Author: Richard Newby / Source: The Hollywood Reporter
- Chapters
- descriptions off, selected
- undefined settings, opens undefined settings dialog
- captions and subtitles off, selected
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
End of dialog window.
A long corridor, mist rising from the ground, and black crosses hanging by chains from an unseen ceiling that we can only surmise stops just short of heaven. A graveyard, populated with crooked crosses, and tombstones rigged with bells in case the dead should wake. A castle, entryway splattered with blood and a corpse hanging from its windows, eyes in the process of being devoured by crows. These are familiar haunts – staples of the gothic horror movies of Europe in the ’70s and ’80s. It’s in these places, marked by history, where we find ourselves in Corin Hardy’s The Nun. We’re rooted in the franchise known as The Conjuring Universe, which has found success in remixing a number of the aesthetic choices from classic horror with contemporary scares and characterizations.
Despite this through-line, this is a universe where the rules aren’t entirely clear, despite the factor of pre-existing material in the case of the Warren Files. The Conjuring Universe, to the benefit of artists and audiences, remains unmapped. In its lack of a grand design, horror reigns with an identity befitting each entry. While the idea of cinematic universes, still relatively novel for film franchises, is often met with groans with few exceptions, The Conjuring Universe has become a model for success, one that quietly snuck up on audiences in the dark.
When James Wan first unveiled The Conjuring to audiences in 2013, most had little idea of what to expect. Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren had yet to become household names, and Wan had earned his reputation on Saw and Insidious – ambitious but grimy, low-cost films geared towards the midnight movie crowd. The Conjuring’s summer release date was our first hint that Wan was about to redefine expectations. While summer horror movies have since become a staple in the five years following The Conjuring’s release, Wan’s film was the first horror film to receive a wide release in the coveted months of June or July since 2006’s remake, The Omen – and that was only because of the all-too perfect marketing date of 6-6-06. The Conjuring, with its slow zooms, deft characterizations, multi-faceted narratives and economic use of digital effects tapped into something that contemporary horror was missing and has since regained – a sense of scale. The Conjuring succeeded both critically and financially (86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and $319.5 million on a $20 million budget) because it made horror into an event again.
Undoubtedly, part of the excitement for that initial film stemmed from the fact that there was no Conjuring Universe right off the bat. While plans for The Conjuring 2 (2016) came together before the first film’s release, after positive test screenings, New Line didn’t tease a massive franchise at the start. Even Annabelle (2013), which was hurried into production as a reaction to the success of The Conjuring – something that mars the final product when compared to the franchise’s other entries, wasn’t sold to audiences as a cinematic universe entry, but rather a spinoff film. Even the notion of a spin-off movie has a throwback quality to it that doesn’t hype the film up as an integral entry, but sets rather modest expectations directed towards a willing fanbase. Despite John R. Leonetti’s Annabelle being regarded as an inferior successor to The Conjuring (though it did make $257 million on a $6.5 million budget), it did no damage to the brand. And regardless of the critical reaction, it established a few principles for New Line to use when approaching its Conjuring franchise:…
The post With ‘The Nun,’ Conjuring Cinematic Universe Breaks the Mold appeared first on FeedBox.