Screenwriters Chad and Carey Hayes (The Conjuring, The Reaping, House of Wax) are back to scare the hell out of us with their second installment in The Conjuring franchise, The Conjuring 2. Their chilling new film follows the famous demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren on another battle against dark supernatural forces. This time the church sends them to London to investigate spirits tormenting a single mother and her four children.
The Daily Wire had a chance to talk with devout Christians Chad and Carey and discuss why they are passionate about Ed and Lorraine Warren’s paranormal investigations, their fascination with the horror genre, and how their faith influences the way they make a movie like The Conjuring 2.
What originally attracted you to Ed and Lorraine Warren and their stories?
Carey: The great thing was they were investigating the paranormal when it wasn’t normal.
Chad: Right.
Carey: You know what I’m saying, it’s like in today’s day and age you have so much stuff going on with TV shows, reality shows–
Chad: You have plumbers investigating scares and ghosts.
Carey: And they didn’t have any gadgets! And we always say– Chad and I always say– the sharpest tool in their shed was their faith… And what we liked in presenting something from Ed and Lorraine’s point of view, is it’s like calling a cop. Calling 911. Because they’re stepping into a situation that for the family is already pumped up.
Chad: Escalated, yeah.
Carey: Escalated. So [the families] are like watching the experts. How are the experts gonna handle this?
Chad: I just think we were really attracted to them because of how they approached everything, you know, they were people’s last resort. And when they took it in [like] Carey said, their sharpest tool was faith and that’s all they could use so we thought it’d be fun to go back to the days when there just weren’t gadgets and cell phones and things like that. It was just rudimentary and real. [It] just felt so real.
Carey: And I also think what attracted us…we’re very very fond of Lorraine.
Chad: She’s awesome.
Carey: I’m sorry Ed passed away before we could meet him. But as characters, how strong their marriage was–
Chad: Uh-huh.
Carey: And how much they really relied on each other, was really a strong foundation to tell a story from a different point of view.
Chad: Yeah, she still talks about Ed all of the time. It’s beautiful. What they had was amazing. They’d known each other since they were like 15 years old.
Carey: Yeah.
Chad: 15 and 16…it’s cool.
With The Conjuring 2, what new emotional places were you looking to push Ed and Lorraine as characters?
Chad: Well that’s interesting too because we chose to go, in the second one, at a time when their lives were kind of in turmoil following the whole Amityville experience which was true. They were called charlatans and fakes and phonies. And Lorraine will tell you…she and Ed– Ed more than she– … didn’t really care what people had to say because she always said it’s between them and God. And God knows the truth. So…in the second one what we were able to do is really escalate, you know, how one feels when what you do and you know is truthful [but] people begin to think it’s not and you’re accused of being phonies and fakes. And so it’s interesting because, in the Enfield case, that family was accused of the exact same thing so we felt on an emotional level the Warrens could definitely identify with that family. It’s something that they were going through personally. So we were able to escalate that on both sides to discover the truth so we thought that was kinda fun.
Carey: And I also think on a character level… [Ed and Lorraine’s] connection and understanding on a multitude of levels was really important to bring out and enhance in this chapter.
Chad: [I] hand it to Patrick and Vera too who are just so talented– to bring that enduring element to the relationship. If you compare this film to the last film, not only is it scarier but on an emotional level the mark has been raised. You see them going through different experiences as a married couple. You know, the doubt [and] you get the answers to the first movie as to what has haunted Lorraine…that finally comes out. You know, we really felt like there was a big cross hatching of emotional rides to go on [and] physical experiences… James just kicked it with the scares and the timing… all that kind of stuff so it was fun! It was exciting! Now you think about what you do for the next one.
Have you both been intentionally working on all horror projects for the past few years? Is that where you want to be situated or is that just how it’s fallen into place?
Carey: It has been a lot of our focus. Chad and I really love writing movies where good triumphs over evil… but no, we’re not locked in that. We just turned in a movie for New Line [Cinema].
Chad: An action piece.
Carey: A smoke jumper action movie.
Chad: We’re not credited but we worked a lot on San Andreas— the earthquake movie.
Carey: A couple years on that.
Chad: We’re actually just about to start another film called The Haunted which is going to be directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
Carey: For Dreamworks.
Chad: For Dreamworks. We finished another film called The Crucifixion with Peter Safran, our producer on The Conjuring… It’s another religious story. It takes place in Romania. It’s based on a true story. So yeah, to answer your question we’re very drawn to [horror films] because its clear cut on good vs. evil and how you triumph over it … with strength and conviction.
Although we didn’t meet Ed [Warren], Lorraine told us the greatest story. Ed Warren liked to hire cops who were non believers to record a lot of their investigations because he loved to see the expression on their faces when they discovered the supernatural world was real. He just loved it.
Speaking of religious stories, you come from a unique perspective in the horror genre through your Christian faith. How does that faith influence the way you make horror films?
Chad: Truthful. We stick to the truth, you know. We use real scripture…we’re identifying through our two lead characters who are both very strong believers–
Carey: Their faith reflects our faith, honestly.
Chad: Yeah, it really does. We kinda build up these movies [with] Ephesians… There’s some really great scripture in there that sorta is the foundation for a lot of these kinda films. You can go to Ephesians 12– for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against… the rulers… the authorities… the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. That kinda sums the whole thing up… [Lorraine] says Ephesians 16… she says take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all of the flaming arrows of the evil one. And she’ll tell you that right to your face.
Often I hear Christians say ‘Why would a Christian be making horror films? Why would they want to deal with such darkness? Why would they want to scare people? Why would you want to put evil in front of them?’ What do you say to these questions?
Carey: [So you] … know that you have that faith in yourself to combat that evil. Or that the resources are out there to help you… I could give one quick example. We did a premiere for some friends and family to watch The Conjuring and I had a buddy of mine come up afterwards and he said…’Man, I had the most amazing talk with my son on the ride home.’ They don’t go to church but he had questions about God: ‘Dad, do you think that really exists? Good and Evil?’ And he was drawn, you know.
Chad: That’s cool.
Carey: He was drawn to go to the church. So it’s like even if you change one person’s view–
Chad: Well also… we’re drawn to them because it raises questions and when you raise questions it causes people to search and when people search they make discoveries. And so we do it in that realm. I can’t tell you… on the first [Conjuring], how many pastors, ministers… Rick Warren congratulated Carey and I… on just finally getting it right. Telling the truth. Letting the world know… how it really exists. We were at a place and a priest came up to Carey and I… and he said ‘I can’t tell you how many people I’ve brought to your film– to see your movie– because you guys said it right.’ And youth pastors… this guy [told us] ‘Oh yeah, we do Friday night Conjuring now for our youth groups… we screen the movie and then we have open forums.’ It just raises a lot of questions and with questions come answers.
Carey: Well and if you think about horror movies… it’s like a roller coaster ride. You’re gonna watch this movie, you’re gonna be safe but you’re going to go through ups and downs. But if it’s also a journey into the dark world and watching good prevail, that’s a very interesting way and very entertaining way to look at something like that. I mean House of Wax is like the only gore-porn type thing we’ve done.
Chad: Right. Most of ours are spiritually themed. Like The Reaping which was our Hilary Swank film, was loosely based on our aunt who was a missionary in India. We’re also drawn to [horror] because we felt like– and I don’t mean this in a mean way– the Christian audiences have never really been delivered quality movies. Really good quality films. They tend to be kind of a little hokey.
Carey: A little over the top.
Chad: A little over the top. A little preachy. And we try not to preach at all, you know. The truth will set you free. You discover it. It’s a rewarding thing to have people actually give you those accolades [like] ‘wow, I can’t believe you did a Christian themed film in the way that you did it. And did it well.’
Carey: But we did not intentionally start out [saying] ‘we’re going to do this as a Christian themed movie.’
Chad: No. It was the story.
Carey: It was the story and it was Ed and Lorraine’s faith that surfaced because of it.
Chad: Yeah, and it crossed over. The first one crossed over secular and non-secular worlds which wasn’t a big surprise because the test audience [screenings] had done so well but as Carey said we did not intentionally set out to write a Christian themed movie. We set out to write a story that we found so compelling.
What do you want audiences to take away when they leave The Conjuring 2?
Carey: A stronger sense of faith I think.
Chad: That you have the strength and power within yourself to take authority over anything demonic that you might encounter. You just have to believe that you can.
You can’t have a Bible sitting on your shelf and not read it because then it’s just a book, you know. If you have a Bible and you read it and you take on the authority and you believe in it, you have the power.
Carey: Yeah, and also know that there is a dark world out there– watch yourself.
Chad: Yeah, be careful.
Carey: Be careful what you do! The darkness can come–
Chad: When you wake up in the middle of the night and you feel like something is pushing on your chest I would get a little nervous, you know!
The Conjuring 2 is a well crafted sequel with terrifying scenes, stunning visuals, and poignant performances. You’ll spend half of the movie peeking through the cracks in your hands while your heart races and the other half moved by Ed and Lorraine’s love for each other and their courage in the face of pure evil.
The Conjuring 2, directed by James Wan and starring Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, and Francis O’Connor, hits theaters June 10.