Real Life Ghost Story Hits the Big Screen

I went through a phase in junior high and high school where I was obsessed with horror movies. When I’d go to into town with my mom, I was allowed to rent three of the $1 movies. The cheesier the movie, the better. They were funny and not real. The only movie I had to shut off because it FREAKED ME OUT was Children of the Corn. I grew up on a farm and watched this movie in the summer. There were acres of cornfields near the house, and I had to drive through cornfields when feeding heifers who were pastured on another section of our land. I just couldn’t do it. I grew out of my horror movie phase, but I went to see The Blair Witch Project in the theater. A friend had seen it and raved about it. She loved it and said I needed to see it. It has always taken a lot to scare me. This movie scared the living daylights out of me because it was way too real. I had just graduated from college and was living with my parents when I saw this movie. I came home and being it was summer, the windows were open. I laid down, absolutely terrified to look in the corner of my room because I was afraid I’d see someone standing there, and I heard voices. I froze in terror. I didn’t want to call out to my parents and wake them up (did that once when I thought I saw a UFO outside my window; it was the moon; they STILL bring this up over 20 years later) so I sat there and really listened to the voices. I then remembered that there was an event at the park in Prairie Farm. When the wind is blowing in the right direction, we can hear the football games and live bands from town. It’s probably under five miles as the crow flies. I had given up on horror movies after Blair Witch because they were too realistic. Plus my movie tastes were changing and I wanted more plot, and we all know there’s not a whole lot to the plot of horror movies.

Last week a movie premiered that focused on the true story of a family who moved into a house that was already occupied with ghosts. The Conjuring is based is one of the cases that Ed and Lorraine Warren were involved with and dramatically affected them. The Warrens were one of the very early paranormal investigators who also investigated what most people know as the Amityville Horror case.

I have yet to see The Conjuring because my schedule is jam-packed at the moment, but I have heard excellent reviews from friends, and it debuting at number one in box office sales with $41.5 million isn’t too shabby either.

What really struck me about this is case is this trailer. It features the people who lived there. They haven’t spoke about this in thirty years because of how terrified they were while living at the house. They have finally come forward to tell their story, and have shared it with millions of people.

I saw the first 15-20 minutes of Paranormal Activity but shut it off because I was bored and was ticked that some of the things that were said were flat out wrong. I usually wait for movies to come out on DVD and request them from the library, but The Conjuring is a movie I’m going to see in the theater to get the full experience. Sometimes you just need to be a in a dark theater and scream out loud with the rest of the folks in the theater. It’s a bonding experience. And being that it’s a true story, it just makes it extra creepy….

Have you been to see the movie? What did you think?