Review/Discussion: The Conjuring - LISTEN TO THE DOG!

We went to see The Conjuring last night, and as we usually do when we both see something, Mike and I had a bit of a discussion afterwards.

Casey Nielsen: Did you get a chance to check out the article I posted yesterday?

Michael Bowman: About the real doll?

Casey: Yeah. I almost feel like they could have got a whole movie out of that.

Mike: Yeah, but I don't think the event itself was the point. It was more about how they dealt with events in general, I think. How The Warrens dealt with confronting these things.

Casey: It set up the museum existing, which was essential. Real creepy way to start us off, as well.

Mike: I agree. It showed us their normal world, which was dealing with stuff like this. I am glad they changed the doll, though. The real one wasn't that creepy.

Casey: At least they didnt make it a clown doll. I'm not talking poltergeist either...my grandma used to collect creepy clown stuff.

Mike: While I really liked this movie, in thinking about it I realized that it really threw a spotlight on some glaring horror tropes that I think just need to go away.

Casey: Not sure if I agree, what are some examples?

Mike: I promise you, I will stand up and give a slow Citizen Kane clap for anybody who writes a horror movie where where people act normally.

• When entering a dark room...turn on the damn light. I do. We all do. ESPECIALLY when we're scared.
• LISTEN TO THE DOG.

Because that is a horror trope. Dog throws up warning signs and no one listens. There was something else that bugged me, but I can't think of it. I will. And these aren't huge, but they do defy the way we normally go about our lives. But it's not this movie's fault that they use it. I'm not coming down on The Conjuring in particular. It's just that the movie was so good, the tropes stood out to me.

Casey: I prefer not turning on the lights to "Oh shit, Michael Myers cut the power. Again.", but I get what you're saying. For the dog thing, I have to say my dog barks at nothing all the time. OR DOES SHE? Oh, man...

Mike: See? That's what I'm saying. And I'm not saying that every time the dog barks it's a problem. But it is a well used horror trope that the dog won't go where there's evil. It's a sign we give the audience and the characters never pay attention.

Casey: Yeah, but if people in horror movies were smart, they'd all be alive at the end of the movie, IMO.

Mike: It also bugged me that the house, like the walls and stuff, still seemed old and dirty after they moved in. I mean, if FELT like a haunted house, which was cool, but who doesn't paint the walls and shit?

Casey: They the house on auction, that's legit. You gotta watch Auction Kings, dude!

Mike: True. But I'm throwing down the gauntlet. Write a horror movie where people turn on the damn lights and see the warning signs. To me, that's scarier. I get the suspense of not knowing what's in the room, but what if you turn the light on and see the shit, now you have to deal with it.

Casey: But man I have to say, I was really, really happy to see a horror movie like The Conjuring do well. Mike: I agree. For all my bitching, I really liked the movie. A lot.

Casey: This is on the back of news that the last Paranormal Activity movie is so bad that they're not only thinking of pushing the October release back to January.

Mike: I hate to say it but I think we've pushed found footage horror like that as far as we can go without creating better stories. It was a gimmick that worked, but now we need to push further.

Casey: On top of that, they're thinking of taking a Latino spin off movie they did, the Oxnard tapes, and turning it into the new Paranormal Activity 5.

Mike: I really tired of that genre of horror. The found footage genre.

Casey: I still think that despite that, maybe The Conjuring is a wake-up call. Horror movies still do well and aren't bombing. It nearly doubled its budget on opening weekend, according to boxofficemojo.

Mike: In The Conjuring, I loved the jump scares in this because they felt organic. They weren't there JUST to make me jump. It was well written, I didn't get pulled out by crappy dialogue or stupid story logic.

Casey: I also like how they laugh at you in some instances for getting scared. Some movies have tried this and screwed it up (Paranormal Activity 4), but this felt legit, due to the cop character.

Mike: Yeah, the cop character was an excellent choice. He wasn't a badass, but was just a real guy and they used him well for this.

Casey: The cool thing is they knew that the original stories were a bit thin, so they combined three different Warren family cases into one movie, and it worked great because of that. Kind of hard to elaborate without spoilers. What some of the people reading this may not realize is that since we write scripts, we're always picking apart shit and it's hard to actually sit down and enjoy a movie sometimes

Mike: It did. Looking back, because this is a "true story" type movie, I would have liked to see some skepticism up front about The Warrens (which was real) and then get to see how they really do have to deal.

Casey: I didn't really find myself picking this one apart and ruining my own enjoyment subconciously. I think we didn't see the criticism due to one of the Warrens still being around, I don't feel like I really missed it in this movie though.

Mike: But you know, I didn't find myself sitting there analyzing structure and picking out holes in the plot during the movie. I was throughly entertained. It's been a long time since I've watched a movie and not thought about that stuff.

Casey: Yeah, same here. When we went and saw Pacific Rim, which I liked, I was still doing that.

Mike: I think we could have seen some criticism of "the science" behind it, maybe. Sure they make some comments, but I would have liked to see it. And not a lot, but it would have grounded it a little.

Casey: In reality, there is a bit of criticism toward the Warrens out there, but a lot of people consider them almost like pillars of the paranormal activity, along with their nephew, John Zaffis.
As someone who is a bit of enthusiast of the paranormal stuff, I was nerding out about some of the stuff in here, including a sly reference to the Amityville case that not everyone might pick up.

Mike: That was good. I even missed that because it's been so long since I've seen Amityville.

Casey: Overall, I really thought this was a badass movie, and that people should check it out in the theatres when they can. Watching it in your house feels too safe and is chumping out.

Mike: I agree. I'll watch it at home again, but I'm glad I saw this one in the theater.

Casey: Same here. Being surrounded by screaming people is the best way to see a horror movie.

Mike: As for the rest of the movie (minor story complaints aside) I thought all of the acting was spot on, the environment they set up was fantastic, and there's sound stuff that really made it. In fact, many of the cues are sound related. If you watch movies with a sweet pair of wireless headphones, like I do, you'll totally get the sound stuff at home. But you won't get that rumble. At a few points whole damn theater rumbled.

Casey: Plus, on top of the sound, you get that awesome James Wan crazy camera work, which is fun stuff.

Mike: Yeah, there's one moment with the shot above, then under the bed, that I thought was great.

Mike: But overall, I really liked this horror movie. And it has been a few years since I could say I was really happy with every aspect of a horror film.

Casey: Same here. People need to check this out as soon as they can.

Mike: Right now. Stop reading this, get up, and go to the theater!