The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Last night I went to an Advanced Screening of "The Conjuring" and all I can say is WOW... this is easily one of the best horror films to come out in the last 30 years. I can't remember the last time I was so tense watching a movie and my hand is still sore from my Girl Friend Squeezing it tightly. As Kevin Carr told me after the screening "it's 5% cheese and 95% Horror."

Do not miss this one in the theater!!

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Jaws3dfan®
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Saw it yesterday. That's easily one of the best horror movies in years!

I cold not agree more!!

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Jaws3dfan®
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I saw it Saturday night. I was very impressed. From the 70s feel to the acting and story. It all worked so well. It was a nice change to not have a lot of gore and torture porn. It was the first time in a LONG time that a movie tensed me out and made me really think. Now-I will say this: if you are one of those people that cannot stand for the story to develop or need a lot of special effects, you might not like this film.

Eh. It's ok for some cheap scares. Of course, I didn't expect much from Wan, the SAW 'auteur', not to mention the very very similar INSIPID...er...INSIDIOUS. Even though it's mostly bunk, the 'based on a true story' backdrop does force Wan to play by at least a few rules of horror film "reality".
The biggest issue is a meandering screenplay which, rather than build to the climax, seems to take as many detours as possible before finally getting to the meat of the story. When it does, it's fairly effective, largely based on some decent acting, particularly by the eternally underrated Lili Taylor. Let's face it, if Taylor looked like Taylor Swift, she'd be a huge star.
Not bad, but, don't expect any great shakes either.

P.S. On a technical note. The digital photography and vaunted "4K Projection" still makes the film look like $#!+ at times, particularly with all the dark and shadowy scenes.

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

It's funny, I actually liked Insidious a lot, but this failed to scare me in any way. I found it very mild, and I usually like a good haunted house movie. "There's something behind the door!" "No, there isn't!" Pulling someone's foot as they lie in bed isn't my idea of scary. Please. Come on.

Also, if I want to be preached to, I'll go to church on Sunday morning, not a movie theater. Funny, I haven't been taken over by a demon yet, and I'm not really worried about it.

What really bothers me about The Conjuring is how many people seem to be taking it as FACT, even though there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that any of it happened. The filmmakers apparently took the Warrens' word for everything and did no independent research of their own. We're supposed to believe this because... the Warrens say so? Because they made a movie about it? Really? Have we really become that unthinking as a society? The only facts in this movie are these: the Warrens and the Perrons really existed, and the 70's were an actual decade. That's it. The rest... who knows? There's no documented evidence for any of it. The Perrons apparently never saw any doctors, psychiatrists, etc., at least according to the film. We're all just supposed to believe this happened because the Warrens say it did.

What a crock. Like the Amityville Horror, this is carnival-barker hokum for the rubes. It won't take long before somebody actually looks into this and finds out it's all a load of BS.

I feel the same way about Global Warming.

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Jaws3dfan®
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I'm a fan of old school ghost stories like LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE HAUNTING, THE INNOCENTS etc., so the more subtle stuff (as in PARANORMAL ACTIVITIY) still works when done right. INSIDIOUS just became so ridiculous by the last act that I was laughing at it. See: http://www.scifimarathon.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1114&p=9777&hilit=insidious#p9777

As to the "facts" of the case in CONJURING. I think it was pretty evident that they were trying to make a story about Warrens as much as they were about the family. That's why I found the script so meandering. Every time you got interested in the events with the family - cut-away to the Ghostbusters - The Warrens! If one were cynical, you'd almost think they were bending over backwards to suck up and make the Warrens look good in order to make a series of them. But, naw, they wouldn't do that, would they?

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I think The Conjuring was a perfect example of old school ghost stories like LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE and THE HAUNTING. Sure they want to make more movies about The Warrens and the last line of this movie sets up the next movie perfectly.

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Jaws3dfan®
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I like those movies too. That's why this disappointed me so much, because those movies actually scare me. I think it would have been better had it been taken completely from the Perrons' point of view.

Guess what, the "True Story" of The Conjuring is complete crap. From a CBS News Online article:

"(Andrea Perron) lived there from 1971 to 1980" "The movie makes it seem like everything happened in a short amount of time, but in reality these events occurred over their 10-year stay in the farmhouse."

Yeah, that's not at all the way the movie tells the story.

"She explained that eventually the family brought in Ed and Lorraine Warren, who were known as demonologists or paranormal investigators, and they seemed to make things worse."

Again, not at all the way the movie portrays the situation. The movie portrays the Warrens as the saviors (ahem) of the family who got rid of the demons/ghosts in a relatively short period of time. I've also read that no exorcism was ever performed in the Perron house, by the Warrens or anyone else.

So even if you buy the idea that the Perron family was haunted (which I don't, being a thinking human being), the movie is still complete horse****. And all it took me was a simple Google search to find this out. Yet everyone and their mother is buying this total crock as a "true story". I wonder what it's like to be so unquestioning.

The Warrens are self-serving scam artists, and the filmmakers bought their bull**** hook, line and sinker. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a society that increasingly doesn't believe in facts, science and history is buying it too.

Also, if anyone's interested in the true story of the Amityville Horror, I highly recommend the book "Based on a True Story" by Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen. They actually did what journalists used to call "research".

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-33816_162-5 ... use-movie/

I haven't seen much about the movie, not even a trailer I don't think, but are they trying to present it as "this is a gritty realistic look at what actually happened, and we think people need to know about this for the greater good?" Or are they just using this sketchy report as a jumping off point for a horror movie? Cause if it's the latter, it doesn't really seem like it's worth getting upset about.

The word "Documentary" does not appear on the poster or in the trailer. I was more uspet at "The Perfect Storm" all the film makers knew was a boat left and never came back, the 2 hours movie was filled with no facts. Just like "Open Water" it was true 2 people were left in the ocean by the scuba boat but what happened to them is a mystery However the film makers made an entire movie about what "happened". And don't get me started on "Armageddon" I don't know if anyone else noticed this but there was NO Armageddon in that movie, the title LIED.

As for "Documentaries" all of Michael Moore's movies are filled with lies, it's way to easy for a "film maker" to present a one sided story and leave out all the stuff that proves his version of the "truth" is wrong.

So basically it boils down to just 1 thing, did you like the movie or not. In my case I loved The Conjuring, I have seen it twice and will buy the Blu-Ray when it comes out, and I can't wait for the next installent featuring The Warrens.

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No, they are not claiming it is a documentary. But they are claiming it is a "true story" and people are believing it and accepting it as fact. The media is interviewing Lorraine Warren as if she actually did what the movie claims she did. Which is not at all true. The Warrens didn't get rid of jack squat. The movie portrays a lie and presents it as the truth. Don't you think people should at least know that it's a lie? Is it so horrible to simply point out that none of this is true? I don't believe Armageddon ever claimed to be a true story that actually happened. But I assume you know that already, right?

It's not like the story is basically true but they changed little things here and there. Most movies based on true stories do that. The entire story is a LIE. Here's what's true about The Conjuring: The Perrons were a real family who claim to have been haunted. The Warrens were real "demonologists" (if that's not an oxymoron). The 70's were a real decade. That's IT. The rest is completely made-up hooey. Then the movie ends by lecturing us that "we'd all better believe in God or we're totally f*****d, buddy." Based on a made-up story that has no truth to it whatsoever? Give me a break. You can't say you're going to tell me a story that's supposed to scare me based on its sense of reality and authenticity and then lie to me the entire time. Can you grasp why that doesn't work?

Look, if you choose to believe a lie, that's up to you. I'm not going to rise to your bait about global warming and Michael Moore no matter how many times you float that stuff. Your personal biases are not the subject here (they never are), nor are they my problem. I'm really not the least bit interested. Maybe someday you will understand that this is not the place to air your politics and that no one really cares to hear it. No one else is using this forum for that, as this is not a political website. Perhaps you haven't noticed. Unlike you, I'm here to make an actual point, one which you seem to be failing to understand. So this is the last time I'm going to bother arguing with you. Life is too short for this kind of nonsense. You are basically the flip side of willcail, except he at least doesn't seem to understand what he's doing. I can at least give him that. If you're not even going to bother to try to understand my point and make an intelligent argument, I really don't care to continue this conversation any further. It's a waste of my time and everyone else's who reads this board. Frankly, I have better things to do.

I went to this to see a horror movie, not to be preached to and lied to. There's a place for such things, and the movie theater is not that place. If I had known what a load of crap this was going to be, I would have saved my money. If you want to be lied to, go ahead and pay to see The Conjuring 2, 3, 4 and 5. I really don't care. I'll hold out for real horror movies, not lame warnings about Big Bad Satan coming to getcha. Art should challenge the status quo, not reinforce it. If you can't even understand that, I don't know what to tell you. You're too far gone to reach.

First off I only brought up Michael Moore Because he is a Film maker (not a factual documentarian as he claims) and it was germain to the conversation. Second, People come to this forum for entertainment "not to be preached to and lied to" so you should consider that before going on these rants. And Third you are choosing to believe what you read on the internet (LOL) instead of listening to the facts. Obvious you have no belief in God so you are using this forum as a way the express "Your personal biases" which "are not the subject here (they never are), nor are they my problem" so before you start yelling at me maybe you should take a look in the mirror but you won't because Liberals never will admit when they are wrong, even when they know they are.

The Conjuring was a great movie, it was a lot of fun and has some genuine scares that most horror films that have been released in the last 30 years have lacked. You shouldn't let your atheism get in the way of a great movie.

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...aaaand there we go folks. If you guys can't play nice, and have to take a debate about a fairly non-political horror film into the realm of personal attacks and petty bickering, you won't get a thread.

As in this one.

Which is now locked.