The Conjuring (2013) is a supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real-life paranormal investigators. In the film, the couple helps the Perron family, who are terrorized in their Rhode Island farmhouse in 1971. The film is presented as “based on a true story,” though the events are heavily dramatized. Its opening introduced Annabelle, the possessed doll who soon got her own films. The film was a major hit and launched The Conjuring Universe, one of horror’s highest-grossing franchises.
At a glance
| Release date | July 19, 2013 (US) |
| Director | James Wan |
| Writers | Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes |
| Based on | The Warrens’ accounts of the Perron family haunting |
| Starring | Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor |
| Runtime | 112 minutes |
| Rating | R (US) |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $319.5 million worldwide |
| Franchise | The Conjuring Universe: followed by Annabelle (2014) and The Conjuring 2 (2016) |
Plot summary
The film opens in 1968 with Ed and Lorraine Warren, demonologists, explaining the case of a doll called Annabelle. Two young women let a spirit claiming to be a dead girl inhabit the doll. The Warrens say the doll was never possessed. It was a conduit for a demon trying to take one of the women.
In 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) move into a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island, with their five daughters. The family dog refuses to go inside. Every clock stops at 3:07 a.m., Carolyn wakes up with mysterious bruises, and the girls are tormented at night. Carolyn turns to the Warrens. Lorraine, who is clairvoyant, senses that a dark presence has attached itself to the family, and the investigators set up cameras and bells to gather evidence. Their research leads to Bathsheba Sherman, an accused witch who once lived on the land and is said to have cursed anyone who took it.
Spoiler section: the ending
Bathsheba possesses Carolyn and forces her to try to kill her own daughters, just as she forced earlier women. The Church can’t authorize an exorcism in time, because the family isn’t Catholic and approval would have to come from the Vatican. Ed performs the rite himself, and Lorraine reaches Carolyn through a family memory, which lets Ed drive Bathsheba out. Back home, Ed adds the Perrons’ music box to the Warrens’ room of cursed objects, where Annabelle is also kept.
Production and behind the scenes
Producer Tony DeRosa-Grund spent about 14 years trying to get the project made. Deals with Gold Circle Films and then Summit Entertainment fell through, and New Line Cinema eventually picked it up. The Hayes brothers retold the story from the Warrens’ point of view instead of the Perrons’, interviewing Lorraine Warren many times by phone. Wan signed on in 2011, and Farmiga and Wilson were cast in January 2012. The two actors spent three days with Lorraine Warren at her home in Connecticut, and she later visited the set.
Shooting began in late February 2012 and lasted 38 days, mostly at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. All scenes were filmed in chronological order. About 20 to 30 minutes were cut from a first assembly of roughly two hours. Joseph Bishara, who had scored Wan’s Insidious, wrote the brass-heavy score with vocal improvisation by Diamanda Galás, and Bishara also played Bathsheba. The cinematographer was John R. Leonetti, who later directed the spin-off Annabelle.
Release and reception
Warner Bros. and New Line moved the release from early 2013 to summer after strong test screenings, making it one of the first horror films to open wide in the US in June or July since The Omen (2006). The MPAA gave it an R even though it has little gore. Executive producer Walter Hamada said the board’s explanation was essentially that it was “just so scary.” It opened on July 19, 2013, with $41.9 million, beating The Purge‘s record for the biggest opening by an original R-rated horror film. It grossed $137.4 million in North America and $319.5 million worldwide on a $20 million budget. Deadline Hollywood estimated its net profit at $161.7 million.
Critics praised its old-fashioned craft. It holds an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whose consensus calls it “well-crafted and gleefully creepy,” and a Metacritic score of 68. Audiences gave it an “A−” CinemaScore. Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter compared its themes and methods to The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror, praising its “minimal use of digital effects” and strong performances.
Legacy and influence
The Conjuring showed that a haunted-house film with very little gore could open as a summer blockbuster. Its supporting characters became a shared universe. The doll from the prologue led Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017) and Annabelle Comes Home (2019). Wan’s sequel, The Conjuring 2 (2016), introduced Valak, who led to the Nun films. The main series continued with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) and The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025). The film also led to legal disputes. The later owners of the real farmhouse sued in 2015 over trespassing fans, and that case was dismissed in 2017. Gerald Brittle, author of the 1980 Warren book The Demonologist, sued over his rights, and Warner Bros. settled in 2017.
Trivia
- The project’s working titles included The Untitled Warren Files Project and The Warren Files, before it went back to The Conjuring.
- Before release, trailers and TV spots featured the real Perron family.
- The real Annabelle is a Raggedy Ann doll, according to the Warrens. The filmmakers made a more menacing porcelain-style doll, partly to avoid trademark problems.
- The soundtrack includes “In the Room Where You Sleep” by Dead Man’s Bones and “Time of the Season” by the Zombies.
- Diana Walsh Pasulka, a religious studies professor at UNC Wilmington, was the chief religious consultant, and the campus was used for filming during spring break.
- The house’s “3:07 a.m.” curse comes from the film’s backstory, in which Bathsheba killed herself at that time in 1863.
Related links
- Annabelle, Ed and Lorraine Warren and Valak
- The Conjuring Universe
- Annabelle (2014) and The Conjuring 2 (2016)
- James Wan (director)
- Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson (cast)
- Saw (2004), Wan’s first feature
- The Exorcist (1973), a touchstone for the film’s possession climax
