Newsletter | Horror's Hall Of Fame: Atomic Monster & The Conjuring Of Jump Scares

This column was originally published as part of our newsletter The Daily Show on August 1, 2023. Subscribe here. (We're awesome about not spamming your inbox!)

***

This is OTTplay’s House Of Horrors, a guide to the contemporary production houses that have cemented their spots in the genre’s hall of fame. In part 8, we look at Atomic Monster. Also read the previous instalments on Blumhouse, A24, Platinum Dunes, IFC Midnight, Hammer Films, Ghost House Pictures and NEON.

What is Atomic Monster?

Any discussion about the most influential genre directors of the 21st century would be incomplete without mention of James Wan, the man behind Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring, Furious 7 and Aquaman. In 2014, the Malaysian-born, Australian director established his own production outfit to make horror movies. Atomic Monster has since been spooking us with The Conjuring spin offs and other fresh nightmares (Lights Out, Malignant, M3GAN).

What is Atomic Monster known for?

Expanding The Conjuring-verse and milking it for all it isn’t worth.

Outside of the Marvel juggernaut, no franchise has taken to the now-entrenched Hollywood template of shared universes like The Conjuring-verse. We have already had eight entries, with at least two more on the way. Wan seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to genre movies, many (if not all) of which have contained the seeds to spawn red-hot franchises. It’s this talent to recognise and maximise a movie’s IP potential that has made him a bankable name in the industry.

Whatever clout Wan has earned from being such a bankable name, he has leveraged into directing and producing movies like Malignant and M3GAN, two deranged symphonies of camp horror that find novel scares and laughs. While watching either movie, there is a sense of bewildered enjoyment. Both draw their power from their inherent silliness, meaning they are the kind of movies you devoutly recommend to others just so you can see their reaction to every meme-able, conversation-starting, WTF moment.

Related | Child's Play: How Horror's Creepiest Toys Channel Human Fears 

Besides movies, Atomic Monster has also produced series for TV and streaming platforms. The most intriguing project so far has to be Archive 81. Loosely inspired by the podcast of the same name, the Netflix series is a chilling patchwork of paranoia and paranormal phenomena, urban mystery and cultish goings on.

What are the hallmarks of Atomic Monster’s productions?

When The Conjuring (2013) introduced us to paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), it also introduced us to a consecrated room of cursed artefacts in their house. Each artefact held a story waiting to be spun off. From haunted dolls to haunted toy monkeys to haunted music boxes to haunted mirrors, each artefact is a springboard for IP extension. Annabelle grew from a breakout cameo in The Conjuring into leading a franchise of her own. Valak, the pale-faced demon dressed in religious habit we first met in The Conjuring 2, branched out with The Nun and will no doubt terrorise Taissa Farmiga’s novitiate once again in the sequel.

Catholic symbolism and rituals have fuelled horror movies more than any other religion or sect. Christianity in the Conjuring-verse is similarly and strictly Catholic. Families find their faith challenged. Grieving couples find their homes vulnerable to evil spirits. The emotional through-line across investigations into the Amityville haunting, Enfield poltergeist and the “Devil Made Me Do It” case is the Warrens’ unwavering devotion to each other.

All the Conjuring-verse movies function as period pieces. A majority (The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle, Annabelle Comes Home, The Curse of La Llorona) are set in the '70s. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It taps into the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. The Nun is set in 1952 Romania at a remote abbey. Annabelle: Creation begins in 1943 before shifting to 1955.

Love them or hate them, jump-scares are a Wan speciality. When the build-up is suffocating, the payoff can send your heart rate soaring. But not every jump scare is staged as well as the hide-and-clap sequence in The Conjuring. Just about every movie that has followed employs the trick as a crutch, rendering it redundant and unscary. The same goes for creepy basements and creaky doors and floors.

Where Malignant and M3GAN fare better is in mitigating tension with just enough comic relief to set viewers up for another scare. Once the big reveal about the backwards-walking parasitic twin Gabriel arrives in Malignant, the carnage escalates in cartoonish tone. Gabriel leaping from desk to desk as he dodges bullets in a police station is as gleefully over-the-top and delightfully twisted as M3GAN’s post-bloodbath dance.

Who are the directors Atomic Monster has worked with?

As a director-turned-producer, Wan knows horror is an ideal playground for up-and-coming directors looking to cut their teeth. One of the directors he has put through the paces at Atomic Monster is David F Sandberg, who made no-budget horror shorts in Sweden before one of them — called "Lights Out" — went viral, got the industry’s attention and was soon expanded into a $150 million-grossing feature. Sandberg’s next assignment was helming Annabelle: Creation, the origin story of the creepy doll.

Also Read | Horror's Homemade Arsenal, As Deployed By The Evil Dead 

Michael Chaves (The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The Nun II) is another director who got his start at Atomic Monster. Akela Cooper has become a frequent collaborator in the last few years, having written the screenplays for Malignant, M3GAN and The Nun II. Wan himself has directed two features under the Atomic Monster banner: The Conjuring 2 and Malignant.

Which are Atomic Monster’s defining horror movies?

In order of release: Annabelle (2014), The Conjuring 2 (2016), Lights Out (2016), Annabelle: Creation (2017), The Nun (2018), The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), Malignant (2021), M3GAN (2023)

Annabelle, the first film produced by Atomic Monster, made more than $257 million worldwide off a $6.5 million budget. M3GAN, the most recent production, earned $180 million against a budget of $12 million. But the biggest box-office hit so far has been The Nun, which grossed $365.6 million.

Which are Atomic Monster’ best horror movies?

In order of personal preference: The Conjuring 2 (2016), M3GAN (2023), Annabelle: Creation (2017), Malignant (2021)