Conjuring Up Some Scares (Katie Made Me Do It) Part 2

If you love the scares that Nick Nack Goes to the Movies continues to bring into your headphones or speakers, here is the conclusion of our Conjuring collection with Katie.  In the second longest episode we've ever done, dive into the second half of these movies including the worst in the franchise, sort of, one of my surprise favorite doll movies, as well as 2 of the 3 Conjuring films including The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It available in theaters and on HBO Max until the 4th of July!  And not only do we have the highs and lows of this franchise, but Katie and I butt heads on the most polarizing fandom of one of these movies.  The fun and scares don't stop this episode, thankfully nothing ever showed up in my dimly lit hallway while recording this. And we really are conjuring up some horror when we dive into our 8 film franchise lists.  So buckle up and turn on all the lights in your abode for one more week until we give you a vacation from the scares as summer vacation kicks in.  What was your favorite of The Conjuring Franchise and why was it not The Curse of La Llorona?  Hit me up on social at either @NickNackMovies or @NickNack_IC on either Tik Tok, Instagram, or Twitter!

Transcript

 -Annabelle Comes Home (2019)

-I am not gonna lie, another doll movie has me a bit unexcited, but patrick Wilson and vera far-mee-guh give me some hope that this isn’t just straing things flying around and another retread

-Just using Band of Gold, once again, the oldies music, is like very good, even though this movie takes place just a year or so after the conjuring at best

-I forgot that there are a few other major franchise characters, probably with the chronological watch issue, I know I have a lot more of the Warren family to look forward to excluding La Llorona, but Steve Coulter plays our main priest figure here in 4 of the 8 movies, the main conjuring series and early on this movie feels like the conjuring 1.5, akin to avengers 2.5 in civil war.  But you may recognize the actor behind father Gordon from his stint in the walking dead as Reg, a brief but fun role.

-So there is a good add in this idea of clairvoyance for a few of the warren family women, and of course the maybe old descendent of Lorraine, the whole Far-mee-guh family being in this franchise, with vera and tai-ess-suh

-There is a fun angle of the kids perspective of the warren’s kid’s negative social life, already here parents are only so close always solving real life scooby doo crimes and the whole reputation of the ghostbusters before saving the world a handful of times, both of those are available on peacock if you want a bit more levity in your spiritual horror films

-I gotta say, the movies family security system for the most unholy artifacts is quickly broken down by a random curious teen, the whole oops parenting stuff, we love the couple, and seemingly they picked up a perfect babysitter, but her friend group ushers in a whole new era of evil.  Like the system works, but they were just one curious kid away from absolute horror, I love my horror movies, mostly slasher, but gosh these random characters who aren’t the experts, need to stop doing terrible stuff, this girl straight up touches everything in the haunted museum, like what, ahhh!
 -All it took was some caniving and hand me down roller skates.  It seems like everyone falls to grief and these demons prey on your grief, there must be some religious or life allegory of moving on and not seeking to speak to the dead, that seemingly never works out, that notion is brought up in the deathly hallows tale, one of the better parts of the tales of beedle the bard

-It is weird they had to do a reacast of the warren daughter for this film that was made in 2019, many years between the conjuring 1 and 2 filming but taking place only a year after the first conjuring.  Thankfully Sterling Jerins is back in the role for the new 2021 sequel.  The actor here mckenna grace was actualy in the haunting of hill house and will a main part of that ghostbusters reboot joining It and stranger things finn wolfhard

-Oh what a trick with the warren family in the beginning, this movie boils down to things just happening because a doll is evil and everything else want’s to be evil around it, honestly this feels like the mummy reboot at times trying to set up all these wild and out artifacts that just kind of exist, and I get it, it adds to the lore building of creepy things exist in this world, and they could not make 8-10 movies with these actors covering all sorts of spooky artifacts, but I feel like that would have been better.  There is just too much going on here in this messy movie, it is the best of the doll movies, but that is just because it relates to the warren family in some small way, instead of a family movie, this is a daughter who is alone and some dumb teenager set’s every scare they could not fit in individual movies in one film, and it just feels, like too much

-As someone who is all about colored lights, the film projector that cycles through different colors is super cool, and honestly it adds to the visually coolest scene in the whole movie on the growth of annabells shadow to horrifying monster creature, easily the coolest single visual moment that had nothing to do with the warren family

-If nothing else, I will always be not about the throw up demon thing into someone’s mouth, gross, and that too is in the main conjuring movie, that is just a franchise rule apparently 

-So the horned demon thing is not nearly scary enough, honestly, the only scary creature in this whole movie franchise so far is still creepy nun, even though that is the worst movie , so the latest Annabelle is better compared to the other two, and it does some good Judy development and skill stuff, and there is a really nice movie moment of Judy having all the friends, I feel like there is some nice emotional moments here, there is just a lot going on outside the Warren parent group, a happy end makes this movie so much better

 -The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

-So I am pretty unexcited for this movie, the conjuring connections seem slim at best, feels like the nun all over again, and the only returning actor is tony Amendola, the priest from the first Annabelle, and bringer of Pinocchio to life in once upon a time on abc, I will never stop talking about that show.

-It does have tuco Salamanca from breaking bad and of course the spin off better call saul

-Also, apparently this movie isn’t actually really connected to the franchise, it is not by the same full team, so this is really a rando movie that is more of a wink and a nod to the franchise instead of an actual sequel or spin off.  I wondered why HBO Max didn’t have it listed in the same category for the conjuring collection, discuss intently on podcast

-Almost immediately I don’t care about worse looking sopping wet non nun ghost lady, I do love that this movie takes place in the real world and not some far in the past long ago abby that is locked off by itself, but if these movies are the worst conjuring movies, and one is not in the conjuring at all, spirit lady movies are not the best compared to creepy dolls or the warren family a-team

-There are some creepy fun car moments, but if I want to watch a scary lady try and take some kids, I would rather watch the super loaded up hilarious action fairtale Hansel and Gretel witch hunters, nothing will be more clever than giving adult Hansel the need for a magical version of diabetes.  Like Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter.  I just don’t care for this movie once I got a taste for better things, wet witch lady, not it

-saying you know someone who can fix this who is unorthodox and not being the warren family is, such a letdown to have tuco from breaking bad, and these kids suck

-The Conjuring 2 (2016)

-Oh, fun actor thing, Maria Doyle Kennedy, who you have seen some irish character with her portrayal.  I personally know her from Dexter as that one nanny, Tudors as the first wife who is one of the ones he did not behead actually.

-Nice to have non spinoff films coming up here

-Just one more film till we are in the 80’s

-So what is the issue in the sequel, kids playing with homemade ouiji boards, and straight up, don’t have too many spooky weird nursey rhymes, that is why nobody does ashes to ashes no more, its some spooky traumatic stuff.  It is weird seeing a more haunted house story in a super populated area

-Wow the scares are better here, just loud yelling with no visual was so so good, these movies are immediately scarier than anything else in the spinoff franchise

-Creepy nun, no good, still don’t like it, guy yelling get out of my house, good scares, but a bit goofy

-far-mee-guh and wilso are both really that good 

-Also there is something that makes sense about wan getting Patrick Wilson to be in aquaman, and I get why this director wants to bring a little horror to his dc super hero movie

-The conjuring 2 is good, it just is not as good, as some franchise bits are a bit similar of course

-I think the scare depends on what you find worse, a kid being the main possession target or the parent

-I don’t know why the music is just better in the later films, and the bee gees version of the joke was on me, the one I picked up from suicide squad so good.

-The demons are just smarter overall in this movie, and there is something kind of fun about all that, and having one demon using another demon, the damn nun ugh

-The battle against faith and premonitions is super interesting, assuming our leading man ed was gonna die from some scary tree and nun, thankfully not the case, the end scares are indeed action packed, and so much good happens, the stakes are actually more epic seemingly, but having a pseudo demon, who is less scary than the solo movie, something is just a bit lesser compared to the first conjuring film, even though the nice family and couple moments are for sure still present!

 -The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

-Denethor from Lord of the rings is in this?

-When there are this many conjuring movies, they have to try new ways of storytelling of seeing the end then seeing the beginning then coming back for more discovery.  

-Chalk the whole based on thing up for a second and not worry about it too much, you can’t have the same movie every time, you have to mix up the formula enough but not go so far off to have nothing in common and mess with everything the franchise built before.

-First there was a demon in a house, then a few demons controlling other ones, and now you have occult groups and the artifact type thing from the previous movie, maybe, I am more a slasher 80’s fan first and foremost, but I like the AHS seasons, not roanoake but otherwise yeah, I definitely enjoyed the haunting of hill house, I was scared by it, but I liked it, at the time I wonder if that was the scariest thing, I will say this franchise feels scariest, but overall, the haunting of hill house will always have my heart with how it tells the story of trauma, grief, and so much more deeper elements, and the family story was so good there.  The family stories of the main conjuring movies have gone downhill since the first one, as amazing as this franchise is with its lead two members, the balance of scares and good storytelling has gone by the wayside for jump scares, and this narrative structure and semi legal action angle is not it.

-Something about Lorraine’s powers this time around is a bit over the top goofy and sidelining ed physically adds untoward averageness

-guy getting haunted in prison, is not it

-This is the weakes with tehe family, and honestly, I like Annabelle comes home more surprisingly

-Why does it feel like the priest is never really helping anyone, a bit in this movie, but barely

-How about that Fairfield shoutout, props to my time in the MAAC!

-Even the end fights is just, not it, magic witch lady who is not super scary and has magic witch powers, but I just, don’t like it, honestly, you could stop with the first one of these, miss out on creepy nun the whole time, and maybe you can watch Annabelle comes home too if you want, but 2 isn’t bad, but 3, is not good

-I guess love is strong is a cute message to end it all, it just takes ages to get to a good moment like that where the first one was full of them.

 -List

-8. The Curse of La Llorna

-7. The Nun

-6. Annabelle: Creation

-5. Annabelle

-4. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

-3. Annabelle Comes Home

-2. The Conjuring 2

-1. The Conjuring

-wrap and call to action