Object #53 - Sheet - The Conjuring (2013)

Dir. James Wan

Nerdwriter has a fantastic video on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice where he discusses the 'fundamental flaw' of the film, that being, that it's a film full of effective moments, normally shot extremely well, but no effective scenes. His videos are well worth a watch, even if you disagree with some of them, but this one I think he nailed. Moments such as the court-room explosion, a crowd reaching out to Superman like a deity, Batman's reveal where he clings to the roof of a seedy building - all great moments that come to my mind right now, but no scenes that could be described as that scene, crucially, not even the fight between the two heroes. 

The Conjuring has the same flaw, however in no way to the same extent. There are moments you may remember - the floating chair, the matches being lit in the basement, and the sheet silhouetting the malevolent spirit. However, I wouldn't really describe any scene as being a stand-out, mainly, because I feel most of the 'moments' are either cribbed from other horror films directly, or cribbed technically, usually via framing or camera movement. For example, when the mother, Carolyn (Lili Taylor) goes into the basement for the first time after hearing a noise, a red ball springs from the corner and spooks her. Now to me that moment seems to be a direct homage to the famous scene from The Changeling (1980), where the red ball rolls down the stairs of the haunted house of its own will. I trust James Wan to have seen that film (I mean come on, of course he has, surely) and it seems more likely to be a nice little homage, rather than a 'rip-off'.  

The scene from The Changeling

The horror genre tends to be very self-referential in nature, very reactionary to other films and formats of horror, and I'd argue again that the moment towards the end of The Conjuring, where the possessed birds attack the house has a lot of Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) in it's DNA. The found-footage craze, dying out nowaydays(ish), is evident in the use of the first-person viewpoint, as the crew film the visits in the basement. The entire film has little moments and shots that seem to call back to past horror, but the one moment, it's a little too short to call a 'scene', that I think is completely new, and completely effective, is the moment with the sheet, which you can view here. 

Lorraine (Vera Farmiga), one of the paranormal investigators, is hanging up some washing for the family. We've had encounters with the malevolent spirit at this point, and just earlier there's a nice character moment between Lorraine and her husband (Patrick Wilson) where they lament that they don't have a nice house and family like this one. The cloud close in, darkness falls, and the wind picks up. Lorraine reaches for a white sheet, but it flies from the washing line, and very briefly, it is caught on top of a humanoid figure - the spirit, silhouetted. The music spikes, and the form of the spirit is lost, as the sheet blows to the upper window, and then blows away. This brings Lorraine's attention to the figure in the window above, the spirit, possessing the mother. 

It's a very sudden moment, not wholly unexpected due to the change in weather, but nonetheless surprising as it's a very unique shot, one that couldn't have really been done prior to the proliferation of CGI. It's damned scary, and what I love more than anything is how it turns that classic image of ghosts - a floating sheet - into something very scary. We've all done it as kids, thrown a blanket with eye holes over you head, and raised your hands going 'OOOohhh'. We've all seen it in Scooby-Doo! 

From Scooby-Doo

This is the main moment from The Conjuring that I feel stands alone, and will be remembered at that moment from the film. Now, if I think of the great classic horror films, they tend to have a few of these great moments: e.g The Thing (1982) - the defibrillator scene, the blood-testing scene, the dog in the cage; The Exorcist (1973) - the Crucifix masturbation, the head turning 360 degrees, the 'Power of Christ compels you' scene; The Shining (1980) - the twins, the woman in the bath, the hedge maze.; etc. etc. So, I don't know if The Conjuring has enough stand-out moments to make it that memorable over time, and arguably I have to ask - should it? Is the power of a film in moments or in scenes? Does a consistent creepy, scary tone out-weigh a few standout creepy moments?

Time will tell I suppose. From my experience, one moment in a film can usually be enough to earn some life-long fans. Cult films thrive in the horror genre, and even if they don't enter the pantheon of horror as films like The Shining do, they still inspire young filmmakers, are still loved, and of course, still scare the crap out of you!