Editorials
5 Warren Case Files That Could Be the Plot of ‘The Conjuring 3’!
The Conjuring 2 won the hearts of many horror fans last weekend, and if box office receipts are any indication a sequel should be put into production soon. Though writer/director James Wan may not be at the helm due to his commitments to Aquaman, he will most likely serve as producer like he did on the Saw and Insidious sequels. The Conjuring 2 takes place at the tail end of the 1970s, so it makes sense that a sequel would take place in the 80s (even Wan has admitted this). The Warrens had quite a few well known cases during that decade (whether or not they are “true” is up to you), giving the writers of The Conjuring 3 plenty to pick from. Here are the five most well-known case files of the Warrens that could potentially be at the center of The Conjuring 3!
The Demonic Possession of Arne Cheyenne Johnson
Otherwise known as “The Devil Made Me Do It” case, the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson was the first case in the United States to use demonic possession as a defense. Johnson was on trial for murdering his landlord Alan Bono on November 24, 1981 in Brookfield, Connecticut. As part of his testimony, Johnson claimed that an 11-year-old boy acted as host to the demon that made him murder Bono. The Warrens were brought in to exorcise the demon from the child, and after several days, the demon left and entered Johnson, forcing him to kill Bono. Johnson was eventually convicted but only served five years of his 10- to 20-year sentence before being released. This case could be useful for The Conjuring 3 in that it would force the writers to change the style of narrative. Part exorcism and part court case, it would be more in the vein of The Exorcism of Emily Rose than the first two Conjuring films. This would prevent the potential sequel from becoming too familiar to audiences and critics, prompting complaints of it being “more of the same.”
The Haunting In Connecticut
James Wan has said that he opted not to use the Amityville Horror as the centerpiece of The Conjuring 2 (or any Conjuring sequel) because the case has been adapted too many times. The Haunting in Connecticut was already adapted into a 2009 film starring Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen, but it wasn’t very good (and neither was the DTV sequel starring Chad Michael Murray). Using this particular case file as the main plot of The Conjuring 3 could do justice to the story, in which the Warrens proclaimed the Snediker home to be infested with demons since it was a former funeral home. They may choose not to go this route though since, like Amityville, it’s been done before.
The Smurl Haunting
This haunting, which supposedly lasted from 1974 to 1989, took place in the home of Jack and Janet Smurl. They claimed that they witnessed multiple instances of supernatural phenomena (smells, sounds, etc.). They finally brought the Warrens in in 1986, who declared that their house was occupied by three spirits and a demon that was said to have sexually assaulted both of the Smurls. This gives the filmmaking team three ghosts and a demon to work with. It ups the stakes and could lead the way to tons of varying scares.
The Werewolf of Southend
This is my pick for a sequel if only because it’s so ridiculous. Apparently in the late 80s the Warrens claimed they exorcised a “werewolf demon” from a carpenter named Bill Ramsey. He claimed to have experienced super-strength and bouts of aggression that he blamed on the werewolf demon that possessed him. As ridiculous as this sounds, it could make for a really great movie. First, it would provide a different take on the werewolf sub-genre, a sub-genre that has become stale in recent years. Second, it’s something that, to my knowledge, hasn’t ever been done before in a film. I mean, it’s a werewolf demon! The only reason I could see them not going this route (and any of the cases listed after this) would be because it takes place too late in the 80s and would mean skipping over a bunch of well known case files. This limits the cases they could use for future sequels.
The White Lady of Union Cemetery
Finally, we’ve got the White Lady of Union Cemetery. Located in Easton, Connecticut, Union Cemetery is considered to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States. The “White Lady” is said to wear, you guessed it, a white dress or nightgown while haunting said cemetery. Ed Warren claimed to have seen the ghost in person. The legend of the White Lady is told in many countries, which means the writers could pick which location and iteration of the White Lady they would like to use for the film. This case file takes place in the late 80s/early 90s and, like the Werewolf Demon, would mean skipping over a bunch of well-known cases. It is doubtful they would choose this case file, but it could be fun!
Which of the above case files do you want to see adapted in The Conjuring 3? It may not be the same without Wan behind the camera, but at least there’s enough material to mine out of each of these cases to make for a terrifying film!
Due to a complex series of anthropological mishaps, the Wayans Brothers are a huge deal in Brazil. Around these parts, White Chicks is considered a national treasure by a lot of people, so it stands to reason that Brazilian audiences would continue to accompany the Wayans’ comedic output long after North America had stopped taking them seriously as comedic titans.
This is the only reason why I originally watched Michael Tiddes and Marlon Wayans’ 2013 horror spoof A Haunted House – appropriately known as “Paranormal Inactivity” in South America – despite having abandoned this kind of movie shortly after the excellent Scary Movie 3. However, to my complete and utter amazement, I found myself mostly enjoying this unhinged parody of Found Footage films almost as much as the iconic spoofs that spear-headed the genre during the 2000s. And with Paramount having recently announced a reboot of the Scary Movie franchise, I think this is the perfect time to revisit the divisive humor of A Haunted House and maybe figure out why this kind of film hasn’t been popular in a long time.
Before we had memes and internet personalities to make fun of movie tropes for free on the internet, parody movies had been entertaining audiences with meta-humor since the very dawn of cinema. And since the genre attracted large audiences without the need for a serious budget, it made sense for studios to encourage parodies of their own productions – which is precisely what happened with Miramax when they commissioned a parody of the Scream franchise, the original Scary Movie.
The unprecedented success of the spoof (especially overseas) led to a series of sequels, spin-offs and rip-offs that came along throughout the 2000s. While some of these were still quite funny (I have a soft spot for 2008’s Superhero Movie), they ended up flooding the market much like the Guitar Hero games that plagued video game stores during that same timeframe.
You could really confuse someone by editing this scene into Paranormal Activity.
Of course, that didn’t stop Tiddes and Marlon Wayans from wanting to make another spoof meant to lampoon a sub-genre that had been mostly overlooked by the Scary Movie series – namely the second wave of Found Footage films inspired by Paranormal Activity. Wayans actually had an easier time than usual funding the picture due to the project’s Found Footage presentation, with the format allowing for a lower budget without compromising box office appeal.
In the finished film, we’re presented with supposedly real footage recovered from the home of Malcom Johnson (Wayans). The recordings themselves depict a series of unexplainable events that begin to plague his home when Kisha Davis (Essence Atkins) decides to move in, with the couple slowly realizing that the difficulties of a shared life are no match for demonic shenanigans.
In practice, this means that viewers are subjected to a series of familiar scares subverted by wacky hijinks, with the flick featuring everything from a humorous recreation of the iconic fan-camera from Paranormal Activity 3 to bizarre dance numbers replacing Katy’s late-night trances from Oren Peli’s original movie.
Your enjoyment of these antics will obviously depend on how accepting you are of Wayans’ patented brand of crass comedy. From advanced potty humor to some exaggerated racial commentary – including a clever moment where Malcom actually attempts to move out of the titular haunted house because he’s not white enough to deal with the haunting – it’s not all that surprising that the flick wound up with a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite making a killing at the box office.
However, while this isn’t my preferred kind of humor, I think the inherent limitations of Found Footage ended up curtailing the usual excesses present in this kind of parody, with the filmmakers being forced to focus on character-based comedy and a smaller scale story. This is why I mostly appreciate the love-hate rapport between Kisha and Malcom even if it wouldn’t translate to a healthy relationship in real life.
Of course, the jokes themselves can also be pretty entertaining on their own, with cartoony gags like the ghost getting high with the protagonists (complete with smoke-filled invisible lungs) and a series of silly The Exorcist homages towards the end of the movie. The major issue here is that these legitimately funny and genre-specific jokes are often accompanied by repetitive attempts at low-brow humor that you could find in any other cheap comedy.
Not a good idea.
Not only are some of these painfully drawn out “jokes” incredibly unfunny, but they can also be remarkably offensive in some cases. There are some pretty insensitive allusions to sexual assault here, as well as a collection of secondary characters defined by negative racial stereotypes (even though I chuckled heartily when the Latina maid was revealed to have been faking her poor English the entire time).
Cinephiles often claim that increasingly sloppy writing led to audiences giving up on spoof movies, but the fact is that many of the more beloved examples of the genre contain some of the same issues as later films like A Haunted House – it’s just that we as an audience have (mostly) grown up and are now demanding more from our comedy. However, this isn’t the case everywhere, as – much like the Elves from Lord of the Rings – spoof movies never really died, they simply diminished.
A Haunted House made so much money that they immediately started working on a second one that released the following year (to even worse reviews), and the same team would later collaborate once again on yet another spoof, 50 Shades of Black. This kind of film clearly still exists and still makes a lot of money (especially here in Brazil), they just don’t have the same cultural impact that they used to in a pre-social-media-humor world.
At the end of the day, A Haunted House is no comedic masterpiece, failing to live up to the laugh-out-loud thrills of films like Scary Movie 3, but it’s also not the trainwreck that most critics made it out to be back in 2013. Comedy is extremely subjective, and while the raunchy humor behind this flick definitely isn’t for everyone, I still think that this satirical romp is mostly harmless fun that might entertain Found Footage fans that don’t take themselves too seriously.
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