What ‘The Conjuring’ Taught Me About the Struggle for Holiness

I don’t usually stand over a sink of dirty dishes contemplating horror movies (though maybe some do), but that’s exactly what happened recently after a particularly chaotic week of illness and botched morning routines. 

Specifically, I was thinking about a scene from the first Conjuring film (2013), which my husband and I recently rewatched with his teen sister, who had never seen it before. I am not typically a fan of the horror movie genre, but back in my intern days as a young journalist, I was tasked with reviewing the first and second Conjuring films. Something I like about the first film in particular is how it portrays the power of love in conquering evil. 

For those unfamiliar with the plot, Carolyn, a mother of five, becomes possessed by a demonic spirit that had been haunting the Rhode Island farmhouse she and her family recently purchased. Her lack of faith makes her an easy target. By the end of the film, the spirit—a witch named Bathsheba who killed herself on the property after sacrificing her child to Satan (again, not the kind of subject matter I usually find appealing)—has taken full possession of Carolyn, and she is chasing her youngest daughter through the house, attempting to kill her with a pair of shears. It is during this critical moment that medium Lorraine Warren encourages her to fight from the inside. Warren reminds her of a photo hanging in the house that Carolyn had previously shown her: a family beach day she described as one of her most precious memories.