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Monday, August 5, 2013

True Stories of John: The Devil Interrupts a Horror Movie



College felt like this to me, too.
So on Sunday my mother asked to go see The Conjuring. Apparently both the Catholic Church and CNBC had endorsed the movie, and they're who she listens to for Horror movie picks. I jump at the chance to watch any Horror movie with my mother because she is the only person I've ever seen jump out of a chair in fright (thank you, Wait Until Dark). I chose wisely because, recent viewings of Lawrence of Arabia and Pacific Rim notwithstanding, I had the most amazing cinema experience in years.

The Conjuring is an exoricism movie full of exorcisim movie tropes. Things are moving, the kids are hearing and smelling things, and the family finds a basement they didn't know was there even though it houses their boiler. Sure, whatever, why was it amazing?

So in the middle of one night scene, one of the daughters is woken by an invisible force tugging on her leg. Even though the weather is clear through her windows, I can make out heavy rain in the background. It's odd, eerier than anything the movie is suggesting to the girl as she gradually wakes and realizes this isn't one of her sisters. No one is around, but the presence is still looming over her in the dark. Face contorted in fear, she moves the edge of her mattress and does what only the bravest real kids and all fictional kids do: she looks under her bed.

We get a shot from under the bed, the wall pale against the darkness of the mattress and floor. The girl's head creeps down from above, millimeter by millimeter, and just as we prepare to see her eyes and read her reaction to whatever is under here, the walls of the cinema rumble with thunder and the screen goes blank. The dim lights in the cinema, which we normally tune out, all shut off, and the screen is a natural emptiness, not a projected black. The entire room is cast into darkness, as though the devil had seized our space as well as the girl's, except for one yellow light bulb that flicks on behind us.

The hurtz hum of the speakers has also died, but the sounds of pelting rain continue – from outside the cinema. A thunderstorm had crept up on us during The Conjuring and knocked out the power. I believe I mortified my mother by laughing so hard. It's things like this that make it impossible for me to be a deist. Thanks, exorcism films.

Perhaps the best part was the unease of everyone else in the cinema. They were looking around, murmuring, and for whatever reason I felt the need to editorialize, "It was the weather." Everyone gave off this short, nervous laugh.

After a minute, I ventured into the hallway and got a disgruntled apology from a booth worker who clearly didn't want to have to deal with the generator. And after a few minutes, the house lights returned and the film came back, just seconds away from a cheap jump scare. The movie actually ended very well, having more to do in its exorcism sequence than the traditional "you're tied to a chair, we yell back and forth while things move" routine. I downright admired how the movie juggled so many characters and entities bebopping around its script. But nothing they could have directed would have been as good as a jump scare caused by barometric pressure.

18 comments:

  1. Now that was perfect timing.
    Saw the movie this weekend as well. I appreciated the ending.

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    1. I enjoyed the ending too, Alex. What did you appreciate about it?

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  2. That's an awesome power out in the theater story! Most of the power outages of that sort I've experienced have been nowhere near as entertaining. :)

    Although, the projector getting off-center and only being able to see the bottom half of the second half of Madagascar 2 was pretty amusing (particularly since it was free, and my child did not seem to notice that half the movie was gone)

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    1. She was only 9 months old at the time... we went with some friends and ended up leaving early. I am the queen of hitting "publish" before I meant to. LOL

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    2. Not quite as haunted a malfunction, but still a good one! And I prematurely publish comments all the time. Fingers slip.

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  3. This reminds me of stories I heard where they would rig the movie theater- usually the seat would rumble just as the monster came on screen as in "The Tickler" or something that would now seem silly to us- but back then I imagine it would have been the scariest thing ever.

    Also reminds me of a similar experience I had in my house, but in this case the light turned on rather than off.

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    1. I would love cinemas to prank me like this. After a few times it would likely get tiresome, but especially with formulaic Horror movies, some augmentation or spice could be fun. Deeply wanted a Father Death cosplayer to sneak into the seats for Scream 4.

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  4. I'm one of those people that shrieks at every freaking jump scene in a movie. I've never jumped out of my chair, but my screams usually scare those around me more than the movie does. And I have caused at least two people to jump out of their chairs when I yelped. Which is why no one wants to watch scary movies with me. LOL

    I love that the weather bested the filmmakers. :)

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    1. I would absolutely watch a scary movie with you if you did not live as far away as the continental United States allowed.

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    2. I actually hate scary movies because they give me nightmares and would definitely NOT watch an exorcism movie with you (or anyone), but maybe one of those cheesy Final Destinations or something. Those don't bother me so much. :)

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  5. I usually don't like horror movies because when I watch them they give me nightmares for several weeks.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  6. That is classic- kind of like that tornado that hit the drive-in screen that was playing Twister.

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  7. I love stories like this. It's not just what's on the screen, it's the whole experience.

    That must have been some thunderstorm if you could hear it inside the theatre.

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    1. Not to get too serious or ranty about Global Warming, this is the worst spring/summer I've ever experienced for weather. Two tornadoes, at least one hurricane and and sundry lightning storms have battered and flooded parts of my region. I'm actually beginning to get used to the sounds and patterns of weather shaking buildings.

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  8. What a fantastic memorable experience John. I enjoyed the movie too, because of the "jump out of your seat" moments but also for the originality. I watched it with my 14-year-old son and when we talked about it (I always analyze movies with my kids) he said nothing about the movie itself, just told me he'd never go to another horror movie with me again. Apparently there was a cute girl sitting close by and my son was mortified that I had gasped out loud, often.
    As good as the movie was, or maybe because of it, I'm hesitant to watch it again. This is the first horror movie I've watched that caused me to have nightmares for days afterwards.

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