Money. That is what director James Wan’s The
Conjuring spells … M O N E Y.
This film has all the
makings of being his third franchise horror series — the first was the Saw
horror film series (launched in 2004 with a box office tally of $55.2 million and
six sequels … over $415 million in domestic box office receipts), the next being
Insidious
(2011 and $54 million at the box office) and Insidious Chapter 2
(which opened this past weekend to the tune of $41 million — should easily
eclipse the original).
Warner Home Video has
moved this haunted house tale quickly into the Halloween promotional season
with an announcement this past week that Oct. 22 will be the street date for both
DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions (with UltraViolet).
The ARR is a zippy 95
days and summer movie-goers forked over $135.2 million in multiplex ticket
purchases.
With those kind of
numbers, expect 2014/2015 to bring fans The Conjuring 2. No word yet, but the “Hollywood” studios are
always on the lookout for a fresh film franchise series that can be milked for
repeat visits from a predisposed fan base … this horror delight has all of the
markings.
Working with a script
provided by brothers Chad and Carey Hayes (Whiteout, The Reaping, House
of Wax), filmmaker James Wan has fashioned a nifty yarn that combines a
Civil War-era witch named Bathsheba (played by horror music composer Joseph
Bishara, who also did double duty in Wan’s Insidious) with that of a haunted
house thriller and the cringe-inducing elements of a good old fashioned
exorcism.
The Perrons, Carolyn
(Lili Taylor — A Slipping-Down Life, Dogfight, etc.) and Roger (Ron
Livingston — Office Space, Swingers, Band of Brothers, etc.)
move into a remote farmhouse with their five kids (all girls) and in doing so they
set in motion a series of bizarre events that begins with the mysterious death
of their dog and goes downhill from there.
Soon experts in the
paranormal are recruited to bring some sense to the craziness — enter the
Warrens, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga — Safe House, Source Code, The
Departed, etc.) and Ed (Patrick Wilson — as Josh in Wan’s Insidious
films, plus such films as Phantom of the Opera, Hard
Candy, etc.) and soon discover the secret behind the bizarre events
that are driving the Perron family to the brink of madness.
What makes The
Conjuring work so well is the elaborate backstory that the Hayes
brothers have fashioned. The legend of
Bathsheba and the curse that she laid upon the land — not just the property
that the Perrons have purchased — opens up all sorts of storytelling
possibilities going forward.
As to bonus features, the
DVD SKU has the featurette titled “Scaring the “@$*%” Out of You,” while the
Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack includes that featurette plus two additional ones — “The
Conjuring: Face-to-Face with Terror” and “A Life in Demonology.”
To download this week's
complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report
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