Among the things that make “The Conjuring” (2013) fresh, plot isn’t one of them. This is evident because the same plot is found in the Fox TV movie “The Haunted” (1991), based on another case from the files of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Following in the Perrons’ creaky footsteps
Director Robert Mandel’s 100-minute film is based on “The Haunted: One Family’s Nightmare,” a 1986 book by Robert Curran, the Warrens (played by Stephen Markle and Diane Baker in the film) and the Smurls, who experienced the hauntings in their Pennsylvania home from 1974-89. Given that hauntings tend to hit a lot of the same beats, it’s not surprising that it calls to mind the Perron family haunting from 1971, as chronicled in “The Conjuring.”
The similarities are in the plot, not the mood. “The Haunted” landed when network TV horror was in a lull. “The X-Files” – of which Mandel would direct the pilot — was two years away. This might explain why “The Haunted” has a minor cult following – it was a rare network TV movie at the time with ghosts, demons and even a female demon raping the male lead (Jeffrey DeMunn’s Jack Smurl).
“The Haunted” (1991)
Director: Robert Mandel
Writer: Darrah Cloud, based on the book by Robert Curran
Stars: Sally Kirkland, Jeffrey DeMunn, Louise Latham
The production values are similar to an early “X-File” where they’ve blown their budget for the season. A scare is attempted via running water, followed by a view of an empty bathtub. Ghosts are represented by composited blobs of black. But there’s no Mark Snow score to beef things up.
While “The Haunted” isn’t remotely scary, the actors commit to the material, with Sally Kirkland in the lead as Janet Smurl, the classic wife whose husband doubts her sanity — until he can’t deny it. Later, Jack is sexually assaulted by the demon and – even more surprising than this very rare female-on-male screen rape — openly talks about it to the Warrens.
Tied up in the house
Another trope – which the Perrons can sympathize with — is that the Smurls can’t leave because “all (their) money is tied up in the house.” Another Warren case, chronicled in “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” explores how the courts approach a demon possession. There’s a missed opportunity in “The Haunted” to explore another clash of public institutions with the spirit world: demon/ghost infestation as it relates to homeowners’ insurance.
The Smurls – including four daughters, one short of the Perrons’ five — are financially trapped in the duplex (with Jack’s folks on the other half, also accessible by the demons). Is there any chance that homeowners’ insurance would cover damage caused by the haunting? Or is the very notion laughable? Were the previous owners negligent in not reporting the abode’s haunted nature?
What are the Smurls’ options? I suppose they could let the bank foreclose, and – while their credit would be ruined – that could perhaps free up some cash flow. “The Haunted’s” ending is notably weak, as the Smurls finally do move but we aren’t told how this is financially possible. Maybe it’s from their cut of the 1986 book?
A remake someday?
I’d also like to know why the news media is so obsessed with this case that they camp out on the Smurls’ lawn. The evidence must’ve been compelling, but we don’t see any instance of evidence being gathered and distributed.
Some fans theorize the Smurl case will eventually be adapted for the “Conjuring” Universe; after all, it’s the most successful horror film franchise of all time, and there are a limited number of real-life Warren cases. If so, the remake needs to dig into the few elements that make the Smurl case distinct from others.
Although “The Haunted” hit a sweet spot of historical TV timing for some viewers, it doesn’t hold up. Before and since, there have been many superior horror films about haunted houses, exorcists trying to cleanse the place, and the question of whether it’s the woman or the surrounding world that is crazy.
Viewers who go on a Warren expanded universe binge (maybe also tackling “The Amityville Horror” and “The Haunting in Connecticut”) will get a kick out of the fact that this TV movie exists. But for scares, mood and at least slightly original touches, you’ll want the slicker productions.