Nothing gets us in the Halloween mood more than turning on a movie that will leave us with nightmares. But if you have to receive a blessing to see a film, is it really a good idea for Catholics to watch it?
When moviegoers arrived at the Cinemark Pharr Town Center XD in Pharr, Tex., for a screening of the new horror film “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” they were greeted by an unexpected presence: a man in clerics, Bryan Ouellette. A viral video posted on Aug. 28 shows Ouellette standing in front of the door to the auditorium, blessing moviegoers and handing out bottles of holy water and St. Michael the Archangel prayer cards (which are black and red and adorned with branding for the “Conjuring” on the back).
Many of the nearly eight million Tiktok viewers of the video were quick to suggest that the presence of a priest at a horror movie screening might be a marketing ploy—with one commenter jokingly insinuating that Ouellette actually “works in popcorn.” Others expressed that Ouellette’s blessings made them more afraid of the film. As one viewer put it: “I don’t think I want to watch it after seeing this.”
Marketing ploy or not, Ouellette considers himself a real clergyman and an exorcist. He is the “Patriarch” of a group called the Holy Nicholean Catholic Church, an “Independent Apostolic Esoteric Catholic Church” with no official relationship to the Roman Catholic Church. Ouellette is also part of the “Old Roman Catholic Sacred Order of St. Michael the Archangel (Order of Exorcists),” which is also not recognized by the Vatican. According to a short biography page provided by the Holy Nicholean Catholic Church website, Ouellette joined a Catholic seminary as a young man but eventually “realized that it would be impossible to accomplish his vocation within the limitations imposed on him by the Roman Catholic Church.”
Ouellette is not a Roman Catholic priest. But his presence at the “The Conjuring: Last Rites” screening and his co-option of items and traditions associated with the Catholic faith add to a longstanding and complicated relationship between the “Conjuring” franchise and the real-life Catholic Church—one that is characterized by a capitalization on Catholic imagery without Catholic endorsement.
As it turns out, Catholic horror sells. “The Conjuring: Last Rites” had an extremely successful rollout this fall, generating $187 million in its opening weekend, the second highest horror debut in history (second only to the 2017 film “It”). “The Conjuring: Last Rites” is the latest of five movies featuring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren; since 2013, they have starred in four “Conjuring” installments and the 2019 film “Annabelle Comes Home.” Overall, the “Conjuring” franchise is the highest-grossing horror franchise in history, with box office numbers over $2 billion. This film was announced to be the final part of “Phase One” of the Conjuring franchise: It is the last film to feature the pair of exorcising protagonists.
Ed and Lorraine were a real couple who claimed to have performed a number of exorcisms beginning in the 1950s. Their work as paranormal investigators is responsible for some of the most infamous possession and haunting cases of the 20th century, including the 1974 Amityville case, which inspired Jay Anson’s novel The Amityville Horror and the 1981 trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, also known as the “Devil Made Me Do It” case (inspiring 2021’s aptly named, “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It”).
Ed and Lorraine were Catholic and considered their faith to be central to their fight against demonic forces. In a 2013 interview with The Irish Independent, Lorraine explained: “When there’s no religion, it is absolutely terrifying. That is your protection. God is your protection. It doesn’t matter what your religion is.”
A popular story surrounding the Warrens touts that Ed was the only recognized non-ordained exorcist by the Catholic Church, but reports of this are unverified and murky at best. Similarly dubious are reports that the Warrens worked with notable ordained Catholic priests—with one story even claiming that they worked with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) to perform an exorcism during the famous Smurl Haunting, which is the same haunting that loosely inspired the plot of “The Conjuring: Last Rites.” Unfortunately, this report also seems to be false, as Cardinal Ratzinger worked at the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1985, which reinforced the policy banning laypeople from performing exorcisms in 1983.
Though Cardinal Ratzinger is nowhere to be found in “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” this year’s film is not without a Catholic presence. As the Warrens investigate the haunting of the Smurl family, they are assisted by Steve Coulter’s Father Gordon, a character who first appeared in “The Conjuring” (2013), serving as the Warrens’ spiritual advisor and Vatican contact. In the films, he has seemingly unlimited Vatican access and is always saying vaguely Catholic lines like, “my faith is my armor.” Father Gordon’s role is not very fleshed out; his personality feels like a stereotype.
Catholic clergy have popped up in the franchise before. Before filming began on “The Conjuring 2,” Stephen Sanchez, O.C.D., an actual ordained Catholic priest, performed a house blessing on the set in order to keep evil presences away from the production. The ritual is normally used to invite God’s presence and protection over a new home, so it seems the filmmakers were worried they might be inviting some real demonic presences onto their set during the film’s creation.
In spite of the connections to Catholicism, many publications and notable Catholics have condemned the film franchise as using a simplified and two-dimensional version of the faith. A recent review from OSV news describes the franchise as using “a fast-and-loose presentation of Catholic faith practices.” The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have also weighed in, struggling to describe “The Conjuring” as a “Catholic film” and describing the Catholic references as “scattered” and “sometimes slight.” They also take issue with the portrayal of the aforementioned Father Gordon, specifically in regards to the shallow and underdeveloped version of the Vatican he reports to.
America chimed in on the controversial representation of Catholicism in the films in 2015. Gavin F. Hurley took issue with the Catholic characters in “The Conjuring” being used as “plot vehicles or hackneyed tropes” only to appease audience expectations, although he did admit that the film still has some Catholic value since it “bring[s] Catholic rites and doctrines into popular culture and expose[s] diverse audiences to Catholic ideas.”
The “Conjuring” franchise is far from the first in the horror genre to spark controversy for its depiction of Catholicism. The iconic 1973 film “The Exorcist” has been the source of fervent debate that has evolved throughout the decades. The film received criticism from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Film and Broadcasting shortly after its release, which gave it a rating of “A‐4,” communicating that “while moral in itself, it could confuse or offend some adult viewers.”
A more recent example surrounds the 2023 film, “The Pope’s Exorcist,” which received harsh criticism from the International Association of Exorcists (I.A.E.). The group, founded in 1994 by the film’s subject, Gabriele Amorth, S.S.P., the chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, claims more than 900 members worldwide and has been recognized by the church as a private association of the Christian faithful. The film was heavily criticized by the I.A.E., which called it “contrary to historical reality,” while explaining that the film “distorts and falsifies what is truly lived and experienced during the exorcism of truly possessed people.”
Outside of the historical and theological issues, the group also criticized the cinematographic side of the film as well, calling it “spectacle aimed at inspiring strong and unhealthy emotions, thanks to a gloomy scenography, with sound effects such as to inspire only anxiety, restlessness and fear in the viewer.” The priests ended up being right on all fronts with the film, with it receiving only middling reviews and box office success.
Ed and Lorraine’s story may be over, but the legacy of the “Conjuring” franchise will likely be defined by continuing disagreement about whether its films are appropriate or healthy for Catholics to watch. Short of an official denunciation from the Catholic Church, we moviegoers must decide for ourselves whether a film like the “Conjuring” brings us closer or further away from God.
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