Possibly one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, The Conjuring premiered at local Florence theater, Swamp Fox Cinemas, on Thursday, July 18 to a sold out early release. The film was based on the real life career of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, and holds tight to your run-of-the-mill demon possession theme.

The movie centers on the Perron family, who bought a dilapidated farm house in 1971 with the intention of fixing it up. Little did they know they were moving into a house plagued with demons of the past. Strange events had begun occurring late at night, which only some of the Perron’s four daughters were able to witness. Slowly but surely, the presence showed itself more and more, becoming more malevolent as time progresses.

After numerous incidents, the mother, Carolyn, became fed up and went to a seminar being held by Ed and Lorraine, where she asked them to come by and check out the house. Upon arriving, Ed and Lorraine said that they felt a presence. They then went home to do a bit of research on the history of the house. This was when Ed and Lorraine that the house was originally owned by an accused witchwho was found to have sacrificed her seven-day old baby in the house. Afterwards, she hung herself in the backyard.

Ed and Lorraine told the Perron family that the house may be in need of an exorcism, but that it could not be done without approval from the Catholic Church. Ed and Lorraine spent a few nights with the family to try and get video evidence of the manifestation to obtain approval for the exorcism. During this time, Lorraine fell through the floor into the cellar where she saw spirits of the women the witch had possessed into killing their children. This was the evidence Ed and Lorraine were waiting for.

The family took refuge in a nearby hotel while Ed and Lorraine drove to the church, but were immediately called back when the children informed them that Carolyn suddenly took the youngest daughter and drove back to the house. Ed and Lorraine found her in the cellar trying to kill the youngest daughter, and performed the exorcism to cast the witch out of Carolyn. The exorcism was successful, and the family, along with Ed and Lorraine, lived happily ever after.

While not being overly horrifying, the movie is successful in causing jumps and gasps. But, typically is like every other demon-possession movie that came before it. The face of the witch is shown, and while creepy, it did look achingly familiar to that of Linda Blair’s character, Regan MacNeil, in the 1973 blockbuster The Exorcist.

Overall, The Conjuring is a good choice for a date night movie, if you want an excuse to hold the hand of the person sitting beside you, if you need an excuse to get out of the house, or if you need a discussion topic with your new classmates.