James Wan is currently enjoying great success with The Conjuring 2. The sequel to 2013's The Conjuring has proved to be a huge success both commercially and critically, having earned $101 million (against a $40 million production budget) at the box office and receiving, on average, positive reviews from most critics. Having seen the movie myself I can confirm that director Wan has once again weaved together both a haunting and heartfelt re-enactment of one of the most well documented paranormal cases in recent British history, the case of the Enfield Poltergeist.
Also featured in the movie, albeit briefly, is probably Ed and Lorraine Warren's most famous paranormal case that inspired the classic 1979 chiller The Amityville Horror. Unfortunately, director Wan was unable to show the story of the Lutz family, because the rights to that story (based on Jay Anson's novel of the events) are owned by Dimension Films, who are releasing The Amityville Awakening in January 2017. More interesting is the inclusion of a demonic presence taking on the guise of a catholic nun that is shown to haunt Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) by foretelling the death of her husband Ed (Patrick Wilson). This demonic nun first appears during a seance at the Lutz residence, before appearing at the Warren residence courtesy of a painting of the figure by Ed. Towards the end of the movie, the demon reveals itself to behind the events at the Emfield residence. Although this was added in reshoots by director Wan as a way to segue the Amityville case to the Enfield case, the demon nuns name of Valak is, in demonology the name of an actual demon.
Valac is described in the grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon as being the Great President of Hell (think of Mark Sheppard's Crowley from popular US TV show Supernatural) and is said to appear as a young winged boy sat upon a two-headed dragon (pictured below). Valac is said to have up to thirty-eight legions of demons at his command.
Following the success of Annabelle, the first spin-off movie from the Conjuring, it comes as no surprise that Studio New Line Cinema has announced that Valac is to get their own movie, likely exploring the lore of the demon called 'The Nun'. Wan and producer Peter Safran will produce the movie based on a script penned by David Leslie Johnson. It is unknown if actress Bonnie Aarons will reprise the role of The Nun, though we expect she likely will. And with an Annabelle sequel due next year and the Conjuring 3 looking highly likely, Jame Wan's horror adaptations of ed and Lorraine Warren's catalog of paranormal cases.
