WELL, AT LEAST SHE’S IN A HABIT

You just never know who, or what, is going to show up at the advance screenings for a movie like The Conjuring 2, do you?

Hopefully in the next day or so I’ll be able to offer everyone a chance to nab some promotional swag from the movie courtesy of Grace Hill Media. Yep, believe it or not, The Conjuring 2 is getting a heavy push from some faith-based media outlets. In fact, here’s an article Grace Hill passed along to help garner interest from churchgoers.

Evil has been with us, and in our entertainment, since the dawn of time. First plays, now movies and TV shows, always have to have a bad guy – a corrupt cop, a supervillain bent on world domination, a violent criminal or murderer. In earlier, some would say simpler, times, the dark character in entertainment was clearly one audiences were meant to root against. It was easy, or at least easier, to know our heroes from our villains.

Today, though, it can be a little tougher. Far beyond the reluctant anti-hero, some of the characters we’re supposed to find admirable have qualities that just a generation ago would have firmly planted them in the bad-guy camp. From a sexy devil with charm and a heart (Fox’s hit series LUCIFER), to all variety of films (the TWILIGHT series) and TV shows (pretty much anything on The CW), characters who used to headline horror films – vampires, zombies, werewolves, witches – are now the stars we’re supposed to want to emulate.

That’s why it’s refreshing when a film like THE CONJURING 2, in theaters nationwide Friday, comes out. Like the first film, a big hit that took in $318 million at the U.S. box office alone, the sequel vividly portrays the nature of evil – as something destructive and ugly and to be defeated, not embraced. The “bad guy” in this case isn’t a guy – or gal – at all, but a demonic spirit that torments a British family and must be overcome by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, reprising their roles from the original film).

The Warrens make sure the Hodgson family, the targets of the supernatural entity, understand it is a malevolent force out to destroy them. As a statement from the real Ed Warren stated at the end of the first film, the new one makes very clear that: “Diabolical forces are formidable. These forces are eternal, and they exist today. The fairy tale is true. The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow.”

A film like THE CONJURING 2, with its forthright depiction of spiritual evil, is a great opportunity to talk with friends about the true nature of the dark forces that inhabit our world. Here are a few questions to get that conversation going:

• Do you believe in good and evil? In the spiritual realm? In the human realm?

• If you do believe in evil, what do you believe is the source of it?

• If you do believe in evil, how do you think it can be defeated?

• What do you think about the trend in entertainment to make heroes out of characters that have traditionally been villainous?

• Do you plan on seeing THE CONJURING 2? Why or why not?

So, do I agree with everything in that article and was The Conjuring 2 a good movie? Well, you’ll just have to wait until this weekend when my review goes up at Aleteia to find out.