MJB SCRIPT REVIEW | THE CONJURING
- michaelbrand01
- Dec 12, 2023
- 2 min read
Halloween month and it’s week 3! This weeks is one of my favourites; THE CONJURING!
Plot in a nutshell; the Perron family move to a secluded old house in the American countryside, eager to live a quieter life. Unfortunately, a demonic presence has other ideas. Enter Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators… 
Have to admit, this one did not disappoint. The Hayes brothers have managed to weave an intricate and detailed story around very real and believable characters, all set to a constant and rising scale of tension and horror as the script goes on. It’s impressive that they managed to balance pathos for the characters, while at the same time putting them in very real dread and danger. There are touching moments aplenty that keep this rooted and thereby maintaining that sense of “what the hell is going to happen next?!”
James Wan is a great director (with a clearly brilliant team around him), but this is truly an example of what happens when you give a great director a fantastic script. Hence the reason it’s one of my favourites. 
So, what did I learn from THE CONJURING?
There are lots of fascinating things going on in this script, so I’m going to narrow it down to three;
1) This is based (apparently) on a true story. Obviously the source material has been the writings of Ed and Lorraine Warren. So therefore, this is also an adaptation. So automatically, they have taken Ed and Lorraine Warren’s diaries and turned them into a movie script. So straight off the bat, this is a fantastic example of how to do that.
2) There is a moment in the script where Lorraine Warren has some psychic flashes of the horrors that have gone on in the house before. Using bullet points, the writers have managed to convey flashes of images, but keep them coherent and maintain pace. So for anyone wanting write visions or flashes of psychic sight, there are several belting examples in this script.
3) At the end of the script, there is an exorcism scene. Though short, it is still a really intriguing breakdown of how to write one of these moments in a film. From the language used (Latin) to physical effects and terrified participants, it is a beautifully moulded scene. So I can heartily recommend this one to anyone thinking of writing a scene for an exorcism.
So that’s THE CONJURING. Another brilliant horror script, that reads just like a good book. Plenty of detailed Action Directions, but every single one feels necessary. The dialogue inbetween is fascinating, interesting and very real. Not going to lie, the time flew reading this one. Enjoy!
Link to the script;
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