UTG’s 31 Days Of Halloween: ‘The Conjuring’

Of all the holidays celebrated worldwide, no single day is more loved by the UTG staff than Halloween. With the arrival of October, the time has finally come to begin rolling out a plethora of features and special announcements we have prepared in celebration of our favorite day, including the one you’re about to read.

31 Days Of Halloween is a recurring daily feature that will run throughout the month of October. The hope and goal of this column is to supply every UTG reader with a daily horror (or Halloween themed) movie recommendation that is guaranteed to amplify your All Hallows’ Eve festivities. We’ll be watching every film the day it’s featured, and we hope you’ll follow along at home. If you have a suggestion, contact us and we may include your favorite scarefest in an upcoming column!

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Day 20: The Conjuring (2013)

The Conjuring is a record breaking film of well warranted praise. It had the highest opening weekend for an original horror film of all time (in Summer no less) and is one of very few to ever make my hands and feet sweat profusely as I sat in awe upon the edge of my seat with fellow movie-goers screaming, gasping, and catching their breaths in a panic all around me.

Unlike his dreadful Insidious franchise, James Wan’s other horror that came out this year is everything I love in the genre. From the 70s-style title card to the creepy closing credits is 110 minutes of terrifying fun wrapped up in a highly stylish bow. Sure, for the most part, The Conjuring offers nothing entirely new in terms of its script and themes but Wan and his crew managed to take these tired devices and make them feel fresh with great acting, impressive sound editing, and truly beautiful cinematography that turned the film into something unique despite its genre clichés.

With obvious nods to, and influences drawn from, the classic “family moves into a big ass house and scary shit starts happening” flicks such as The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring is essentially about exactly that but has its own braided side-plot to once again offer a new take. The film is based on the reports of real life paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively. They decide to take on a case involving the Perron family, the parents of which are played by Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor, who had moved into a large farm house with their five daughters. From then, it’s not long before things start going bump in the night.

Before The Conjuring, I can’t really recall the last film that truly creeped me out, especially any newer films from the past decade. It’s a wonder how something this well-made and terrifying came from the same guy who uses dolls in all his films, put Darth Maul in a supernatural horror, and dabbles in Vin Diesel-featuring car movies on the side. Let’s just hope Wan can somehow pull it off again in the sequel. Sorry, James. I’m not hating, I’m just pleasantly surprised.

The Conjuring is a must watch this month, or on any given night that you want to get scared with friends. It comes out on DVD and Blu-ray this Tuesday, October 22.

Editorial written by: Brian LionFollow him on Twitter
Last year’s Day 20 film: Cabin In The Woods

Brian Leak
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