8 Movies We Didn’t Know Were Origin Stories Going In

3. The Conjuring 2

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Warner Bros.

Much like we were all duped into thinking the first Conjuring movie was to be all about the Annabelle doll, The Conjuring 2 was set up to focus on the real-life case known as the Enfield Poltergeist.

Released as The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case in some markets, this 2016 sequel offering did indeed focus a large amount of its attention on the spooky shenanigans that terrified the Hodgson family in Enfield, London. As well as this, though, The Conjuring 2 also served as an introduction to the sinister Valak.

With the haunting of the Hodgsons initially put down to the spirit of former resident Bill Wilkins, it would be revealed that the real villain of the piece here is the demon Valak. This would be a sinister nun who Vera Varmiga's Lorraine Warren had seen visions of earlier - with those visions featuring the death of Lorraine's husband Ed.

All of this gave us our first glimpse into the nefarious Valak, setting the demon up to take-centre stage in 2018's The Nun; a movie that was set in 1952 Romania and saw Valak once more up to no good.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.