[4] Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of haunting.

[5] The Warrens come to the assistance of the Perron family, who experienced increasingly disturbing events in their newly occupied farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971.

In 1968, renowned demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren investigate the Annabelle case, in which friends Debbie and Camilla have a possessed doll.

They allowed the spirit, who claimed to be a seven-year-old girl named Annabelle Higgins, to possess the doll, but the hauntings became more disturbing.

Three years later, in 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron move into a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island, with their five daughters: Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy, and April.

Carolyn contacts the Warrens, who conduct an initial investigation, during which Lorraine, a clairvoyant, sees that a dark entity has latched on to the family so that even leaving the house will not free them.

To gather evidence, they place cameras and bells around the house with the help of their assistant Drew Thomas and police officer Brad Hamilton.

Research reveals that the house once belonged to an accused witch and Satanist named Bathsheba Sherman (a relative of Mary Towne Eastey), who sacrificed her week-old baby to the devil and killed herself in 1863 at 3:07 in the morning after cursing all who take her land.

Carolyn escapes and attempts to kill April; Lorraine is able to call to her by reminding her of a family memory, allowing Ed to complete the exorcism and condemn Bathsheba back to Hell.

[12] This was later confirmed by Warner Bros., which also stated that the film would be loosely based on real-life events surrounding Ed and Lorraine Warren.

[13] That month, Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor were also confirmed for roles in the film, which at that time was developing under the working title of The Untitled Warren Files Project.

[15][16] In preparation for their roles, Farmiga and Wilson traveled to Connecticut to spend time with Lorraine Warren,[17] who also visited the set during production.

[24] Lorraine Warren spent some time observing the shoot and later recalled that she had expressed no qualms to the filmmakers with how her story was adapted.

"For whatever reason I was hearing brass clustering as an early response to the material, a quiet shimmering flutter tongue effect, and it grew from there", said Bishara on his creative process.

[33] Avant-garde musician Diamanda Galás also contributed to Bishara's score,[34] performing raw vocal improvisation on top of the previously recorded brass instrumentation.

[4] A teaser trailer, previously shown at the 2012 New York Comic Con, kicked off the film's marketing campaign in February 2013.

In the weeks leading up to the film's release, trailers and TV spots began to feature the real-life Perron family.

[37][38] This was followed by a featurette titled The Devil's Hour in which Lorraine Warren and other paranormal investigators explain some of the supernatural occurrences seen in the film.

[47] The world premiere took place at the closing night of the first edition of Nocturna: Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival on June 8, 2013.

[59] After its run in theaters, the film was officially named a box office hit, grossing over fifteen times its production budget with a worldwide total of $318 million.

[2] Calculating in all production and promotional expenses, Deadline Hollywood estimated that the film made a total profit of $161.7 million.

The website's consensus reads: "Well-crafted and gleefully creepy, The Conjuring ratchets up dread through a series of effective old-school scares.

"[64] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[67] In her review following the Los Angeles Film Festival, Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter said, "With its minimal use of digital effects, its strong, sympathetic performances and ace design work, the pic harks back in themes and methods to The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror, not quite attaining the poignancy and depth of the former but far exceeding the latter in sheer cinematic beauty.

[71][72] Indiewire's Eric Kohn explained that, "The Warrens may know how to handle demonic possessions, but The Conjuring suffers from a different invading force: the ghosts of familiarity.

Entertainment Weekly obtained documents in which the owners affirmed various invasions and ratified that they had found numerous objects affiliated with satanic cults.

[85][86] Gerald Brittle, the author of the 1980 book The Demonologist about Ed and Lorraine Warren, filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros., New Line Productions and director James Wan regarding the film.

Brittle claimed the film, alongside the subsequent sequel and spin-offs, infringed upon an exclusive contract he had with the Warrens to make any works based on the subject of his book.