The Conjuring Conjured The S*** Out Of Me

Well it's official. I let Rob convince me to watch the scariest movie I have seen in a very, very long time. I don't want to say it was the scariest movie I've ever seen. I still have Pet Semetary haunting me for the rest of my life. (Thank you Dad.) But this movie is definitely at the top of my all time "Scare The Shit Out Of Me And Haunt Me For Days Afterwards" list.
 I have recently confessed to hating it when people ruin movies or tv shows- so I do have to give out a big SPOILER ALERT to any big scary movie fans out there that still want to see "The Conjuring". If you haven't seen it and you don't want to know anything about it before seeing the film; play it safe and stop reading. I don't think I'll reveal too much but everyone is different when it comes to what they consider 'spoiling' a movie. Anyone that hates scary movies as much as me; another warning, the shit I am about to reveal isn't only terrifying but it is also 'pop into your head at the worst moments' scary... You know, when you wake up at four in the morning and have to pee but then for some reason you remember that part in the movie where 'something' is yanking the legs of unsuspecting, sleeping girls..? Suddenly, you don't have to pee in the middle of the night.. ever again.

 The movie is set in 1971 in Rhode Island. The Perron Family moves into a farmhouse and it isn't long before strange things begin to happen...

The Arnold Estate; Copyright Andrea Perron 

 I hate watching scary movies and I can thank my Dad for that. He always liked watching movies, it's what we did when we visited him. We'd go straight from our house, drive two and a half hours to his town and we'd pull into the movie store. He loved scary movies and so did my sister. My brother endured them because he probably just wanted to be included and I whined because I hated them. They scared me and I was young.
 Once this movie was put in, I instantly started feeling the familiar feelings I get when I know the movie is going to be good and by good I mean scare the hell out of me. The backs of my knees get sweaty, I clutch for a blanket or pillow; anything to have something in between me and the t.v. (like the movie itself is threatening to me..) I actually get anxiety when I watch because the anticipation really gets to me and especially the anticipation in this particular film was intense. But, this movie wasn't just your average  horror film, like "Michael" or "Friday The 13th", it was based on a true story. That is what makes this movie so terrifying. The things that were happening to the five daughters actually happened to them. If there is one thing that I am, it's a believer. I don't believe everything I read or hear, but I do believe in paranormal activity. Hell, I've experienced some on a small scale. That is also what intrigued me about this movie and what probably kept me watching it.

 Even though I was totally freaked out by the events that happened to this family in the 1970's I am also very intrigued by the phenomena behind it all. I ended up doing some research and the eldest sister, Andrea has since written two books about her and her family's experience living in the farmhouse. There is a great  Q and A with Andrea where I found a lot of my information about the family and the daughters. 
 The five daughters were; Andrea (12), Nancy (10), Christine (9), Cindy (8) and April (5).  (Those were their ages when they first moved into the house.)  I am 28 and would have serious issues now if anything like what they experienced happened to me. I can't imagine the nightmares and awful memories they all carry with them, after having experienced such horror. 

The Perron daughters with the actress that played them in the movie. Left to Right: Cindy,Nancy,April,Christine and Andrea.

 In the beginning of the movie, Christine is sleeping beside her sister Nancy. She is half asleep and tells her sister to stop pulling her leg. After awhile, Christine is abruptly yanked nearly out of her bed by something and it is then that she realizes that it isn't her sister. She sees something in the darkness behind the bedroom door and when Nancy gets up to investigate, the door slams in her face. Andrea, the oldest experiences her sister Cindy sleep walking in the night. It's a problem she's had before, but it seemed to intensify after moving into the house. She ends up leading her sister Andrea to an old wardrobe in Andrea's room. Later Andrea is attacked by something jumping off of the top of the wardrobe. April is the youngest and actually talks to a boy that lives in the house. Andrea later explains in the Q and A that April was the most open to what was happening to them at the time. She was young and liked the boy that visited her. The mother Carolyn seems the most affected by what happens in the house. While the girls are in school, she is playing "Hide and Clap" with her daughter April. She is blindfolded and April hides. She gets to use three claps, to help find her daughter. She is lead into Andrea's room where the wardrobe opens on its own. She asks for the third clap and a set of hands comes out of the closet and claps right there beside her. As she pulls her blindfold off, she hears April giggling and running by the doorway. Very eery shit, I'm telling you. I'm writing about it now, in the early afternoon alone with Alina and my palms are sweating.

 Later on in the film, Ed and Lorraine Warren are contacted to help. In reality, the Warren's actually seek out the Perron family, but the details of that don't seem to matter much to the story. The Warren's were paranormal investigators that were best known for their involvement with George and Kathy Lutz and the Amityville Horror case. Lorraine was a professional clairvoyant and medium and her husband George was a self taught, self proclaimed, expert Demonologist.  (Not something that most people would nod with approval on a resume...)

Two of the bravest people...! Ed and Lorraine Warren.

 In the movie, they come to the Perron's aid and help exorcise the witch, Bathsheba Sherman out of Carolyn Perron. The entire ordeal is beyond terrifying and at the same time; it's touching how Lorraine gets the demon out of Carolyn in the end. Who would think that a horror movie based on a true story could somehow be touching in the end?
 Andrea Perron decided to write about her experiences thirty years after the nightmares she survived in the old farmhouse. She is a strong believer in; what happens, happens for a reason. She claims that all of those things were supposed to happen to her and her family and she wouldn't change anything if she could. Now that is saying something. She is very protective of her mother's privacy. I get the feeling that Carolyn has put all of the haunting behind her and just wants to live her life in peace. That is what I would want to do. But who knows what anyone would do when faced with something so awful and unheard of.
  Oh and this morning, the day after watching one of the scariest movies I've seen, I am greeted with this creepy scene in the backyard...

There has been a fog hanging over our town for the last few days.. Everywhere else it's beautiful.

 Well this has all been very creepy and I think I've set an uneasy mood .. I had a feeling I was going to do that with today's post, SO I made sure to snap some cute pictures of Alina in a Halloween outfit just for today's link-up. Speaking of today's Halloween Link-Up- check out  Helene and Sarah's blogs to see what spooky, Halloween-related stories they have to share...