Hello everyone, Happy Wednesday. Hard to believe that we are already at the middle of the week. It's weird how when we are younger, time seems to move slow. But the older we get, the faster it goes. Then as we get older, we tend to gravitate towards watching things that may remind us of when we were younger. I will say that I would consider this to be a good definition of Comfort Horror. Its there to help us get out of our head space and whatever is going on to just enjoy the story unfolding before our eyes. The interesting thing is that Comfort Horror is different for everyone. One person may find the SAW films to be Comfort Horror while another enjoys the Elm Street and Friday the 13th films.
This brings us back to The Conjuring films. By this point, you're probably getting tired of me referring to them as Comfort Horror. But for me, they are. They remind me of the 80s Horror franchises that we just don't see as much anymore. They are slowly beginning to make a resurgence though. And no, that's not me referring to what Blumhouse has been doing with the Halloween films. Look at what Ti West and A24 has done with X and Pearl so far. It's something unique and special that feels like something the studios could have done back then.
Today, it's time to continue our journey in this timeline with The Conjuring 2. The Conjuring 2 was released in 2016 yet places itself towards the end of the timeline. For those that are interested, here is the plot crunch for The Conjuring 2.
In 1977, paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren come out of a self-imposed sabbatical to travel to Enfield, a borough in north London. There, they meet Peggy Hodgson, an overwhelmed single mother of four who tells the couple that something evil is in her home. Ed and Lorraine believe her story when the youngest daughter starts to show signs of demonic possession. As the Warrens try to help the besieged girl, they become the next targets of the malicious spirit.
The Conjuring 2 was an interesting film when I first saw it. It was exciting seeing Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson return to their roles as Lorraine and Ed Warren. One of the big reasons of the success of the first film were these two actors. They are so believable together. You can't help but wish to see more of them. Again, these two deliver absolutely fantastic performances. One of my favorite sequences in the film is a small, personal moment as we see Ed playing "Can't Help Falling In Love With You". Wilson just kills it in this moment as you see the love and care between Ed and Lorraine.
I enjoyed The Conjuring 2 during that first watch. It was solid. It definitely wasn't a drop in quality that most sequels tend to do. The scares were on point and had a few sequences that were just as good as things from the first film. But something just felt off to me.
During this watch of the entire series of films so far, it definitely occurred to me as why things felt a little off. The Conjuring 2 was incredibly ambitious. It was trying to in a sense capture the spirit of what Marvel was doing with their Cinematic Universe. This is incredibly evident as we were seeing a large output of films in this series in quick succession. The Conjuring 2 does have an incredibly large amount of world building and moving parts to its story. So when I had that initial watch, the film felt very much like Iron Man 2 syndrome. Iron Man 2 is an okay film, but suffered from setting up the world and all the moving parts to it.
It probably didn't help that the marketing for the film tried playing it off like the first film. They knew people would go check it out if they expected something similar to the first. In one instance, I guess you could say that it is similar. One of the storylines does focus around the Hodgsons. Basically, spooky things happen and everybody is unsure of what's going on. Eventually someone seeks out and brings the Warrens into the mix. Going off of this, this is a formula that worked for the first film.
However because this is a sequel, we also get more complexities to things. First off, let me say that the opening with the Warrens investigating the Amityville House is great. I don't necessarily enjoy that first Amityville film, but enjoyed the 05 Reynolds Remake. Knowing the basic idea of the Amityville story and its place in horror, it's incredibly a shot in the arm for the film to see Ed and Lorraine there. My horror fan part of my brain just can't help but smile when it sees the sequence. It's effectively shot and kickstarts the whole story. Originally, I just placed it as a cold opening like with the Annabelle Case in the first film. But as I watched the film more, I never connected things. It now connected because this is ultimately a film about Valak.
As you may remember, Valak was the demonic entity from The Nun. Ed and Lorraine had eventually gone on to encounter it when they had a run in with Frenchy. It was something that had recognized how powerful Lorraine was. So, it was ultimately challenging the Warrens to show them that they can't defeat the evil in the world. And it wanted to break the Warrens. Thus, Valak bided its time and moved pieces around to bring the Warrens into its path again. The whole idea of Valak roughly being a 'big bad' for the Conjuring films is interesting yet feels a bit odd. It largely makes Valak feel like such an overarching and powerful figure. Some may say it was the Conjuring's version of Thanos. It is an interesting way of tying the films together though.
Besides Valak, we get to see Bill Wilkins. Bill Wilkins is initally seen as the spirit haunting the Hodgsons. He's the creepy force that just wants to see his family and doesn't want any other family living in his house. In the appearances that he makes, he's pretty effective. However as the film goes on, his effectiveness seems to lessen. One may say a less is more approach with him would have worked better. But the twist where its revealed that Wilkins is being manipulated by Valak, that was pretty shocking initially. It does add a bit more depth to the character when realize he's terrified by what he's encountered.
Then, there's The Crooked Man himself. This is a character that is used pretty damn sparingly. The film could have used him a little more perhaps. But the sequence with Billy Hodgson encountering him, it's absolutely terrifying. The way the dog is sitting at the door, but then when Billy opens it - boom. The dog transforms itself into The Crooked Man. I had totally forgotten about it. It's extremely clear as to why the plans for a Crooked Man movie were going to happen. As of this writing, we still are waiting for that movie to happen. I hope that one day we will see what story they are able to come up for it. But my question to everyone is: Was The Crooked Man real? When we see what the mother and the rest of the family sees, it's Bill Wilkins possessing Janet.
The Hodgsons are a great family. Each and every one of them are so damn relatable. The interesting aspect is seeing this all happen to a family where there is not necessarily a father figure. It definitely adds to making them stand apart from the Perrons. The family is so relatable because they are doing their best to keep things together. They are a working family like the Perrons were. Sadly, Janet and Billy manage to stand out for the children and then their mother. The rest of the children kind of fall more into the background.
Something that was interesting was seeing how the public interacted and treated the Warrens in the first film. At that time, the Warrens were beginning to come into the public spotlight in a sense. Then they make an appearance on a talk show regarding their investigation into the Amityville case. It's extremely clear that things were beginning to take a turn for them. The other guests on the talk show were doing everything they could to downplay the Warrens and make them out to be a laughing stock. It could also be the beginning of the Satanic Panic era that would find itself in the next film.
Looking at The Conjuring 2 now, it's a bit better film than initially thought. It has managed to become on par with the first film. Like said before, it was definitely ambitious. It laid groundwork of what this franchise would become. I would say that it has broken the Iron Man 2 syndrome. Some pieces may work better than others, but it's still well paced and put together. And there is definitely a lot of heart to it as well.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
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