Movies
The Crazy Story Behind the Next ‘Conjuring’ Spinoff…’The Nun’!
James Wan‘s The Conjuring is one of the most successful horror movies ever. It was such a smash that it revived our genre and brought it into the summer, once considered a death blow for horror.
It performed so well that Warner Bros./New Line Cinema quickly spun off the haunted doll, Annabelle, into its own franchise. It too was a booming success. With a sequel set to film this fall, and Wan’s The Conjuring 2 dominating the box office, again, the studio has set their sights on the next spinoff.
The worst kept secret is that Conjuring 2 opens with the Amityville Horror case, which led many to believe that it would be the next standalone franchise. But, with Dimension Films’ Amityville sequel set for release in January, and a handful of crappy ripoffs on the home video shelf, it appears Wan and the studio are going in a different direction…with THE NUN!
David Leslie Johnson, who co-wrote Conjuring 2 (and is working on A Nightmare On Elm Street for New Line), has been hired to pen what is being titled The Nun, reports THR. James Wan, who directed the Conjuring movies, and Peter Safran, who produced them, are reuniting to produce the spinoff.
Here’s the awesome backstory, which is going to blow your mind: What is noteworthy about the demon nun character is that she didn’t exist until about three months before Conjuring 2 opened as she was only added during last-minute reshoots.
Explains the site: The studio and Wan had a cut of the movie, which stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as paranormal investigators, in which the antagonist was a demonic figure with horns. The studio was ready to release that version but at the last minute, Wan was struck by a revelation. And so he came up with a new concept, a demon nun, which he pitched to New Line execs. And even though the late-in-the-game change could have spooked some execs, they gave him their blessing.
The shoot took place in March, just three months before the movie was scheduled to open on June 10. Some of the changes were minor: the art piece that Wilson is painting was altered digitally as the horned demon made way for the demon nun. Some were more extensive such as a set-piece in which Farmiga watches in terror as a shadow crawls across the wall to line up with the painting and…
Lights Out director David F. Sandberg is currently developing Annabelle 2, which he tells us “will be the Godfather II of creepy doll movies.” Set for release on May 19, 2017, we’re told that the film’s protagonist is going to be a nun who is worried that her orphans are becoming prey to an evil entity. Could this nun tie into the story of The Conjuring 2 and its forthcoming The Nun spinoff?
And what about a third Conjuring? Being that it’s close to topping $100 million worldwide, I think it’s safe to assume a third is quickly going into development.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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