This month has been awful, and I mean awful. Two weeks ago I lost both of my jobs (in one day through, no fault of my own, and was given no explanation). Then, last week, as I was driving to an interview, I was basically run off the road, which left my car un-drivable. These things, coupled with the fact that I’m getting married in September, have really thrown me for a loop. In the 10+ years I’ve been working I’d never been fired before, and certainly not twice in one day. My ego is bruised, my stress levels are through the roof, and I haven’t written anything in a while. It sucks.
After a long couple weeks of lying around my apartment and filling out numerous applications and assessments, I had to get out and be a part of the world again, even if I didn’t want to. A friend and I went to see James Wan’s highly anticipated sequel, The Conjuring 2, and while I was expecting to enjoy it, I was not expecting to find love, happiness, and solace in it.
Admittedly, there’s not much that James Wan has done in horror that I haven’t enjoyed to some extent but his work chronicling the cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren have been his best. They’re scary with just enough humor sprinkled throughout to temporarily alleviate the exquisite dread that is built in each film. In short, I loved it. While I didn’t think it was as scary as the first, I found it to be a deeply immersive film with incredible set design, direction, and performances.
This isn’t a review or even an op-ed, I guess. It’s more of a letter or musing on Wan’s (and the writers’) ability to take characters, both fictional and real, and make the audience care about them. Further, it’s also about how horror can really help you remember what you’re most thankful for.
Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated countless cases and whether you believe they were actually fighting off supernatural evil or not doesn’t matter. What does matter is how these two are portrayed. Twice in the film, a story is told by both characters who’re brilliantly performed by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. They are speaking to a girl who is being tormented by demonic spirits and has lost all of her friends because of it; it’s a tale is about finding the one person who believed them out of all the naysayers they had encountered over the years. It ends like this (spoiler):
“…You know what I did next?”
“What?”
“I married him…”
…or her, depending on who’s telling the story. At that point, while I sat in a dark theater, I felt my throat tighten and my eyes beginning to well up. “Am I going to cry during The Conjuring 2?,” I thought. I fought the tears and soon the next supernatural episode came and I was back to normal. But later on, during a scene in which Ed sings Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling In Love” (to bring a bit of happiness to a terrified family), I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Patrick Wilson looked at Vera Farmiga in such a comforting and loving way that it made me entirely lose it. I sat and let the tears silently stream down my face because James Wan, Patrick Wilson, and Vera Farmiga reminded me how lucky I am to have my fiance, especially during these times.
The Conjuring 2 isn’t just about scaring us or bringing back the feeling of the great ghost films of decades past; it’s about showing the audience that bad things happen to good people, but they can also be fought off by the good as well…and that having at least one person who can be there for you, even at your very worst, is one of the best things that life can offer.
Did going to the movies make all my problems go away? No. Did it get me a job or fix my car? No. But for two hours, at the end of a really terrible couple of weeks, it reminded me that I am loved and lucky to have someone who believes me. And you know what I’ll do next?
