A Christmas Carol<\/em>, ghost stories were as much a part of the season as presents and Figgie pudding. Indeed, even in pre-Christian times, the year\u2019s darkest days of December were seen as times of heightened supernatural activity\u2014a time when the ghostly Wild Hunt ran across the skies of northern Europe and the undead were more likely to walk.<\/p>\nYes, December\u2019s days are gloomy indeed.<\/p>\n
Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), the demonologists sent to evaluate the Hodgson house, arrive in London on Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year. Life for the Hodgsons has grown correspondingly bleak before their arrival. Janet and sister Margaret no longer sleep in their bedroom\u2014the apparent supernatural center of the house. Indeed, the room has been chained and padlocked shut. Inside, furniture lies scattered and broken. Crosses hang from the walls, in the vain hope that the symbol might keep the darkness at bay.<\/p>\n
Instead, things seem to get worse over the next few days. Janet seems to slip ever deeper into the throes of whatever hopes to control her. The home grows more chaotic. And that, in some ways, is not the worst of it: Some wonder whether Janet is making the whole thing up, or whether the Hodgsons are perpetrating some sort of creative hoax. Even Lorraine Warren, the medium who typically can sense the stirring of even a ghost mouse, can\u2019t feel anything beyond the family\u2019s own fear.<\/p>\n
Other experts speculate that the Hodgsons aren\u2019t the only ones potentially making things up. Doubting parapsychologist Anita Gregory wonders aloud what is worse\u2014demons or those who prey on people\u2019s belief in them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe demons,\u201d Lorraine says. \u201cThe demons are worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not scared of the dark,\u201d my 4-year-old son once told a family friend. \u201cIt\u2019s the things in<\/em> the darkness that I worry about.\u201d Fear and horror thrive in darkness. In almost every great, classic horror story, there\u2019s a sense that the night might never end. That the day might never come.<\/p>\nClick CONTINUE to keep reading:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Until recently Hollywood vampires were sequestered to live only in darkness. Werewolves came out when the moon was full. In haunted house stories like The Haunting, ghostly happenings are almost purely nocturnal activities. Some relatively new horror stories\u20142000\u2019s Pitch Black<\/em> or 2007\u2019s 30 Days of Night<\/em>, the storytellers create worlds where darkness lasts a lot longer. In Ridley Scott\u2019s classic Alien<\/em>, the terrors lurk in a dark, cold universe, where the sun can never rise.<\/p>\nIn these stories, the characters fear. They doubt. Some give up. Some scoff and, almost always, die for their doubt. Some light our shaking candles and pray for the light.<\/p>\n
All that is what makes Christmas such a metaphorically powerful holiday.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think most Christian scholars believe that Jesus was born on Dec. 25. But there\u2019s a powerful symbolism attached to when we celebrate it. The date\u2014so close to the Winter Solstice\u2014tells believers something remarkable: That a light was born into a dark, doubting, fearful world. That we need not fear the darkness any longer.<\/p>\n
The Conjuring 2<\/em> gleefully upturns at times this Christian sensibility up on its head. Never will you hear a creepier version of \u201cHark the Herald Angels Sing\u201d anywhere. But in spite of that corrupted Christmas carol, the movie still believes. In the midst of the darkness and fear, it tells us, there\u2019s hope. There\u2019s light. There\u2019s Jesus. And He\u2019s more powerful than any ghost or demon that might come a calling.<\/p>\nEd tells Janet about his own first frightening experience with the paranormal\u2014when something actually reached out from under his bed and grabbed him. Ed, still a child, ran to his father. His dad (perhaps playing a bit of the doubter himself) gave Ed a crucifix and asked Ed to tell this thing to get lost. And if it didn\u2019t, God was going to \u201ckick its butt.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sense of power pervades The Conjuring 2<\/em>: That God\u2014and His servants\u2014can kick demon butt. It might not be always easy. The cost may be great. But in the end, the demons don\u2019t stand a chance.<\/p>\nI probably don\u2019t need to say what day it was when the true evil in the Hodgson house is finally dispelled: Christmas Day. The day when Light vanquished darkness, when hope toppled fear. The horror is gone, the day has come. Glory to the newborn King.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
That sense of power pervades The Conjuring 2: That God\u2014and His servants\u2014can kick demon butt. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":1180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,435],"class_list":["post-1176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","tag-horror","tag-the-conjuring-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n