner Bros., which also stated that the film would be loosely based on real-life events surrounding Ed and Lorraine Warren. In January 2012, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson were cast to star in the film. That month, Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor were also confirmed for roles in the film, which at that time was developing under the working title of The Untitled Warren Files Project. The film's title was temporarily changed to The Warren Files based on a suggestion by Wan, but was later reverted to The Conjuring prior to the commencement of the film's marketing campaign.

In preparation for their roles, Farmiga and Wilson traveled to Connecticut to spend time with Lorraine Warren, who also visited the set during production. Over the course of spending three days at the Warren home, both actors took in information that could not otherwise be achieved from secondary research. "I just wanted to absorb her essence. I wanted to see the details, she has such mad style. I just wanted to see – the way she communicates with her hands, these gestures, her smile, how she moves through space," said Farmiga on her observations of Warren.

Filming
Principal photography began in late February 2012. Lasting for 38 days, shooting took place primarily at EUE/Screen Gems Studios as well as other locations in and around Wilmington, North Carolina. Filming also took place at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in March 2012 while the campus was on its spring break. Diana Walsh Pasulka, professor of Religious Studies at UNC-Wilmington, was the chief religious consultant for the project. Lorraine Warren spent some time observing the shoot and later recalled that she had expressed no qualms to the filmmakers with how her story was adapted. After wrapping up in Wilmington on April 20, the film concluded its principal photography on April 26, 2012. All scenes were shot in chronological order.

Post-Production
The film was in post-production in August of the same year. Around 20 to 30 minutes of footage was removed from the first cut of the film, which initially ran at about two hours in duration. After positive test screenings, the final edit of the film was locked in December 2012 and awaited its summer release.

Music
The musical score for The Conjuring was composed by Joseph Bishara, who previously collaborated with director Wan on Insidious (2011). "James asked me early on about [The Conjuring] while the film was still coming together", explained Bishara on his involvement. "The studio and producers were very supportive in allowing him to bring along who he wanted, with many of his longtime crew from Insidious and even earlier returning." Further into the development process, Wan offered Bishara the chance to act in the film, which he had previously done in Insidious. "We talked about music first and then James had mentioned that he might want me to play one of the entities in this. After reading the script it turned out it was Bathsheba," said Bishara. Because of his early involvement, Bishara was given more time to work out the musical palette of the film. "For whatever reason I was hearing brass clustering as an early response to the material, a quiet shimmering flutter tongue effect, and it grew from there", said Bishara on his creative process.

A soundtrack album was released by La-La Land Records and WaterTower Music on July 16, 2013. In addition to Bishara's themes, the soundtrack also includes a track titled "Family Theme" by composer Mark Isham. Avant-garde musician Diamanda Galás also contributed to Bishara's score, performing raw vocal improvisation on top of the previously recorded brass instrumentation. Other songs featured in the film include: "In the Room Where you Sleep" by Dead Man's Bones, "Sleep Walk" by Betsy Brye and "Time of the Season" by The Zombies.

Marketing
The first promotional images were released in November 2012, introducing Farmiga and Wilson as Ed and Lorraine Warren. A teaser trailer, previously shown at the 2012 New York Comic Con, kicked off the film's marketing campaign in February 2013. Throughout the campaign, the film was promoted heavily as "based on a true story." In the weeks leading up to the film's release, trailers and TV spots began to feature the real-life Perron family. This was followed by a featurette titled The Devil's Hour in which Lorraine Warren and other paranormal investigators explain some of the supernatural occurrences seen in the film.

Theatrical Run
Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema initially intended to release The Conjuring in early 2013, but decided on a summer release date after gaining a positive reception from test audiences. The film was ultimately released on July 19 in North America, and in the United Kingdom and in India on August 2. Because of this, it is one of the first horror films to receive a wide release in the United States during the months of June or July since 2006's The Omen. A trailer and a clip from the film were shown at the 2012 New York Comic Con. In March 2013, the film was given an R-rating by the MPAA for being what Wan described as "too adult." "When we sent it [to the MPAA], they gave us the R-rating," said executive producer Walter Hamada. "When we asked them why, they basically said, 'It's just so scary. [There are] no specific scenes or tone you could take out to get it PG-13.'"

The world premiere took place at the closing night of the first edition of Nocturna: Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival on June 6, 2013. This was followed by two screenings of the film at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 21 that also featured a Q&A segment with director James Wan. A red carpet premiere was then held for the film at Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles on July 15, 2013.

Home Media
The Conjuring was released in DVD and Blu-ray formats by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on October 22, 2013.

Box office
The Conjuring grossed $137.4 million in North America and $182.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $319.5 million, against a budget of $20 million.

In North America, the film opened on July 19, 2013, and was projected to gross $30–$35 million from 2,903 theaters in its opening weekend. The film earned $3.3 million from its Thursday night showings and $17 million on its first day. The film went on to gross $41.9 million in its opening weekend, landing in first place and breaking The Purges record as the biggest opening for an original R-rated horror film. For Warner Bros., The Conjuring surpassed the debut weekend of the distributor's big-budget film Pacific Rim, which had opened to $37.3 million the weekend prior. While horror films usually drop at least 50% in their second weekend, The Conjuring only dropped 47%, taking in $22.2 million and placing in second behind new release The Wolverine. After its run in theaters, the film was officially named a box office hit, grossing over fifteen times its production budget with a worldwide total of $318 million. Calculating in all production and promotional expenses, Deadline Hollywood estimated that the film made a total profit of $161.7 million.

Outside North America, the film had a total gross of $180.6 million from all its overseas markets. In Australia, it grossed $1.8 million in its debut weekend, placing third at the box office behind The Heat and This Is the End. Its total gross in Australia was $8.2 million. In the United Kingdom, the film opened on August 6 alongside The Smurfs 2, making £2.6 million ($3.3 million) in its opening weekend, and grossing $16.2 million in total there. It had its biggest international gross in Mexico, opening in first place on August 23, where the film made $18.9 million overall.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 86% approval rating based on 214 reviews and a weighted average of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-crafted and gleefully creepy, The Conjuring ratchets up dread through a series of effective old-school scares." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore reported that audiences gave The Conjuring an "A-" grade on a scale of A to F; it was the first horror film to receive an A grade from the company.

In her review following the Los Angeles Film Festival, Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter said, "With its minimal use of digital effects, its strong, sympathetic performances and ace design work, the pic harks back in themes and methods to The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror, not quite attaining the poignancy and depth of the former but far exceeding the latter in sheer cinematic beauty." Justin Chang of Variety gave the film a positive review, calling the film "a sensationally entertaining old-school freakout and one of the smartest, most viscerally effective thrillers in recent memory." Additionally, Alonso Duralde of TheWrap also praised the effectiveness of the film, explaining that it doesn't try to reinvent the tropes of horror movies, whether it's ghosts or demons or exorcisms, but Fred Astaire didn't invent tap-dancing, either." Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A-, citing the effectiveness of "mood and sound effects for shocks that never feel cheap."

However, some critics reacted negatively to the film's similarities with films such as The Exorcist and Poltergeist. Indiewire's Eric Kohn explained that, "The Warrens may know how to handle demonic possessions, but The Conjuring suffers from a different invading force: the ghosts of familiarity." Andrew O'Hehir of Salon said the film provided "all the scream-inducing shocks you could want, right on schedule", but thought the central concept – that the innocent women accused and executed in the Salem witch trials "actually were witches, who slaughtered children and pledged their love to Satan and everything!" – was "reprehensible and inexcusable bullshit".