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The Success of ‘The Conjuring’: Marrying Fact with Fiction

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The Conjuring debuted this day four years ago in 2013 and took the horror genre in a whole new direction.  In many ways it made the genre scary again and breathed new life into a world of out dated ideas, a world of remakes, and played out gimmicks such as the found footage angle.

The opening scene where Ed and Lorraine Warren are addressing a young college campus crowd is very much the way I found out about the couple and their stories.  I grew up in their home state, and truth be told they were sort of local celebrities.  When I was am impressionable middle schooler, an angsty high schooler, and eventually a young college co-ed I followed their lectures across the small state, listening to their stories and buying their books.

The Real Life Warrens: Lorraine (left) Ed (right)

When Halloween rolled around each year you would usually find a news special about the married couple and their history in the state, their journeys across the world, and local Connecticut haunts they investigated.  Sometimes an hour long documentary would follow around Hallows Eve.  If you wanted to further your education about their stories, their books would be available at their lectures and on the early days of their website.  Remember, this was pre-Amazon people!

When news hit the rumor mill that one of their investigations was going to hit the silver screen in the near future people automatically assumed it was going to be about the haunted doll Annabelle, or their involvement in the infamous Amityville house.  To the surprise of many the focus landed on the haunted Rhode Island home in Harrisville and the Perron family who came under paranormal attack and desperately sought out the help of the Warrens.  This is a lesser known case the couple was called into, but for locals of Rhode Island and the immediate tri-state area the house is quite famous.  In fact, it still stands today and has had its share of residents, many of whom still report unusual occurrences in the house!

The Warrens portrayed by Patrick Wilson (left) and Vera Farmiga (right)

When the story was combined with movie magic directed by genre veteran James Wan a new breed of horror was created.  Sure, there have been many, many movies “based on true events” but this one was a horse of a different color.  This story took many elements from the actual haunt and Wan enhanced it with his gift for building suspense, penetrating scares, and beautiful cinematography.  The fact Wan was also intrigued by the challenge of creating a movie based around real life people and their real life story also added an element of respect and realism to his storytelling through the lens.  The working title of The Warren Files changed to The Conjuring and the series was born.  I believe it was this angle that has led to the chain of successful sequels in the series following the Warrens real life investigations and keeps viewers coming back for more.

Read about the latest spin off from The Conjuring series titled The Nun here!

See Lorraine Warren talk about the real life story of the Perron family here.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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