The Conjuring: Saja Boys

I recently saw The Conjuring: Last Rites in cinema and I streamed K-Pop Demon Hunters at home. Both films depict demon spirits in fictional stories. I noticed that (in myself and other people) all spiritual caution in approaching (or not approaching) one MA15+ supernatural horror film is abandoned when approaching the other PG animated musical fantasy film. I wondered if that was appropriate, considering they both are explicitly concerned with good and evil. I’ve realised there are censorship inconsistencies in Christian communities that I think are unhelpful and avoidant. Here I have put down some thoughts on the two films and what they show and say about demons. 

[Disclaimer: I believe that evil spirits do have real power to manifest and cause damage to and through people. That belief is based on my biblical understanding of spirits and spiritual things and from contemporary stories I hear that seem convincing to me. Bear with me through this review as I talk about what I think is ‘realistic’ or ‘not realistic’. I’m not going to go into what the Bible says and why I think what I think. If you want to know, we can have that conversation for the next few years x. ]

The Conjuring: Last Rites. 

This supernatural horror film comes fourth in The Conjuring universe and follows the careers of Ed and Lorraine Warrens. Real American people who were always battling accusations of hoaxing demonic possessions and hauntings. These films retell those stories as if they were true demon spirits that were truly cast out by Christian exorcism. (I do not know and do not particularly care if they were or were not true. I’m primarily interested in the film). Last Rites is called the case that ended it all. Ed and Lorraine reluctantly come out of retirement to assist a family whose own spiritual haunting is inextricably linked to their own family. 

Firstly, the film is great entertainment. The building tension and switch had me watching through my fingers and screaming in the theatre seats. A couple of classic scenes that still have me squirming include the mirror chamber at the dress shop, the sink garbage disposal, the rewind on the home video to catch the ghost, little Suzie toy sitting up and turning around. Classic tropes, done brilliantly. 

Scary Judy in the Mirror!

Disappointingly, this film undercut the premise of the whole series. I’ve enjoyed their commitment to Ed and Lorraine’s power to exorcise by the authority of Jesus that comes from their seemingly genuine commitment to religious practice and personal faith. This film however, seemed to abandon that logic. On two occasions, their usually indestructible crucifix and bibles were burnt up. Even more unsettling and unsatisfying was the final head-to-head with the evil spirit which is overcome with what I think was a declarative statement of denial. The daughter Judy is encouraged not to run away as she has done all her life, but to face up to the enemy with the support of her family. 

I just don’t find it believable that the demon spirits that had been wreaking havoc through the whole film would then be destroyed by two retirees and their people pleasing daughter screaming that ‘you’re not there’. It comes across as inconsistent with the rest of the series that the power of the self is as strong (maybe stronger) than their tried and true strategy of calling on the all powerful God of heaven and earth.

K-Pop Demon Hunters. 

HUNTR/X

This animated film follows a pop band of three girls who are this generation’s group of demon hunters- HUNTR/X. Every generation has 3 demon hunters who are musicians of some sort charged to protect the souls of Seoul. Their day job is to write and perform songs of life, love, and joy to maintain the protective barrier between the city and the evil spiritual realm. Off the clock, the girls will fight battles against hoards of spirits and slay disguised demons with their glowing weapons. All while sporting huge boots, flowing dyed hair and sporty-cute outfits. The tension in the story arises as a new rival boy-band, the Saja Boys, lure fans into a mindless lethargy using their undercover demon powers.

The Saja Boys

I loved the tension in the film of loving and hating the Saja Boys! Their sinister sabotage and diabolical disregard for life and love was so explicit while their moves and music were awfully appealing. 

This is evil! The charming, schmoozing, manipulative kind of evil that catches us off guard.

The Saja boys use their swooshing hair, washboard abs, and mysterious flirtation to brutally beguile HUNTR/X and Seoul. This leads ultimately to a mindless self-forgetting type of death like a moth entranced by the flame. 

Though HUNTR/X were obviously not casting out demons in the name of J.C. I did love their technique of singing the sweeter song to nullify the power of evil. I recall the classical story of Orpheus and the Argonauts sailing safely past the seductive sirens. They were safe from the sirens, not tempted, for they were satisfied by Orpheus’ sweeter song.

This is where I think The Saja Boys are a better presentation of Evil in comparison to the spirits in The Conjuring. Though we might hear of friends-of-friends stories of super-scary super-natural situations, there is evil stuff happening before our very eyes if we take off the rose-tinted glasses. The things that charm us into compromising on caring for the environment. The things that lure us away from our family. The things that cajole us to slander our own friends. The things that dazzle us into an existential self-insufficiency. Those things are evil and of the evil one. Evil is disguised, persuasive, charming. Resisting evil is the strength in discipline to listen to a sweeter, healthier, song.

If I take the logic of these two films into reality and evaluate their strategies, I choose the HUNTR/X as the more reliable defenders against evil. A Warrens-esque ritual and denial based attack on evil at its most catastrophic events is not a sustainable or peaceful practice. HUNTR/X’ continuous commitment to living and working in community with a playful hope that disempowers or overpowers the evil that is hidden in plain sight, is a lifestyle that is more appealing and attainable. 

Just think what HUNTR/X could achieve if they had faith like the Warrens!

So in each of these films I am interested in the portrayal of the demons and their different sensibilities; the way they seduce and persuade and manipulate. The Saja Boys seem far more realistic to the Western experience of evil. The evil spirits and their manifestations in The Conjuring are always grimy and terrifying only after being hidden in plain sight for a while. Their bothersome electrical tricks, turn to disturbing pranks and lies, to outright monstrous attack. I think the slow-and-then-all-at-once escalation of disturbance is particularly exciting and frightening.

I am interested in how both films had turning points that required the main characters to face something honestly. To confront a personal denial. (Though as I said, unconvincingly done by Last Rites.)

I quite enjoy tense and scary movies, and I always re-approach these films analytically over an ice cream across the road from the cinema. The impromptu bookclub is critical in not devolving into a mindless acceptor of propaganda but a training as a conscious and engaged audience member. Not to detract from the entertainment value but to extract and evaluate more of what the film has to offer.

Over the ice cream, we notice the things that stand out, the things that were scary, the things that were not. We wonder about the backstory, what happens next, what they didn’t explain or show. We realise this has something to say about a story I heard in the news, or a deeper memory of my own, or how this contradicts other values. 

If this is appropriate viewing for Christian people, or any people, is probably (almost definitely) a disputable matter. (I refer to Romans 14, a disputable matter that is a problem of opinion rather than of doctrine).

I would like to advocate for K-Pop Demon Hunters in particular as a family friendly piece of media that is very useful for thinking about evil. Parental censorship over the sticker label ‘demon’ is missing an opportunity for Parent Guided discussion over what evil really looks like. 

  I won’t actually be telling anyone that they should watch these types of movies. However, I will be telling anyone who does watch these types of movies, to be critical and notice its effect on you. 

Every piece of media has an effect, you ought to pay attention to that effect. 

One aspect of this blog is to perform a playful critical thinking. You don’t have to be smart to think! All you have to do have to notice, wonder, and realise. 

If evil is out there, can you see its effect on you, and what is your defence?