17. THE WATCHENING: Today’s film title should end with an -ing.

Oh man, the whitewashing of the Warrens starts here, but at least James Wan made one great art-directed movie, a film that has a scary room filled with occult objects like Annabelle, who couldn’t stay in just one movie.

Ed and Lorraine (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are super Catholic ghostbusters who no one believes in. But you know who does? The Perron family. Roger and Carolyn (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) move into a farmhouse with their five daughters — Andrea (Shanley Caswell), Nancy (Hayley McFarland), Christine (Joey King), Cindy (Mackenzie Foy) and April (Kyla Deaver ) and yes, they must be Catholic too with a family like that — and their dog Sadie, who won’t even enter their new home. That’s because witch and Satanist Bathsheba Sherman sacrificed her week-old baby to the devil and killed herself at 3:07 in the morning after cursing all who take her land. So every night at 3:07, stuff gets crazy. Oh yeah, the dog dies, so you know, cheap heat.

The Warrens bring Father Gordon (Steve Coulter) to get evidence, but because the Perron family is not Catholic, the church won’t help. No worries. Ed can do it.

Norma Sutcliffe and Gerald Helfrich, the previous owners of the house on which this was based, sued James Wan, Warner Bros, and producers because, in 2015, their property was being vandalized constantly after the movie. The suit was later dismissed.

Now, the Conjuring Universe has nine movies. Although The Conjuring: Last Rites felt like a combination of the series’ conclusions and a Father of the Bride remake, this won’t be the end.

When this was shown in the Philippines, some cinemas had to hire Catholic priests to bless the viewers before showing it. I don’t know if this was a William Castle stunt that benefited the movie or the church.