It’s impossible to review The Sleepless Unrest and not refer to the horror movie that made the house being investigated famous. As Richel Stratton says when she and Brian Murray pull up to the Farm on Roundtop Road, “It looks like the cabin in the woods…”
Yes, it sort of does. There’s nothing remarkable-looking about it from the outside. Except that it’s isolated, near woods, and does look a bit creepy. In other words, a perfect horror movie setting.
While The Cabin in the Woods is a horror movie, that’s not the mega-hit that drew the home’s new owners, Cory and Jennifer Heinzen, to it like a moth to a flame. When it went up for sale, they didn’t hesitate to put an offer on it, which was accepted. They’ve now lived in the allegedly haunted home for about two years and have opened it up to paranormal investigations.
Even though the Heinzen’s call their Harrisville, Rhode Island, home “The Farm on Roundtop Road,” it’s more commonly known as “The Conjuring House.” That’s even the website link for their house: TheConjuringHouse.com.
Because that’s what it is. The Perron Family moved into the house in 1970 and lived there until 1980. But as Andrea Perron detailed in her first book, House of Darkness House of Light: The True Story Volume One, and then in the other two books that followed, strange things happened to the family in the home.
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The Perron family wasn’t just haunted, but at times even possessed by something inside their home. That’s why they enlisted the help of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Did the Warrens help? To an extent. But is whatever haunted Andrea and her sisters still there?
That’s what Richel and Brian went to find out. They joined husband and wife filmmaking and paranormal investigation team, Kendall and Vera Whelpton, who had arranged with the Heinzens to stay and investigate the house for two weeks.
Sure, other TV shows have investigated it. Zak Bagans and crew filmed a Ghost Adventures Conjuring house investigation Halloween special. But they didn’t live in the home continually for two weeks. Meaning preparing meals, eating, sleeping, and sharing a bathroom for 14 days solid, all the while investigating and filming the entire time. The Whelptons, joined by Richel Stratton and Brian Murray, did.
Kendall isn’t just your run-of-the-mill filmmaker, though. He’s not like most of the paranormal investigators who film their investgations and pop them up on YouTube these days. For years he earned a living as a cameraman on Ghost Hunters. In fact, his first documentary, The House in Between, was executive produced with Steve Gonsalves.
The House in Between wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, though. I happened to love the documentary-style approach they took with it. They interviewed experts while investigating the house and really tried to find scientific answers for the phenomenon that was occurring.
However, it was too cerebral for some who consequently found it boring. As one reviewer who also liked the film summed it up in response to the haters, it was more about “Truth-seeking, not thrill-seeking.”
So what’s this newest film like? Is it more documentary style with lots of research and interviews with experts, or are there more thrills? Will fans of The Conjuring movie like it?
I had a chance to interview the Whelptons about The Sleepless Unrest and asked, “What would you call this film?” Because it’s not like The House in Between. Vera maybe pegged it best as an investigation movie. It’s not fiction. They really did investigate and live in the house. But it’s not a horror movie either.
Yet, things happen. Things that made this skeptic tilt her head and wonder, “What was that?”
There’s some evidence you’ve seen countless times on other shows. EVPs, objects moving by themselves, equipment going off. But then there’s some stuff, particularly at the end, that’s a little more than you usually see.
I’m purposely being vague so as not to spoil anything. Some reviews are better left with as few spoilers as possible. The Sleepless Unrest is one of them.
Fans of The Conjuring story overall, the real one that inspired the movie, will probably find The Sleepless Unrest interesting. So will fans of paranormal investigations.
Those who want more research and getting to the scientific nitty-gritty behind what causes certain activity, however, won’t find that in this film. But it’s okay. It’s a little slow in the beginning and looks Ghost Hunters-ish formulaic at first. However, then it finds its own groove and ends up in unexpected territory, both literally and figuratively.
The Sleepless Unrest: The Real Conjuring Home was released in select theaters and on VOD on July 16. Stream it on Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, Fandango Now, Vimeo, Microsoft, VUDU, and RedBox
You can also buy the DVD at Amazon, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, and FYE.
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Would you prefer to see heart-pumping paranormal activity caught on camera or do you like a mix of interviews with experts, research, experiments, and ghost hunting combined?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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I’ve seen The Sleepless Unrest. It’s fabulous! I like a documentary with interviews and stuff mixed in. I think it’s more interesting and scarier, too, because you see how the haunting (or possession) affects real life people.
Oooo! I’m so glad to know someone else who’s seen it and liked it too!