this is my die hard in the sense that I will be arguing this is a christmas movie forevermore. in my eyes this definitely the strongest film in the entire series. strong scares, strong plot, strong emotional core, and especially strong performances. vera farmiga is acting so hard in every scene it's incredible. the idea that she was filming this at the same time as Bates Motel is crazy, she has more emotional energy than anyone ever. the whole door scene in the rain where lorraine says she's scared and she can't lose ed with the delivery of "ED NO", oh someone sedate me. then on the flipside when she banishes valak back to hell all I can think is 'ok purr', lorraine read that nun to filth. I also love janet as our possession victim, she is so sad and sweet and the entire film I just want to hug her. the first moment she's on screen getting reprimanded for something she didn't do is incredible foreshadowing and really made me empathize with her from the start. the scene with her and lorraine on the swingset is so beautifully written and performed. then when she has the same conversation with ed when he fixes their sink... my poor baby. favorite dialogue: "the day he left he took all the music with him" "now, I know it can feel like that someti-" "no literally he took all the records"

love at first watch. I'm really fond of how information is presented in this film. starting with annabelle (icon, diva, the face of the franchise) to establish what kind of work the warrens do and what signs they look for in their cases really sets the tone for the film and makes all the occurances we see at the house prior to ed & lorraine's arrival more impactful. the hide and clap scene is so well done and shockingly doesn't fall victim to the horror trope/goof of the infinite match, the fact that she has to light like 3 matches over the course of maybe a minute adds to the believability and honestly the fear that overcomes you when watching that scene. if I had a basement I would definitely be scared of whatevers down there! speaking of great scenes, obviously the sheet scene needs to be mentioned! its so effective despite not actually being that scary and I do think that's due to both the sudden weather change & the accompanying figure in the window. aside from this being a horror film, it's also a romance. the scene where ed & lorraine reaffirm their devotion to each other mid-exorcism? beautiful. favorite dialogue: "sometimes when you get haunted, it's like steppin' on gum. you take it with ya."

the way I talked about this film after I saw it, you'd think it was some genre-bending masterpiece. yes it's a horror movie, but it's also a comedy & a drama & a romance. this is easily the funniest of the films, due in part to the fact that the warrens aren't involved in the case until an hour or so in, giving room for family shennanigans to take place. those scenes are what really made the movie for me. of course it's nice to be scared, but it's also nice to laugh! the whole birthday party sequence is a perfect example of that. first off, the whole 'its not a funeral' bit that both judy & ed make remarks about was a nice touch that established a strong famillial bond that we haven't seen in the other films. favorite dialogue: "so you guys are kind of like the ghostbusters?" "we didn't... 'bust'... ghosts" "but we did see the movie! :)"

there are two voices in my head. one of them says: this movie is so fun! yes it's silly and clearly the weakest of the immediate franchise, but you love the ending and laugh at the jokes! and you remember being intigued by the poster before you were a horror fan! isn't that great? y'know what else is great, lorraine's hair in this film! you love her hair & outfits in this! shouldn't that be enough? and then the other voice says: this movie is bad... you don't care about any of the characters because they never give you any reason to grow attached to them, there are too many locations so the pacing is wack, the opening is way too much compared to the rest of the films, and the scares aren't even that impactful! do you really like this? or are you blinded by patrick wilson's alarmingly white teeth? to both of those voices, I say; yes all of those things are true, I have a love-hate relationship with this movie. my opinion changes depending on the day. I could not tell you the name of a single character in this film, but I can definitely tell you that lorraine keeps ed's pills in her locket & ed built lorraine a gazebo in their backyard. favorite dialogue: "LORRAINE!" "I'm ok ed, it's just a rat"