Supernatural thriller 'The Conjuring 4: The Last Rite' and psychological drama 'Dreams' are in theaters: The final battle with evil

The Conjuring (2013), a series written and directed by James Wan that stars Ed and Lorraine Warren battling supernatural forces, has become cinema's longest-running supernatural thriller. In the series' latest installment, The Conjuring 4: The Last Rite (2025), the Warrens face their most difficult, terrifying challenge yet. In the opening sequence, Michael Chaves transports the audience back to 1964, to the birth of their daughter, Judy. While the Warrens are undergoing another grueling exorcism, a pregnant Lorraine goes into premature labor after putting her hand inside an antique mirror. After a prolonged period of gasping for air, her daughter is brought back to life by Lorraine's prayers to God. Fast forward to 1986, where the young woman introduces her lover to her parents, and simultaneously, a wedding is being held in rural Pennsylvania by the Smurls, a working-class family, and the bride receives the same antique mirror. After the mirror enters the house, strange sounds are heard, images appear, the family dog ​​is thrown against the wall, and the family begins to experience hallucinations.

Stifling Atmosphere

The Warrens took a break from supernatural activities after Ed's heart attack; the evil spirit has haunted Judy since childhood. The Smurl incident is a real-life case, occurring between 1974 and 1989. The Warrens began helping the family in 1986. The demonic force chose an ordinary family, the poor. Three spirits inhabit the former farmhouse, and a demon hides behind them. Chaves creates an extraordinary atmosphere in the rainy, melancholic town. The production and sound design, camera movements, plunge shots, and close-ups add tension to the film. Lucy's encounter with the demon in the wedding dress shop and the couple's exorcism are key scenes. The documentary footage in the final credits of this case, which captured American media attention in the 1980s, is deeply moving. This true event became the basis for the novel The Haunted: One Family's Nightmare, which was adapted into a made-for-TV movie (1991). The supernatural thriller starring Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Mia Tomlinson, Rebecca Colder, Elliott Cowan, Ben Hardy is a successful farewell film.

DREAMS ARE THE MIRROR OF OUR MIND

Norwegian writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud's trilogy "Love, Sex, Dreams," set in Oslo, portrays human relationships with a simple, original narrative, emphasizing the absence of hierarchy in love, sex, and dreams. Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival (2024), "Dreams" is told through the eyes of 17-year-old high school student Johanne. Living with her single mother and poet grandmother, she takes her first steps from adolescence to adulthood, and a book she reads evokes different emotions in her. When school starts, she falls in love with her attractive French teacher and begins to fantasize about her. Three generations of women talk, argue, and a strong bond of love and respect reigns between them. As Johanne keeps her first love to herself, she feels a profound loneliness and pours her thoughts and dreams onto paper. Her mother and grandmother are amazed when they read her novel; it possesses a unique literary technique; it's an extraordinary love story. The feelings she awakens in her also affect the other two women. Adolescence, adulthood, generation gaps, disappointment, heartbreak, miscommunication, alienation, jealousy, and envy are told through flashbacks. The sensitive, honest, and fresh-hearted story touches all three. It's too late for regrets; dreams are mirrors of our minds. The future lies ahead for Johanne. Ella Overbye, Ane Dahl Torp, Anne Marit Jacobson, and Selome Emnetu star in Dreams, which asks the questions of what really happened between Johanne and her teacher, where does reality end and fiction begin?