Editorials
Ti West and More Directed Segments for a ‘Conjuring’ Spin-Off Project You Probably Haven’t Seen
VICE’s “The 3:07 AM Project” gave four emerging horror filmmakers a chance to play around in ‘The Conjuring’ universe with minute-long morsels of murder.
The Conjuring has proven itself to be a worthy cinematic universe, delivering two proper sequels and a slew of spin-offs, with more creepy content on the way to further expand the multi-billion dollar horror franchise. The reception towards Ed and Lorraine Warren’s cinematic antics has somewhat cooled down in recent years and left audiences wondering if what’s currently on slate for The Conjuring universe will be its last hurrah or if “The Nun 3” or “Crooked Man Vs. Annabelle” are inevitable.
There are lofty expectations in place when it comes to The Conjuring IP, but there were also surprisingly ambitious plans in place even during the production of the original movie. A connected Conjuring universe may not have been on anyone’s radar yet. However, a sly piece of marketing for the first film, masquerading as a series of anthology shorts, technically functions as the start of a larger supernatural franchise. It also just so happens to include early horror contributions from Ti West, Nacho Vigalondo, and other emerging filmmakers who are now even bigger names in the industry.
“The Devil’s Hour” is said to be a haunted period of time, shortly after three in the morning, where the world is more susceptible to supernatural interference. It’s an idea that’s turned to in a number of horror movies, including The Conjuring. The first film even contains a cryptic reference to the mysterious time period in a short exchange between Lorraine and Ed Warren:
“She ran out to that tree by the dock, climbed up, proclaimed her love to Satan, cursed anyone who tried to take her land, and hung herself. Time of death was pronounced at 3:07 in the morning.”
“Well, that explains a few things.”
In this sense, it’s actually a compelling premise to use the fluid framework of “3:07 AM” as the basis of an anthology where directors can do whatever they want with “the most haunted time of the day.” This is exactly the approach that was taken by VICE for The 3:07 AM Project, a six-minute horror anthology that aired on the network to promote James Wan’s then-upcoming movie, The Conjuring (the collection even ends with an ad to see The Conjuring “this Friday”). The 3:07 AM Project isn’t anything revelatory and it mostly amounts to a fascinating experiment in minimalism. However, it’s still an interesting horror contribution that seems to by all means be forgotten and ignored. The 3:07 AM Project was never included as an extra on any of The Conjuring releases and even its IMDb listing remains incomplete. With contributions from Ti West, Nacho Vigalondo, Jason Eisener, and Max Landis, it’s absolutely worthy of discussion.
Each of the segments in The 3:07 AM Project are unconnected and tackle decidedly different corners of horror, each of which feel quite appropriate for these respective filmmakers, even more so now that a decade has since passed. Nacho Vigalondo’s (Timecrimes, Colossal) “This One, For the Lady” almost feels like a surreal VR experience. The short gets into the paralyzing confusion that exists when the lines between dreams and reality blur together. There’s a colorful, fun house aesthetic to it that speaks to Vigalondo’s filmography. Max Landis (Chronicle) is the directorial choice that’s perhaps the most from its time and his segment, “The Séance” is also given the most breathing room. The chaos that breaks out once the séance goes to hell is nothing new, but what’s interesting about the structure of “The Séance” is that it begins at 3:05 and embraces a few moments of normalcy before the clock switches over to 3:07 and all bets are off. This makes “The Seance” the lengthiest of the segments, but it’s frustrating that Landis doesn’t make better use of the limited time.
Ti West’s “Box” is one of the more frustrating contributions to The 3:07 AM Project. It’s a simplistic static shot that progressively builds tension, only to culminate in an easy, predictable jump scare. It’s the type of scare and editing that punctuates some of West’s earlier works like The Innkeepers. To be clear, “Box” looks incredible and the old-fashioned aesthetic that West turns to here makes it easily the most stylized segment of the lot. West’s desire to immerse himself in a specific filmmaking style has gone on to become one of the director’s trademarks, whether it’s in the period piece touches in The House of the Devil, the glossy found footage presentation style in The Sacrament, or the more genre-blending sensibilities that have fueled his most recent works, X and Pearl.
West has proven himself to have the most promise out of the filmmakers who are assembled in The 3:07 AM Project. “Box” comes across as a fitting piece to the larger puzzle of West’s filmography, but at the same time it feels like him punching below his weight here. “Box” works with its basic mission, but it could have aimed much higher. Finally, Jason Eisener’s (Hobo With A Shotgun, Treevenge, Turbo Kid) concluding entry, “One Last Dive,” is the most captivating and creative of the lot. The short largely plays out underwater and these murky visuals add a lot of atmosphere. “One Last Dive” gets a lot of mileage from the disturbing dissonance of seeing items like a baby carriage underwater and the final note that it goes out on is legitimately frightening. Curiously, the entire aesthetic to this short feels like a precursor to 2021’s The Deep House, an underwater horror film. Eisener’s short is close to being a decade ahead of the curve in this respect.
Overall, The 3:07 AM Project feels pretty disposable, but VICE does an excellent job with the rising filmmakers that it recognizes. Any of these names would have actually been interesting choices to handle one of The Conjuring spin-offs and could have likely done some exciting things with them. None of the shorts in The 3:07 AM Project would make for strong spin-offs on their own, but the horrors of Ti West’s “Box” do feel comparable to what’s later done with The Conjuring’s Crooked Man.
There’s such potential behind The 3:07 AM Project that it’s unfortunate that it didn’t amount to something more iconic, despite brief flashes of brilliance. Ultimately, sixty-ish seconds just isn’t enough time to create proper horror and even giving these directors three minutes apiece could have had transformative results. Considering that Ti West and the rest of the names assembled for The 3:07 AM Project have gone on to accomplish big things, this type of experiment would maybe be more worthwhile for them to attempt now that they’re all more seasoned storytellers. It would at least be interesting to see what the same filmmakers could do with identical restrictions after a decade of filmmaking and honing their craft.
If nothing else, Mia Goth contorting a twisted smile on screen for sixty continuous seconds would make for captivating cinema.
VICE’s ‘The 3:07 AM Project’ can be watched right here, on YouTube
Some movies are just so beloved that you can experience them through cultural osmosis without ever sitting down to actually watch them. From loving parodies to meticulous recreations of iconic scenes, memorable filmmaking lives on even after the curtains close on the silver screen. And when it comes to horror, few films can compete with the massive impact that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had on popular culture as a whole.
Whether or not you think the flick is a good adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel, 1980’s The Shining slowly but surely grew into one of the most influential genre movies ever made, inspiring everything from surprisingly heartfelt sequels to classic episodes of The Simpsons. However, not all The Shining references are created equal, and today I’d like to shine a light on six unexpected homages to Kubrick’s iconic film.
In this list, we’ll be focusing on references and Easter eggs that either came out of the blue or came from creators that you wouldn’t expect to be fans of this classic ghost story. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite references to the Torrance family and the Overlook Hotel if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. A Nightmare on FaceTime – South Park (2012)
Regardless of the brand’s iffy reputation among former employees, the death of Blockbuster Video was a serious blow to fans of physical media. Of course, some folks were more affected by this than others, and South Park’s Randy Marsh definitely took things a little too far in the twelfth episode of the show’s sixteenth season.
Titled A Nightmare on FaceTime, the main plot of this 2012 story is a surprisingly faithful recreation of The Shining where Randy purchases an empty Blockbuster store and begins to go mad once he realizes that his investment may not have been a very good idea due to the rise of streaming and the now-defunct RedBox storefronts.
4. The Overlook Hotel Level – Ready Player One (2018)
I was never really a fan of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, so I viewed Stephen Spielberg’s divisive adaptation of the novel as an improvement over the source material despite having its own narrative issues. In fact, I actually prefer how Spielberg changed the story by removing several references to his own work and replacing a lengthy Blade Runner detour with an over-the-top homage to The Shining.
A CGI-heavy recreation of the film’s most iconic moments that feels like a big-budget ghost train ride set within the Overlook Hotel, this intense sequence is more of a recreation of the freaky aesthetics of The Shining rather than its mind-bending narrative. However, it’s still fun to see Spielberg make a heartfelt tribute to a filmmaker that was once his close personal friend.
3. IKEA Singapore Halloween Ad (2014)
It makes sense that commercials don’t typically borrow from the horror genre, as it might be a bad idea to scare away potential customers, but some references are just too much fun to pass up.
That’s probably why the publicists behind this Ikea ad from Singapore were allowed to turn their commercial into a genuinely unsettling recreation of Danny’s tricycle scene from The Shining. After all, nobody cares if your store is haunted so long as it offers late-night shopping hours and a large selection of merchandise that you can become lost in forever and ever…
2. The End of ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’ – Community (2014)
Community is no stranger to recreating iconic movie moments within the show, and the series had previously tackled horror tropes in episodes like the fan-favorite Epidemiology. However, the most laugh-out-loud moment on this particular list comes from a brief gag towards the end of the season five episode ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’.
The majority of this episode has nothing to do with scary movies, but there’s a brief subplot involving supporting character Chang and a possible encounter with ghosts that leads him to question his own existence. This subplot culminates in the episode’s hilarious ending where the camera zooms in on a black-and-white photograph of Chang in period clothing at some kind of celebration, just like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.
However, the picture’s subtitle eventually reveals that it’s merely a conveniently placed keepsake from the ‘Old Timey Photo Club’.
1. The Overlook Hedge Maze Sequence – Zootopia 2 (2025)
Disney movies are pretty far removed from both the gruesome horror of Stephen King and the heady filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick, so I don’t think anyone was expecting the climax of last year’s Zootopia sequel to take place in an animated version of the snowy hedge maze from The Shining.
In this unexpectedly intense sequence, friend-turned-villain Pawbert Lynxley (an unhinged lynx cat played by Andy Samberg) chases our protagonists through a creepy labyrinth in a loving recreation of Jack Nicholson’s icy demise outside the Overlook Hotel. The actual ending here might be a little more child-friendly than what’s being referenced, but it’s amazing that the filmmakers were able to push the horror elements as far as they did – especially since the scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie.
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