Director: James Wan
Writers: Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes
Stars: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe \
Run Time: 2 Hours, 14 Minutes
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/37HgoNv
Synopsis
Amityville, NY, 1976. The church asks Ed and Lorrain Warren to check out the Amityville house and verify the claims of the Lutzes, the family who once lived there. She has an out-of-body experience and goes upstairs to re-enact the murders perpetrated by Ronald DeFeo a few years ago. She also sees a little boy with glowing eyes. The boy leads her to Valak, the evil Nun. Credits roll, explaining that their investigation of the Amityville house made them famous. But then, there was another haunting…
Two girls in 1977 London get caught smoking at school. Her mother’s broke and has four kids to support. One of the girls has a homemade Ouija board, and when they use it, nothing happens. Later that night, one of the girls starts having a two-way conversation with a ghost while her sister watches, and the little boy sees someone in his tent. The next day, one of the girls does battle with a ghost over who gets to use the TV remote.
Meanwhile, Ed has a nightmare about the evil Nun and paints it the next day. Lorraine recognizes it from her vision. She wants to stop doing new cases.
The night, back in London, the TV ghost returns to scare the girl again. This time, he bites the girl and leaves a mark on her. Something else happens, and soon they’re all convinced that the house is haunted. Even the police leave in fear, but they do suggest getting a priest involved.
Back in the USA, Lorraine and daughter Judy see Valak in their own home. She watches as the nun comes through the painting for a really good jump scare before she wakes up.
A TV crew is in the London house to interview the family when the ghost of 72-year-old Bill Wilkins possesses little Janet right there on camera. He likes to hear them scream. They continue to sleep at the neighbor’s house, but the ghost follows them over there, since it still possesses Janet.
The priest finally brings the case to the Newmans. Lorraine warns Ed about her dreams and about the Nun in the painting. They decide to go to London, but that they’re only going to look and observe, not get involved. They meet the family and check out the house.
Ed talks to Bill the dead ghost. Lorraine, however, doesn’t sense anything. That night, the ghost shows up again, but Ed sings an Elvis song and makes everyone happy.
Ed and Peggy battle the old man’s ghost while something else torments the children upstairs. Then they are presented with solid evidence that Janet is faking the whole thing. Lorraine still doesn’t sense anything, and they all decide to go home. Ed does a trick with the audio recordings, and they hear Bill the ghost saying, “Help me. They won’t let me go!” Then, Lorraine has a vision of old Bill being held prisoner in the house.
They return to the house to find that Peggy and some of the kids are locked out, and Janet is inside, alone. Ed goes in alone, even though Lorraine is sure he’ll be killed. He gets sprayed in the face with steam and partially blinded.
Lorraine has to fight Valak while Ed has to deal with “the crooked man.” Ed’s hanging out a window, about to be impaled, and Lorraine uses Valak’s name against him. She’s able to save Ed and Janet.
The “crooked man” toy ends up the cursed object museum.
Commentary
This feels maybe a little longer than it needed to be, but it also had a whole subplot of “is it real or a hoax” that was maybe needed to make the characters more believable. It also cemented “The Nun”’ as a serious character deserving of its own movie, which it soon got.