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 inaugural film in The Conjuring Universe franchise. 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 the associated film franchise. The Warrens come to the assistance of the Perron family, who experienced increasingly disturbing events in their newly occupied farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971.
Development of the film began in January 2012 and reports confirmed Wan as the director of a film entitled The Warren Files, later retitled The Conjuring. Production began in Wilmington, North Carolina, in February 2012 and scenes were shot in chronological order. The Conjuring was released in the United States and Canada on July 19, 2013, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $319million worldwide against its $20million budget. A sequel, The Conjuring 2, was released in 2016.

Plot

In 1968, renowned demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren investigate the Annabelle case, in which friends Debbie and Camilla have a possessed doll. They allowed a spirit, who claimed to be a seven-year-old girl named Annabelle Higgins, to possess the doll, and the hauntings became increasingly disturbing. The Warrens explain that the doll was never possessed; it was only a conduit for a demonic spirit whose goal was to possess one of the friends.
Three years later, in 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron move into a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island, with their five daughters: Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy, and April. Their dog, Sadie, refuses to enter the house. The family discovers a boarded-up cellar in the house and paranormal events occur within the first few nights. Every clock in the house stops at 3:07 a.m. Carolyn awakens with new bruises each morning, and Sadie is found dead in the yard. Carolyn and Christine both encounter a malevolent spirit.
Carolyn contacts the Warrens, who conduct an initial investigation, during which Lorraine, a clairvoyant, sees that a dark entity has latched on to the family so that even leaving the house will not free them. To gather evidence, they place cameras and bells around the house with the help of their assistant Drew Thomas and police officer Brad Hamilton. Research reveals that the house once belonged to an accused witch and Satanist named Bathsheba Sherman, who sacrificed her week-old baby to the devil and killed herself in 1863 at 3:07 in the morning after cursing all who take her land. There have since been reports of numerous murders and suicides through the years in the houses that were built on the land.
Bathsheba completely possesses Carolyn. In the cellar, Lorraine sees the spirit of a woman whom Bathsheba had possessed long ago and forced to kill her child, realizing she will force Carolyn to do the same. The Warrens conclude they have sufficient evidence to receive authorization from the Catholic Church to perform an exorcism, but Father Gordon explains that approval would have to come directly from the Vatican because the Perron family are not members of the church.
The Warrens' daughter Judy is attacked by Bathsheba as a warning to the Warrens. The Perron family takes refuge at a motel, but Carolyn, possessed, takes Christine and April back to the house to kill them. Running out of time, Ed, Lorraine, and Brad tie Carolyn to a chair and Ed attempts the exorcism himself. Carolyn escapes and attempts to kill April; Lorraine is able to call to her by reminding her of a family memory, allowing Ed to complete the exorcism and condemn Bathsheba back to Hell.
Returning home, Ed adds the haunted music box from the Perron home to their room of cursed artifacts that they have collected from past cases.

Cast

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. 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 start 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

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 2012. 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. "James asked me early on about 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.

Release

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.