MOVIE TRIVIA: Everything You Ever Need To Know About ... THE CONJURING (2013)

 

    Eight generations of families lived and died in the house before the Perrons moved in. Andrea Perron suggests that some of the spirits from the families never left. Deaths include two documented suicides, a poisoning death, the rape and murder of an 11-year old girl, two drownings, and the passing of four men who froze to death. Most deaths occurred within the Arnold family from which Bathsheba Sherman was descended.

  

Was shot in chronological order.

  

Lorraine Warren and Andrea Perron served as consultants to director James Wan and the screenwriters. They both claim the movie is accurate to the real story of what happened to the Perrons during the 10 years they lived in the farm house.

  

The state of Rhode Island does not require home sellers to disclose documented histories of a location's criminal activity (let alone alleged paranormal and supernatural hauntings) to potential buyers. This is why the Perrons were unaware of all previous events.

  

Director James Wan modeled the film's cinematography and atmosphere after vintage 1970s horror films.

  

Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren investigated the Perrons' Rhode Island farmhouse in 1973 and 1974.

  

The real Annabelle doll was a rag doll not a broken porcelain doll as the movie depicts.

  

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga both traveled to Connecticut to meet with Lorraine Warren prior to filming.

 

  

Andrea Perron wrote a three-part book based on her experiences in the house titled 'House of Darkness, House of Light.' Experiences written about in her book also appear in the film. Perron cites the film as a work of art and not a work of fiction.

  

The film broke box office records after bringing in a total of $41 million at the box office during its opening weekend. It stands as the third highest grossing opening weekend for an R-rated horror film behind Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) and Hannibal (2001). The Conjuring made a total of $137 million at the box office.

  

The film was given an R rating by the MPAA. The filmmakers had thought the final cut had a chance of getting the more-box office friendly PG-13 rating and asked the ratings board for clarification. The MPAA said simply that the film was so scary that there were no cuts or edits possible that would make it a viable PG-13 film; the filmmakers did not want to alter the film's tone and accepted the R-rating without any appeals.

   

A movie based on the Perron family house has been in the works for over 20 years. It first surfaced when Ed Warren played a tape of his interview with Carolyn Perron to producer Tony DeRosa-Grund.

  

Not only marks the second film composer Joseph Bishara has scored a James Wan film, but it is the second time he has played a demon figure for Wan. He portrays the demon embodiment of Bathsheba Sherman and previously played a lipstick-faced demon in Insidious (2010).

 

 

Lili Taylor researched The Exorcist (1973) to prepare for her role.

   

Marks the third collaboration between James Wan and Patrick Wilson. The pair also worked together in Insidious (2010) and Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

  

The first film directed by James Wan to not feature a cameo of the Billy puppet doll from the Saw (2004) film series.

  

This is the first film by James Wan that did not involve Leigh Whannell in any way.

  

Cameo 

Lorraine Warren:  Elder woman in the front row of the classroom when Carolyn is listening to the Warrens' presentation.   

Director Trademark 

James Wan:  [doll]  The Annabelle doll

 

  

Spoilers 

The trivia items below may give away important plot points.

In the end of the movie when Lorraine Warren gets off the phone and talks to Ed Warren, she says that the priest wants to discuss a case in Long Island. That case is the Amityville case which was the basis for The Amityville Horror (1979) etcetera.

  

The real Bathsheba Sherman was suspected of witchcraft and of killing an infant child, but her name was legally cleared after being found not guilty by a court of law. She died of natural causes in 1885, not by hanging as the movie portrays. She is buried in Harrisville, RI.