There’s scary, and then there’s scary enough to need a priest’s intervention.
Not many horror films can say that they made people so scared during the early screening that they had to include religious support - but this one film can boast about it all day long.
Horror is a genre that you either love, or you barely tolerate it until the credits roll, but regardless of how you feel about it, you’ve got to admit that it often does what it says on the tin: scare the crap out of everyone.
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However, this film from 2013 was so 'psychologically and emotionally disturbing' that they thought it best to have a priest on hand to help filmgoers through it.
Why it's The Conjuring, of course.
Before spawning the nine film-long franchise that is The Conjuring universe, the 2013 film gave us our first glimpse of Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as real-life demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren.
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The first film, directed by Saw and Final Destination director James Wan, follows the Warren couple as they are called in to help a family who are being plagued by an insidious force in their farmhouse in a rural area.
If you need a refresher, here's the trailer:
Since it's release, it's been given the title of 'scariest movie of all time' by Ranker, and with a Rotten Tomatoes critical and audience score of 89 per cent and 83 per cent, I'd say it's well deserved.
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So, what’s the reason for the priest? Well, according to the poster for The Conjuring, because of the film's content, people who'd attended earlier screenings had 'complained about many unusual circumstances that they have experienced after seeing the film'.
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It added: “Due to our concern for you well-being, we have invited Father Perez to be here. He will be available after the film to spiritual support and/or conduct a personal blessing should you feel the need.”
While it's unknown if Father Perez was an actual priest or it's a reference to a later character in the franchise with the same name, an actual priest was in attendance at a 2013 screening in Chicago.
Horror Society's Michael Juvinall attended that screening back in 2013, where a priest named Father Jason Malave was there to chat with the audience.
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According to Juvinall, Father Malavae had been invited to talk about good and evil, which were a key theme in The Conjuring.
"He warned of not giving in to evil and to put our faith in God. This all was in accordance to the plot of The Conjuring where the characters were struggling with a battle of good vs. evil." he wrote.
The priest then 'said some prayers to protect us from evil' and the audience even got some blessed goody bags to take home with them - complete with a prayer card, a rosary and a vial of Holy Water.
How nice.
Juvinall also said that Father Malavae was available after the screening to 'to talk to anyone who was disturbed by the film'.
All in all, he described it as 'good fun' and showed that Warner Bros were 'having a good time with promoting this film'.
Topics: TV And Film, Reddit
Britt Jones