'The Sleepless Unrest': The Real Conjuring Home – What’s in the House? {Movie Review}

We all have that something that connects with us, calling us beyond our limits to fulfil our curiosity. The Perron Family Home is one of these entities, enticing Corey and Jennifer Heinzen to buy the home that inspired The Conjuring. As the newest owners of the property, the Heinzens have opened up the house to paranormal investigators, allowing people to spend the night, study, and document the mysterious and regular disturbances. This open invitation drew renowned ghost hunters and paranormal field experts Vera and Kendall Whelpton to take up the offer. Wanting to push themselves to the limits, their two-week stay within the house is the backbone for their latest documentary The Sleepless Unrest: The Real Conjuring Home.

Knowing they would need reinforcements, the Whelptons asked friends Brian Murphy and Richel Stratton to join them in their extended stay. There is an air of joy and camaraderie as the gang all gets together to arrive and explore the house. At one point it even feels like there is a desire for this house to be a fun, lighthearted exhibit as the group sets up motion sensors, cameras, and high-tech recording devices all throughout.

By day two, mysterious happenings are in full swing. Motion sensors begin to go off. Objects moving of their own accord are caught on camera. A misty beam of light travels through the bedroom where Richel and Brian are staying. There is something in the house, and it most certainly does not want this group to get any restful sleep.

​Corey and Jennifer allow the group to open an area of the home that has remained sealed since they bought it. This pivotal moment turns the activity in the house up a notch. Truly, our intrepid explorers are being pushed to an unseen edge, something is coming. At one point, everyone huddles into the dining room and, using Spirit Box equipment, they invite a presence to speak with them. What occurs next is so surprising, it encourages the group to head outside. Causing them all to go deep into the woods to connect with the bloody past and history of the general area.

It’s here I will warn you that mild spoilers are ahead. I firmly believe in April Wolfe’s motto from her beloved podcast Switchblade Sisters, “It’s not what happens, but how it happens that makes a story worth watching.” But, if you’d like to pause here and watch The Sleepless Unrest first, please do so – you can see it in theaters or VOD on July 16, more info here.
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And now that you’re back, it’s time to dive into the ending. As Vera and Kendall are in their car, driving away from this experience, they repeat to each other, “What’s in the house, stays in the house.” And yet, something has followed them. Three weeks later we see that both the Whelpton family and the livelihoods of Richel and Brian are all coming undone. Dreams plague all parties involved, even their children are beginning to have nightmares and hear disembodied voices. The film ends with an eerie child’s toy repeating the phrase “let’s have some fun,” as if mocking the lighthearted joy the group initially had upon entering the Perron Family Home. What’s in the house may not always stay inside the house.

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Author

Carissa Jean Mares is a graduate of the Independent Publishing Resource Center’s Comics Program and a founding member of Soft Skills Comics – a cartoonist collective rooted in niceness. She is a screenwriter currently working out of Portland, Oregon, with much love for her East Coast roots.  Carissa is also a member of Women In Film PDX, the Couch Collective, and the International Screenwriters’ Association. Most of her artwork focuses on the incorporation and release of trauma, and she finds this best expressed in her favorite genre films. ​