Ep 54 - The Conjuring 2 (2016)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: The Conjuring 22016 Ed and Lorraine Warren are back to remind us that the Amityville house was peanuts compared to their other lesser known cases. This time they hop across the pond to help a family with a curmudgeonly old ghost. Even though Lorraine is wont to give up the ghost hunting altogether. But it seems like Ed just can't leave young women to suffer alone. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Mongoolie's Movie Madness. It's a sight to behold. Mongoolie's passion for films never close up. From classics to new releases, Let's start the show. [00:00:59] Speaker C: Hello everybody and welcome back to our Rating the show where I get together with two of my friends, we take a movie franchise, break it down by movie, give it an overall score, and throw it on the board to see where it lands compared to the other movie franchises. This week we're looking at 2016's the Conjuring 2, and I'm joined by Will and Brian. Will, how are you doing today? [00:01:16] Speaker A: I am ready for a fright. [00:01:19] Speaker B: It's. [00:01:19] Speaker A: It's Halloween season. We're in October. I'm loving it. [00:01:23] Speaker C: That's right, we are officially in October. How are you doing, Brian? [00:01:26] Speaker B: I'm doing good. Like Will, I'm. I love October. It's one of my favorite months. The weather is usually pretty good in this month and, and I like scary movies. I think Halloween's a great season for good scares. [00:01:38] Speaker C: Very nice. Now, have either of you seen this movie before for the podcast? Guys, come on, say it out loud. [00:01:50] Speaker B: I've not seen the Conjuring 2 until. Until this week. Likewise. [00:01:56] Speaker A: I shook my head. No. I have not seen any of the Conjuring movies. So it's all new to me, which is fun. [00:02:02] Speaker C: I'm in the same boat with you. The only ones I've seen are the ones we've seen so far for this podcast. This is all new for me. And so far, I mean, maybe a little bit of spoilers. I'm enjoying them. Like we're two movies in and I, I'm having a good time with this one. Much better time with this horror franchise than last year's horror franchise. And I'm not trying to bring up old ghosts or whatever. I. I'm just saying this style of horror where it's like more in your head and is there actually something in the dark over there is better for me than like the horror gore fest that was the Evil Dead, specifically the two remakes. [00:02:33] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:34] Speaker C: Would you agree with that, Will? Like, I know you're a big fan of The Evil Dead, the first couple. But like, gore versus the illusion of something scary. Where do you stand on that? [00:02:45] Speaker A: I like it both ways. If I can say that on podcast. [00:02:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I. [00:02:53] Speaker A: If. If they're done well, I'll. I'll take any kind of scares. I think gore has a place, and this movie specifically added much more gore than the first movie had. So that's something. But this is still more a classic ghost storytelling than a gorefest slasher movie. [00:03:12] Speaker C: Yeah. What about you, Ryan? [00:03:15] Speaker B: I. I prefer the storytelling over the gore myself. Like Will says, though, gore does have a place, but it needs to be wielded well. And a lot of movies don't do that so much. It's more just like. There's a term for it. It's like. It's like gore porn or something like that. [00:03:36] Speaker C: Torture porn. [00:03:37] Speaker B: Torture porn? Yeah, torture porn. I hate that stuff where it's just trying to gross you out. I don't like any of that stuff. So the Conjuring 2 is. Was a great mix of good storytelling, like the original. And like Will says, they. They added a little bit more violence. Did we get any murders or kills or deaths in this? I don't remember. [00:03:54] Speaker C: I don't think we saw anybody die. [00:03:56] Speaker B: I don't think we saw anybody from, [00:03:58] Speaker A: like, the vision of all the people dying in the Amityville house. [00:04:02] Speaker B: Right, yeah. [00:04:02] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Fair enough. Right at the very beginning, I forgot about. [00:04:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. We didn't see it happen in this time frame. We saw no flashes of other stuff and were told stories and whatnot. [00:04:12] Speaker C: Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'd agree with that. I generally prefer this style of horror. As I mentioned, the one, like, gory movie that I did enjoy. I haven't seen it in, like, a decade, but the very first Saw, I actually did, like, despite being way more gory, because I kind of liked the question that it asked. And, like, does it justify the entire movie? Maybe not, but I found that very interesting. Anyways. That's a different franchise for a different movie. Right now we're talking about the Conjuring. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Same director, though, is it? [00:04:39] Speaker C: It's both. James Wan. [00:04:41] Speaker A: James Wan is all the Saw movies? Pretty much. Yep. [00:04:44] Speaker C: Wow. Okay. So far, the two Conjurings. [00:04:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Which is good. I like to see the very different style. And I prefer this over Saw movies for sure. [00:04:54] Speaker C: Absolutely. So far. I strongly agree with that. We'll see if they can stick the landing on the next two, but here we are. Now, this movie did the same thing the first movie did where they Introduced you to a character that's going to become popular in their own city. Spin off. Now, this character, though, the nun, Valak, I think that his name was. [00:05:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:15] Speaker C: Seemed like they weaved it into the story a little bit better, or at least for me. Whereas Annabelle felt very stamped in there, like very out of place, but just kind of thrown in. Did it work for you in the same way? Or did Valak seem just as out of nowhere as. As Annabelle did? I didn't ask either one of you. Let's go with Brian. [00:05:33] Speaker B: I. I didn't like the nun. I felt it was kind of the same thing as Annabelle. What I didn't like even more, though, was the crooked man. The Crooked man felt completely unnecessary. Like in the first movie, we had a creepy spirit, ghost, whatever person, entity, demon that was. That was like possessing people and causing issues over and over and over and over. Right? And we had. Annabelle was kind of stamped into this movie. This one we had an entity that was. We had the nun. And you also had it taking control of the old guy in the chair and also doing the crooked guy. And like, it felt like a jumble of stuff going on, like they were trying to put more into it. And this is a thing that we see time and time again in sequels where they can either redo the whole movie and they're really rolling the dice on that, like they did in Aliens. Right. They changed the whole idea of it. And it works, but most of the time it doesn't. Or you can stick with the recipe and just turn up the volume, adding more spices to. To. To add flavor to it. That's what it felt like they did in the Conjuring 2. They stick. Stuck to the same ideas. They just added more. And the. The crooked man was too much. The nun felt kind of stamped in there. Although it was a little better, we woven it still kind of felt weird. And then of course, you had the old guy in the chair, which would have been enough. That would have been enough. I don't think they needed the Crooked man. [00:07:12] Speaker C: Yeah. What about you, Will? [00:07:15] Speaker A: I don't disagree. I. I felt the same way with the first one. I thought there was one or two too many ghosts being possessed throughout. And you didn't need them in this one. I didn't care for the Crooked Man. I like the Crooked Man. Little like toy and story of the Crooked Man. I think it. It's creepy in itself, so it lends well to these kind of ghost storytellings. But I just hated the CGI of the crooked man and he didn't really do anything. So he didn't really add anything to the movie specifically. There was one scene where Ed's blinded and he's, like, going up the stairs and the crooked man's, like, following him, but Ed has no idea. So it's only for the audience. But then he never shows up or does anything. The crooked man doesn't actually do anything after that scene. So it was literally just for the audiences. Oh, what's gonna happen? And then nothing happened. So it really felt out of place to me. [00:08:08] Speaker B: I'm 100 on board with Will's synopsis there. That's exactly how I felt. The crooked man, the CGI ruined it. It was creepy. It didn't need to be any more than just a creepy doll, a little toy. And then we had the CGI thing that just didn't make any sense. [00:08:22] Speaker A: It was. [00:08:22] Speaker B: Was lame. So I. I agree completely with what Will just said. [00:08:26] Speaker C: I will agree with. Yeah, the staircase scene. I didn't like the CGI of the crooked man, but I did kind of like. Because my. My. The way I was thinking, it was more the old man ghost or possibly the nun, but I think the old man ghost was using that imagery to scare the little boy when he got up and the dog transformed into the crooked man. And I was kind of okay with that because he wants people out of his house, and so he's going to turn into something creepy to that kid to. To scare them away. Or at least that's what I was assuming was happening in that scene. As opposed to it being a third ghost in this movie. [00:08:59] Speaker A: Right. [00:08:59] Speaker C: It worked for me in that scene way better than it worked for me when he's going up the stairs and, yeah, he doesn't even know that he's there. And it's. It doesn't really serve a purpose. I'll definitely give you that point. I liked the nun for what it was. It was a little weird that, you know, she follows them across the ocean, but it seemed like she was haunting the Warrens. Is that their names? [00:09:23] Speaker A: Yes. [00:09:23] Speaker C: Okay. [00:09:24] Speaker B: It's really. [00:09:24] Speaker C: She was haunting the Warrens and, like, made the other house worse, as opposed to living in the house in England and then waiting for them to get there. Is that what you guys took from that, or. [00:09:33] Speaker A: I actually have no idea how it works. [00:09:36] Speaker B: I was a little confused on it myself, too. It felt like there was a little bit too much for them to handle in this one. Again, not that they failed miserably. They just didn't do an excellent job of combining all these different threads. [00:09:50] Speaker C: Fair enough. [00:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:51] Speaker C: There was the scene where she's in. At home, in her library or in her office, whatever, with her daughter and she's reading her Bible. I noticed on the bookshelf. Now I'm not sure if this entire scene was a dream. I'd have to go back and actually check it out. Maybe I'll do that when I'm editing this. On the bookshelf I noticed an A and a K because those initials of my daughters. I even remember saying like, oh, there's that. And I was like, oh, cool. And then I was looking around to see if there's the third. Well, no, I saw that because I was looking for my daughter's third initial and I was like, it's weird that there's a V and why are there two A's? And then when you find out the name later on, I'm like, wait a second. Those are the exact initials on the bookshelf. Was she dreaming in that time or did. Is it like subtly. Those are the initials they bought to put on the bookshelf because like. [00:10:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:40] Speaker C: Taken over his mind and got him to draw her and put him. Put her in the house. Did she do that to her and like, hey, go to IKEA and pick up these letters? [00:10:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it was like a. For the audience. Little subtle clues that this demon is infiltrating way. Yeah, yeah. I don't even know if controlling, but [00:10:59] Speaker B: somehow I missed the initials altogether. I just. She wrote in the book and later found it. That was it. [00:11:06] Speaker A: There's another scene where Valak's name comes up as well. I can't remember where it is, but there's another scene as well that Valak's name is in like the background somewhere as well. So yeah, I think it's just like these clues of like, oh yeah, this, this presence. [00:11:20] Speaker C: She's been here for a while. [00:11:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it's, it's, it's sinking in, you know, it's, it's. It's digging its teeth into you or whatever. But it just seemed weird by the end. I was like, okay, so it's the curmudgingly old man. The same entity as this nun. Like, are they working together? It just seemed so convoluted at the end. I'm just like, I, I just, I don't know what's going on. [00:11:43] Speaker C: If I was to guess. Sorry, Brian. If I was to guess, I don't think the old man and the nun are working together. I think the old man is stuck. Wanted to have them out of his house. And then when the Warrens show up, they bring the nun with them. The nun, such a more powerful entity than the old man that he kind of takes a back seat where he's just like, he was scaring them and now he's terrified. [00:12:04] Speaker A: Right? [00:12:05] Speaker C: That's. That's how I was reading the situation. [00:12:07] Speaker B: At least that's how I kind of got it too. I almost felt like the old man was being manipulated himself. Like he didn't even want to be that scary or cause that many problems. I felt like he was like being used by another source. Like I felt like there was an evil source that was maybe not doing anything with a nun, or maybe it was Valak who was doing the nun, the old guy and the crooked man. I felt like this entity was just doing whatever it could to scare people in any way that was scary. And he found these three ways of doing it. That's what I kind of got from it, sort of. But I didn't feel like the old. Like there seemed to be a scene when the old man was like, oh, thank you, I'm released now. I won't bother you so much. That's what it felt like. But it was a little confusing. There was a lot going on. You know, the last movie I didn't even get the gist of it until she said, hey, the demons possessing the mothers to kill the children. And then I was like, oh, okay, that's what's going on. I guess in this one they didn't even drop me a line. And I usually complain when they over explain things in movies. I maybe could have used a better explanation in this one because I was a little confused. I just enjoyed the scares and enjoyed the ride, but it was kind of a bumpy one. I agree. [00:13:28] Speaker A: I like this movie is similar to the first. They know how to set up the atmosphere. They know how to keep the tension throughout. Is it 30 minutes too long? Probably. It felt long to me. Like I was just like, okay, there's a lot of scares in here, but like, are we getting somewhere? Like, are we gonna come to a conclusion here? Because it felt long to me. Not that it wasn't, wasn't interested or didn't retain my attention. It just felt long for a scary movie. Dan, did you feel that or were you along for the ride? And that was it. [00:14:03] Speaker C: So it's been a week. So I was pretty tired when I was watching this and I passed out a little bit. We did go back and rewatch the scene and got up and like Took the dog for a walk and came back to it. And that was enough to kind of perk me up again. And then I was invested for the rest of the movie, so I didn't feel that it was long, per se, but I also fell asleep in it, so it's hard to entirely. I don't think that was on the movie's part, though, because I was enjoying this movie quite a bit. It. I was getting invested into it until the very end. I think that was an outside source problem, not a conjuring two problem. [00:14:37] Speaker A: Right, right, right. [00:14:39] Speaker B: So in the first movie we mentioned, you guys said that you liked all of the setups and scares, all of the tension. You didn't have any problems. I felt that there were a couple of cheesy, just loud clap jump scares that were. Could have been better, I guess. Yeah. In this one, I didn't really find any of those. I felt like they. They did a good job. Everything was smooth. They built tension. They had good, solid scares in a variety of different ways. They did try some things that didn't work as well for me. They tried that. This scary image coming out of kind of nowhere that. That startles the viewer. That was the Crooked man. And it didn't work for me at all. The CG looked terrible. It took me out of it. I was. I was very disappointed with that. If you want to see a really well done version of that kind of scare where something comes out without any sound or anything, you just see it and you go. And you kind of freak, watch. It follows and it will come out of a doorway one time and, oh, my God, I'm crawling up the couch. Because the way that they do that scene, and it's not cg, it's just this really tall dude that they hired for the shot with some makeup, and he walks into the door quietly, and it just freaks you out. They were trying to do that with this, with the Crooked man, and it just didn't work. It just failed miserably. That was the only scare that I thought was no good. And I still give them props for the try. It was. It was a good try. Like, that kind of scare, they just didn't pull it off. [00:16:08] Speaker C: Is that the one where it comes out of the dog? I'm gonna say no, that. Okay, well, there's a scene where, like, the. The little boy is walking through the house and the dog is in the back door, and the dog, like, transforms into the creepy man. [00:16:22] Speaker B: Oh, I didn't see it transformed. I must have, like, looked away or Something. I remember the bell ringing from something. [00:16:26] Speaker C: Okay, so the dog is a Rottweiler. And I had my Rottweiler passed out right next to me. And I'm just sitting there like, don't kill the dog. Don't kill the dog. The dog is the only thing that died in the first one. I'm just like, come on. And then when it started to transform, I thought, like, the dog was getting mangled on screen. [00:16:45] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:16:46] Speaker C: I don't want this. So when turning the creek, man, I was almost relieved. I was like, oh, cool, the dog's fine. We're good. Didn't scare me. Didn't work for me at all in that way, because I was more concerned for the dog than for the little boy at that point. But [00:17:00] Speaker B: we can watch people be murdered all day long, but when they start hurting the animals, that's when you take offense. [00:17:09] Speaker C: I'd say for the most part, the jump scares. This one did work for me again, and we'll get to it, but until. Until the last 10 minutes or so, and then I just checked right out. But, like, the opening, the setup, the build up, it wasn't quite as powerful as the first movie, but I still think they did a good job. I don't remember the music building quite the same way. I don't remember the tension building quite the same way. And I think one of the main problems is a lot of the times the people that are in danger are the Warrens. And I know there's two more movies coming. So, like, the last 10 minutes, when it is, like, him running through the house and she's all nervous for him. There's no tension in that scene for, like, he's in the sequels. Like, there's no chance he dies. Maybe the little girl falls out the window, but I doubt it. [00:17:55] Speaker B: I don't think there would have been that much tension if I didn't know about sequels. I just didn't feel nervous for him at all in. In. In. In those scenes. [00:18:04] Speaker C: Yeah, but that was the nice thing in the first movie because I don't know that family at all. I don't know anything about their story. They're all expendable, potentially. Like, especially the dad in the first movie felt like he could definitely get taken out at any second in this. [00:18:19] Speaker A: It. [00:18:19] Speaker C: It kind of. This one felt kind of safe. After a while, you're kind of like, oh, I don't think they're gonna hurt these people. They're definitely not gonna hurt the Warrens. I think we're okay here. And, like, it Kind of ruined the last couple of minutes, like, without. Really tense scene in the. The house or what they're building towards. And it's like, all right. It just. That part really didn't work for me. That really didn't work for me personally. [00:18:40] Speaker A: Do they have to. Do they have to start offing some people in the next couple of movies for you? [00:18:45] Speaker C: I mean, we got the kill scene in Amityville at the very beginning, and my guess is that's because you're two movies in now and nobody's gotten hurt. Well, that's not true. Some people have gotten hurt. The bite marks and whatnot, but nobody's gotten seriously hurt. Hospital or. Or anything like that. And again, I don't necessarily want gore, but I do want to feel like there's the possibility of something bad happening. A different movie. I apologize. A quiet place did a great job. Spoilers of killing the little boy two minutes into the movie. [00:19:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:19] Speaker C: All of a sudden, you are thinking subconsciously or. Or consciously, you're thinking like, oh, crap, anything can happen. If they're gonna kill a little kid, they can kill anybody. [00:19:28] Speaker B: I love when they do that. I love when they show you, hey, everything's on the table. You don't know what you're getting here. [00:19:35] Speaker A: So I love when they're murdering children on screens. [00:19:38] Speaker B: That's just the best. [00:19:40] Speaker C: That was an incredibly tense movie, though, because it could have happened. [00:19:44] Speaker A: No, 100%, I agree. I agree. It just sounded humor. [00:19:47] Speaker C: Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Now, the one thing I really did like, I really liked in this movie because it's such a stupid horror trope where, like, the little kid sees something and everybody goes like, oh, there's nothing here. I liked that in this one, the ghost was presenting itself to everybody. Like, the little girl be like, oh, there's. There's something in my room. She's like, no, there's not. And then, like, the dresser flies across the room. You're just like, oh, damn. Or, like, the police show up. Oh, God, I love that scene. The police show up and they're looking around like, there's nothing here. What are you talking about? And the chair just, like, moves itself back in and, like, yeah, we can't help you. Sorry. Bye. [00:20:20] Speaker B: See, that was. I thought that was an interesting choice for them to do because normally that creates a sense of fear and helplessness in the viewer watching these people who know that their house is haunted but can't convince anyone else of it. That helplessness, that's a feeling of fear and terror that they could have installed us. And they decided to completely do away with that. And everybody that came in and like immediately got a taste of haunted ghost stuff. Like they immediately just showcased it to everybody. [00:20:52] Speaker C: And for the one person who mattered, the one person from the church. [00:20:55] Speaker B: Yeah, right. So it was an interesting choice. I'm kind of glad to see that because now I know that I didn't like it. And I probably wouldn't know that. I probably wouldn't know that because every other film always has what is such a cliche. No, really, you got to believe me, I'm not going crazy kind of thing. And this one didn't do that. And I was kind of like, well, that's weird. I'm not as nervous or scared. Although the police leaving and being like, sorry, we can't help you, that did kind of put a little bit of it back. Like, okay, so the police aren't going to do anything to help me here. What was the point of me even bringing them over? I mean, yeah, they know it's haunted, [00:21:36] Speaker C: but see, so I think that it did still, still kind of do that, except for it put the onus on the mother instead of the ten year old girl. Because now the mother is trying to get sympathy, she's trying to get help from people and everybody's looking at her like, yeah, no, there's nothing going on there. Although I think the neighbors. Something happened that the neighbors witnessed as well. Do they not? [00:21:56] Speaker B: Yeah, the neighbors were on board with it. There was a huge thing that flew [00:21:59] Speaker A: through their house at one point and just smashed into their teacups or something. [00:22:04] Speaker C: Was that the neighbor's house? The, the thing from the furnace, the fireplace? [00:22:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Okay, that's, that's like when, when Brian brought that up, I thought similar. Like I didn't love it because specifically in this movie they set up that people aren't believing and the church won't believe until they get like some solid, solidified evidence. But there's. Everybody's getting evidence all the time in this movie. [00:22:29] Speaker B: They're just like getting it on film. [00:22:31] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's just like so weird. Like they went so hard right out the gate. Like a lot of movies, you know, it's a slow buildup of chair moves this or that. Nobody believes them. This one just was tossing the shit right from the jump. And I was like, okay, it's bold, but it just, it conflicted with the portion of the story of like, oh, yeah, but maybe they're just, you know, making it up. [00:22:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:58] Speaker A: Because the girl does make it up. At one scene when she's in the kitchen trashing the kitchen and she's not possessed, at that point, it was really felt awkward, you know. [00:23:09] Speaker B: You know, the. The whole scene. [00:23:11] Speaker C: You. [00:23:11] Speaker B: You bring that scene up where she's faking it. I didn't even realize she was faking it until, like, afterwards. I was like, why would this kid go throw all this stuff around? I mean, she's heaving, like, heavy furniture. I thought she was really possessed. And they got it on film that this child was throwing furniture around. I thought that was proof. And they're like, oh, she's clearly faking it. I was like, yeah, really? And then. And then come to find out she was faking it because the ghost demon thing was telling her, get him out of the way. [00:23:44] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [00:23:44] Speaker B: And so. So they had to. And so that was, like, an interesting change of story, but again, it was confusing because I didn't understand what was going on. I thought she was possessed. [00:23:52] Speaker C: I'm with you on that one. I don't know why that was such obvious proof that she's faking it when the whole point of possession is that you are not in control of your body. [00:24:01] Speaker B: Right. [00:24:01] Speaker C: So that one is a little weird for me. [00:24:02] Speaker B: She looked pretty possessed to me. [00:24:04] Speaker C: Going back a second, though. I like that this movie went a different direction. Apparently, I'm the only one of the three of us that did. By showing the ghost to everybody as opposed to hiding it from people. I. I liked that it tried something different because every other movie does the. The first choice, like Mr. The second. And if the Warrens brought the nun, which is the more demonic thing that actually wants to hurt people and all. Excuse me. And all the old man is trying to do is get them out of his house, it kind of makes sense that he would present himself to all of the people living in the house because the mother is more likely to, you know, be the one to say, okay, we're leaving, as opposed to if the little girl gets haunted. But then when, like, the church is involved, he's like, well, I'm not messing with the church. The church is going to make me, like, exercise me. And I don't know where I go after that. So, like, it wasn't that big logical leap for me that he'd be like, okay, I'm gonna scare these people because I want them out of my house. I'm not gonna scare those people because they're gonna fight me. And I don't know that I can win that fight. [00:25:04] Speaker A: Right. I don't disagree with you. Like, I think it was an okay choice. I just think it conflicted with the other part of the story of like, does the general public believe this is a fake news or is this an actual haunting? Like that bar or that line was so crossed into this is real events that it was unbelievable that people wouldn't. Wouldn't believe. You know, these. These poor people that are just getting tormented and like the cops see it and can't do anything, just walk away from it. Like it was just so far past the line that it just made that plot point irrelevant almost. Yeah, I don't know. It was weird. [00:25:46] Speaker B: Like I said, I'm glad they did it in this film because I found out that I didn't really prefer it. I don't think it was bad. I think they did a good enough job with. With the way that they chose to reveal everything to everybody. And Dan, you're. How you. You know, the old man doing it to the family. That all makes sense. It all checks and it works. I just think that it adds this level of tension when you have people who are desperate to be believed that this crazy shit is happening to them. And we. We didn't get any of that. But it was kind of refreshing. It's kind of refreshing. So they tried bittersweet. Yeah. [00:26:22] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. [00:26:24] Speaker B: So this. [00:26:24] Speaker A: I looked up a little bit. The actual happening, true to life happening in this movie is much more accurate account and portrayal in this movie than the first movie's story and portrayal. That being said, a big butt here. The Warrens had almost nothing to do with this. This story. It happened in London. There was lots of investigations happening with lots of other people. The Warrens were like, not even invited. They just showed up. They were there for like a day. They had very little to do with any of it. They didn't save this girl's life and rid the family of all these spooky creatures. [00:27:09] Speaker B: Did the police really write a report about the chair sliding across the floor? They did, yes. [00:27:14] Speaker A: A female policewoman. Female policewoman. That's redundancy in its finest. [00:27:21] Speaker B: Yes. [00:27:22] Speaker A: One of the police officers saw the chair move on its own. Could not explain it left. [00:27:31] Speaker B: Cool. That's it. [00:27:33] Speaker A: We can't help you, you know, try to get some help somewhere. You know, that. That was. So the. The accounts are much more accurate. Aside from, of course, the nun wasn't in it and. But the curmudgeonly old man. And then of course, you know, later in life, the little girl grows up and says, you know, it wasn't all evil. We don't think the ghost was evil. We thought it was actually lonely and just wanted to spend time with us. [00:28:00] Speaker B: Okay. [00:28:01] Speaker C: Not. [00:28:01] Speaker A: Not scare us away. They wanted us to stay but didn't know how to communicate. Right. So there. But then they were also, like, admitting that some things they did make a little. A little fictitious to get more popularity [00:28:16] Speaker B: or embellished a bit on the radar a bit. But. [00:28:20] Speaker A: But yeah, yeah. The overall essence of the story was actually quite well done in this one, comparatively to the first. [00:28:27] Speaker B: It was an impoverished family, and this happened immediately after Amityville was pop. Or almost. Almost the same time. So there is a case to be made that this family was just doing it for the money, for the thrill, for. For the fame or whatever. But nonetheless, I. I think that the police reaction to seeing the chair slide across, writing a report and then just leaving, that's a very human, realistic reaction to that situation. Hollywood would have them do something else. Real police would be like, nope, that's not in the handbook. [00:29:00] Speaker C: Come out of here. Even the fact that they left, but they still help hide. Like, not help a ton. Obviously. Yeah, you should go talk to somebody. Because Hollywood go straight for the joke of just like they're in their car driving away. Right. Like, that would be the next scene. I like the way they handled that one. I'm surprised you say this one's more realistic. This one felt so much less realistic. Like, I don't know the story at all, but just based on, like, oh, the haunted house versus, like, oh, the demon nun who. If you say its name. Yeah, it's taken away. That felt way less realistic. [00:29:32] Speaker B: I think everything Hollywood added to this took away from the realism. Everything that was based on the accounts was pretty cool. [00:29:42] Speaker A: No, no. But, yeah, it just. This is one of the most well documented kind of hauntings like, in history because so many investigators came in and interviewed the family and did all of these things. And so they had a lot to pull from a lot of material. And so I think that's why a lot made it into the movie. But then they messed it all up with the Warrens being the star of the movie and being just golden children that can't be touched and just perfection on screen. [00:30:13] Speaker B: And I. [00:30:14] Speaker A: Did you, either of you find that they're getting just too unrealistic because they're so perfect. Or is it just a problem? [00:30:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:23] Speaker A: Or is it just. [00:30:24] Speaker B: They're like a Ken and Barbie kind of characters almost? They're. They're. Yeah. A little weird. And then I felt like they kind of. I Don't know. I was expecting them to look older, not younger. Was this out of chronological order? Because Mrs. Warren was looking pretty hot this film, and I remember being a little older in the. I don't know. Maybe I was. [00:30:46] Speaker C: I don't know, but [00:30:50] Speaker B: I don't. She looked real good in this one. And I was like, wow, she. Is this. Is she younger in this? Or did they give her, like, a facelift or something? Like. And Mr. Warren, I mean, he looked. He looked pretty fit, too. So I don't know. Maybe they're just eating healthy since the last film, I guess. [00:31:05] Speaker A: Yeah. I think he just got you with his Elvis impersonation. [00:31:08] Speaker C: Yeah, right. [00:31:10] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. Honestly, the Elvis scene was like, wow, that's really good. Like, that was cool. [00:31:14] Speaker A: Yeah, he actually sang that, too. The actor, actually. [00:31:17] Speaker B: Oh, that's good. Yeah, he's. That's. That was impressive. I like that scene. [00:31:20] Speaker C: It was weird to me that they got rid of the grandmother in this one. They didn't really explain away. They just like, oh, our house has a nun in it. That's freaking me out. Better leave the daughter at home and go across the ocean. You're just like, okay, like, you didn't really need it. Like, you kind of understand that. Like, probably she has a babysitter, but it was one of those, like, oh. [00:31:38] Speaker A: But it's also, like, very clear that the daughter has the same kind of powers or abilities as the mother. And, like, the mom seems to know about it. So it's like, why are you leaving this kid alone? Like, it's just going to go bad for them. But, yeah, nothing can harm the Warrens. Come on. [00:31:57] Speaker C: They'll be fine. They'll be fine. [00:31:58] Speaker B: Hey, if in the Conjuring, Three ghosts come after their daughter, that could be exciting. That could. That could be an interesting plot point. I don't know, but I. I need. I need there to be consequences. I need to see that someone could get hurt, at least injured severely. Maybe we don't need to murder anybody. But I'd like. I'd like there to be consequences to [00:32:20] Speaker A: some couple of kids. Just a couple of kids. [00:32:22] Speaker C: Yeah, Just take one of the child actors out right away. And then we know there's gonna be consequences later and there's one less kid in the movie. It's gonna be great. [00:32:29] Speaker B: That's true. That's true. Although I haven't hated the child acting in either of these films. Not spectacular by any means, but it's passable, so I've been okay with it. [00:32:39] Speaker C: I would agree with that. The only scene in this movie where I. I really didn't like the acting was actually from the Warrens. Yeah. Right near the end, they're talking to each other through a door. And I don't know if they were even on the same, like, sound stage or if that was recorded like a week apart or something. But, like, something about that scene was just absolutely not doing it for. [00:32:57] Speaker B: Please more and just wait for me. Yeah, yeah, she is. I don't know. You're right. It was weird. It was kind of weird. And he's like, I gotta do this. And you know I do. [00:33:06] Speaker C: Yeah. I'm sorry I lied. [00:33:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:09] Speaker C: It was a bit too much for me. The house itself, now, obviously it's supposed to be run down. It's supposed to be haunted. And even like one of the plot points is the fact that the mother is so poor that they are like. That could be why they're faking it, is to try and get some money so they can get out of this house and get to something a little bit nicer. The house looked condemned in every scene that we see it in. Like, the kitchen was absolutely nasty looking. [00:33:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:32] Speaker C: At one point. I don't know if this is what we're supposed to take away from this, but at one point she turns the washing machine on, it springs the leak. And then we see a scene that's like a week and a half later in the basement is half flooded. Did she walk away from it? [00:33:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:49] Speaker B: Didn't he shut the mane off? You know? [00:33:50] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. That baffled me. I'm just like, okay, like, you think [00:33:55] Speaker B: neighbors, like, that was a. That was like a duplex. You know? [00:33:59] Speaker C: What. [00:33:59] Speaker B: What does the adjacent attached housing situation feel like? They're haunted over there. Oh, and their basement's got four feet of water in it too. [00:34:08] Speaker A: Crazy. [00:34:09] Speaker B: That's gotta be causing problems with the neighbors. [00:34:12] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, they're just knocking on the wall. Keep it down over there. [00:34:15] Speaker A: That's the knocking that they're hearing. It's the damn neighbors being like, what are you doing? [00:34:21] Speaker C: One of the kids outside with a universal remote just changing the channel on it. [00:34:26] Speaker B: Okay, so what was. What was the scariest scene for you guys? What one did it for you? For me, it was the teepee with the fire truck going in and out of the teepee, just not being able to see what was inside it. And like, when he walks away and he keeps getting up to look down the hall, and he keeps getting up and looks down the hall and you're like, it's gonna happen. The truck's gonna roll up to his door. It's gonna happen. They stretched out so long, it was killing me. And then finally, sure enough, the fire truck comes rolling up to his door and starts that where he goes and looks in the teepee. That was a very scary scene and I really like that. What, what scenes did it for you, Dan? Why don't you tell me? [00:35:04] Speaker C: I really like that scene, to be perfectly honest. It reminded me very much of the Sixth Sense. Like him having that little TP hidden room. [00:35:12] Speaker A: Right. [00:35:15] Speaker C: The ending definitely did not work for me. Yeah. Honestly, the nun scene, like when the daughter's in the hall and like, who's that? And you just see the nun at the end of the hall. Like that whole scene, like it. You kind of. I kind of clued in that. Like it might not be what really happened. Like it might be a dream sequence or something, but it still works pretty well for me. Like that the. The image of the nun is very creepy. [00:35:41] Speaker B: I would say that the long shots of the nun, when you get up into the nun's face, it looked like a get up in the hygiene. Like it was. I don't know, it was. It wasn't as great up close. I like the long shots of the nun and that scene, especially when the nun just turns and slowly walk out of the shot. Very creepy. Very creepy stuff. [00:35:58] Speaker C: Yeah, well. And it took a second to realize what was happening. So you think the nun just is there and you're just like, oh, yeah, all right. I thought we were dealing with something on the other side of the ocean. It was. This was gonna happen. But. Okay. [00:36:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:10] Speaker C: I wouldn't say it was creepy or scary, but the opening scene with the Amityville I thought was very well done. [00:36:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:18] Speaker A: Interesting how she was walking through as him as. [00:36:20] Speaker C: Yeah. And they're like mimicking each other. She's like loading the shotgun. That's not. [00:36:23] Speaker B: Yeah, that was. And to just walk by and shooting your family members like that, that was. [00:36:29] Speaker C: That was so dark. She really strongly reacted to the last daughter getting shot. Was that her daughter getting shot or why did she react so strongly to that one? [00:36:39] Speaker A: I'm not sure. [00:36:39] Speaker B: I think that was just her coming out of it. Like she was. She was in it and just watching it. And then at the end she was able to like gain control of her body again and come out of it. I think she was just. She was panicking internally the whole time. You just didn't get to see it because she was in that trance state as she, you know, filled his Shoes. But yeah, that was rough opening sequence. That very much set a darker tone for me in this movie. And. And it did have me a little more anxious. But then when they rolled out CGI Crooked Man, I was like, okay, so we're not. We're not getting any of the real good scares. We're gonna go this way. [00:37:21] Speaker A: It is an interesting choice that they darkest moment at the beginning and we never get that dark again. Not even close. [00:37:27] Speaker B: Not even close. [00:37:30] Speaker A: And so as far as like, scary scenes, I didn't find anything like, particularly scary in this. I thought there was some fun tension moments. I think my favorite, like just kind of creepy, interesting scene was the shadow nun along the wall. When it was like walking along the wall, the shadow of it. And you knew it was just going to the painting to line up with it. I thought, you know, where it's exactly where it's going and exactly what's going to happen. But they just take their time with it and it. It just. It's just subtle and nice and. And then you see the hands come on. On the painting. I thought it was well done, you know, for what it was. I thought it was. It was very. [00:38:07] Speaker C: I thought. I agree. [00:38:08] Speaker B: I think that was a great sequence. I've never seen anything like that. And it was. It was very creepy. The slope, you knew exactly where it was going to go. But watching it happen. I'm getting chills just talking about it now. So, you know, it's good if it can give you chills afterwards. Is there a shadow moving in your shadow background? [00:38:26] Speaker A: What are you talking about? [00:38:28] Speaker C: We. [00:38:28] Speaker B: I dance. [00:38:29] Speaker C: I 100 just saw it. [00:38:32] Speaker B: What are you screwed with this right now? There's. Seriously. There's a shadow that moved across the floor of your background just now. [00:38:38] Speaker A: You guys are screwing with me. I just talked about that scene. [00:38:41] Speaker B: No, I have. [00:38:42] Speaker C: No, that's hilarious. I don't know if that's a video or like your cat just cast a shadow on the green screen or what between the chair and. I do have a dog. [00:38:53] Speaker A: I do have a dog. [00:38:54] Speaker C: Did it just come in the room? [00:38:56] Speaker A: No, the door's closed. The door is closed. [00:38:59] Speaker C: That's too funny. It's hilarious. I don't know if that's been happening this whole time and we just notice it because you're talking about the shadow. [00:39:04] Speaker B: But okay, yeah, one hour in, I'm gonna be going back and checking that [00:39:10] Speaker A: and look at that. [00:39:10] Speaker B: Because I swear I saw a shadow move across the floor your background. [00:39:14] Speaker A: That's hilarious. That's hilarious. [00:39:17] Speaker C: All right, so there is a scene. I was watching this with my wife and the scene in the room with all the crosses when they start turning over. My wife went to. To college for, like, theater tech. She worked backstage and whatnot. She really liked how that scene was done and how they were doing that. Like, her brain was kind of going on, like, different ways. They could have made that scene pop. Will, I know you got kind of a theater background, but I believe you're more the acting side than the. The technical side of it. Were there any of the scenes or the practical scenes in this that you were like, oh, that's actually really cool. I wonder how they did that. Or was it all kind of like. Yeah, no, that's just wires and magnets. [00:39:51] Speaker A: Yeah, Nothing like stands out. Which is the. I think the beauty of it. [00:39:56] Speaker B: Right. [00:39:56] Speaker A: Like when. When you don't know it's practical and you don't know it's not cgi, it just looks right or it looks magical. That's. That's beautiful. But nothing like, really stood out. Again, I don't. [00:40:10] Speaker C: I. [00:40:11] Speaker A: Sometimes I pick up things a lot because of my background, and sometimes I try. And especially with these, I try to remove myself from those specific critiques because otherwise I'll just hone in on them. And that's not good for what we're doing here. But I enjoy always the practical side of effects and makeup and all of that jazz. So lighting specifically as well. [00:40:35] Speaker C: If you like what we do and you want to help support us, head on over to the Patreon. There's a link down below. Huge shout out to our executive producers, Real Bubba Hotep, as well as Dino. And thank you so much to our head writer, Elder JM990. You guys are helping keeping the lights on, and we greatly appreciate you. [00:40:52] Speaker B: Okay, so I. I mentioned that sequels tend to do one of two things. They try to rewrite the story entirely into something completely new, usually with a new writer, director, etc, or they take the sequence, same recipe, and add a little more flavor to it, which is what I believe they did. In the Conjuring 2. We got pretty much the same kind of thing as the Conjuring One, and they tried to push the envelope a little bit further. And frankly, I think they did a good enough job. Overall, I did like the first movie better than this one, but I still very much enjoyed this one as well. I believe that my scoring for the first conjuring was a 77, and this one comes in as a 76. A little bit more fluctuations going on with some of this Stuff like, I didn't think that the plot. I kind of didn't like what they did with the plot. Bringing the nun across the ocean and having so much stuff going on again in this. So that didn't work out so well for me. And then the Crooked man really put a damper on things. The CGI special effects for the. Those sequences did nothing to scare me and took me out of the film. In fact, I wish they would have just left all the visualization of the Crooked man out of it and just left it as a child's toy with some weird spooky stuff that they talked about. So 76 for me on this film, I think it's definitely something that. If you are into scary movies, check out the Conjuring one and follow it up with this one. [00:42:27] Speaker C: I'm actually pretty much on the same page as Brian here. This one came in just a little bit lower than the Conjuring. I really liked the first movie. I really liked this one too, to be perfectly honest. There are a couple of kinks in the armor that are showing a little bit. Some of the acting was just a tiny bit worse. Some of the direction was a little bit worse. That last scene really put a damper on the movie for me because you know that they're not going to get hurt, but they're trying to play the tension like they could. I think this movie does better or this franchise will do better the less the Warrens are in it. I like them, I want them in it, but I don't want them to be the stars of this franchise. In the first movie, it felt like Ron Livingston and his family, they were the stars and the Warrens were kind of there to help them. And it felt like anything could happen to Ron Livingston and his family. In this one, with the Warrens feeling like they were the stars, you kind of knew nothing bad was going to happen. Especially because we know there's two more movies to come. But also because we know about the Warrens. We know that that's not when they died or how they died. So that kind of put a bit of a damper on it for me. I didn't have quite as much problem with the CGI as the other two guys did, or the decision to have everybody be able to see the ghost as the other two did. That kind of worked for me as something different. The CGI wasn't great, but it was meant to be creepy and I think it did an okay job. However, with horror movies, the creepiest thing is your imagination. So sometimes Less is more. And this movie could have gone with that. My first One was an 82. This one's a 79. As I said, it's a little bit worse, but it's still incredibly watchable. And if you like this kind of movie, this is a really fun one. [00:43:55] Speaker A: You know what, we're all in agreeance here tonight. The movie is consistent with the first installment. It. It's fine. Plays out similarly to the first one. Story beat wise. The director definitely knows how to create a great atmosphere and keep some tension throughout. Unfortunately, this one just was a little long for my liking. And the bad CGI for me really was like, what is going on? But more so than anything, the just the unrealistic depiction of the Warrens is kind of starting to wear on me. So I'm hoping that it doesn't ruin the next two for me. But I'm a little bit worried that it might just because there's such knights in shining armor that just could do no wrong. And that is far from based on a true story. Not that we have to like run them through the mud. It's just, you know, give them a little bit more of, you know, it's like Superman can be boring because he's just all powerful and can't be stopped in pure goodness. It's better when there's, you know, a little darkness to you, like Batman. So this one's a 66 for me out of 100, which is again down three or four points from the original. [00:45:07] Speaker C: All right. And with that, the Conjuring moves very little. It went down for Will and I stayed the same for Brian and only lost one point overall. So two movies in and it's still in second place. We haven't seen the franchise hold like that in a very long time, but as we all mentioned, we're all pretty okay with it. [00:45:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, you know, as sequels pile up, the score will drop and I predict that that will happen in this case. But I don't know how far it will drop because I think all the movies have been fairly well received. [00:45:45] Speaker B: I mean, they just keep making them. Of course, they did that with Highlander too. [00:45:51] Speaker C: Movies are incredibly well known for having dozens of sequels, more than action movies generally because they're cheap to make and they usually do turn a profit. Like it come Halloween time. [00:46:02] Speaker B: People want to solid thing. Yeah, it's a safe. [00:46:03] Speaker C: And they want see something they're familiar with. So Conjuring four is a better bet than, I don't know, something. [00:46:10] Speaker B: But I mean, the Conjuring universe has a dozen films, right? When you include Annabelle and the Nun and whatever else. [00:46:18] Speaker C: Yeah, because I think there's two nuns and three Annabelles, so. [00:46:22] Speaker B: Yeah, too much. [00:46:23] Speaker C: Well, [00:46:26] Speaker A: I heard there was also plans to make a crooked band movie as well, but it got back burnered for [00:46:31] Speaker B: some reason because it would have been crap. [00:46:34] Speaker C: Sorry. [00:46:35] Speaker B: The CGI of the crooked van in this just failed miserably for me. [00:46:39] Speaker C: I agree. [00:46:39] Speaker A: I agree. [00:46:40] Speaker B: It's definitely the sore spot in the film for me. That and I didn't like the wooden stake at the end with Mr. Warren hanging out the window because like Dan said, we knew nothing bad was gonna happen. [00:46:52] Speaker C: I mean, those curtains held on for dear life. Oh yeah, they gave him minutes of life that he should not. [00:46:58] Speaker A: And each hook was stronger than the last. [00:47:00] Speaker B: Right. [00:47:04] Speaker C: Just like physics. [00:47:05] Speaker A: Yeah, well, that's the way it goes. [00:47:08] Speaker C: All right, that's our rating of Conjuring 2, but what's yours? Leave a comment down below. I'd love to hear what you have to say. We record this live over at Twitch TV themonguly show every Thursday at 9:00pm Eastern Standard Time. So if you want to come over and hang out with us, you can over there and hit the follow button. But if you made it this far in the video, you probably enjoyed it. Hit the like and subscribe. So I see you in the next one, Sam.