Haunted house
The Snedekers were an ordinary family of six – parents and four children. When one of the three sons fell ill with cancer, they decided to move to a house closer to the hospital. They did not know then how wrong their decision was. Nobody warned them that there used to be a funeral home in the building where they planned to spend the future. Moreover, its owner was engaged in necrophilia, which opened the gates of the underworld, and the tormented souls remained in this place. When new inhabitants start to hear strange voices, smell strange smells, things in the rooms change their place, and in addition, phantoms begin to wander in the corridors, they must seek help. It quickly turns out that the prayers of an ordinary priest are of no use here. Famous demonologists – Ed and Lorraine Warren – have to step into action.
Secular exorcist
The Warrens studied haunting stories back in the 1970s. Over the next decades, they investigated over 10,000 different cases. They even created a museum behind their home in Monroe, Connecticut, where they collected numerous cursed items, including the famous Annabelle doll. In addition, they lectured at universities, wrote numerous articles and books, and their activities were known throughout the USA and beyond. The activity of the marriage was even recognized by the Vatican, and Ed became the only secular exorcist recognized by the Church. They gained worldwide fame after Ed’s death. In 2013, the movie Presence was released , which became the beginning of the entire universe related to the activities of the Warrens. However, we could already see the Tormented (orig.The Haunting in Connecticut – a movie about the Snedeker family and their haunted house. The painting was created on the basis of notes, witness accounts and the book Tormented. A true story by Ray Garton and Carmen Reed, which had its premiere in 1992. However, it has only come to our country now. This is the fifth part of the series about demonologists published by Replica. However, all volumes are connected mainly by heroes, so you can reach for it without reading the previous volumes.
I’m a little scared …
Tormented. True Story is a novel that should appeal to all fans of horror. The authors made sure that we felt a shiver of fear on our back while reading. We have a lot of tension-building scenes topped off with a kind of jumpscare. It is certainly much harder to achieve such an effect in a book than in a movie, so hats off to the authors for their success. In addition, the story is very quick and fun to read. It is addictive and at the same time written in a light language. I was expecting more of a document based on interviews or notes, but in the meantime I got a full-fledged horror that you can actually be afraid of. It is difficult to have any major reservations about the plot itself. However, I have to draw the publishers’ attention. The content contains italicized words many times, but they do not have any specific purpose. If it was about highlighting important issues, I would not mind, but selecting the highlighted words seems to be completely random in most cases and only sometimes does it make sense.
It is also worth adding that if you watched the movie Tormented , you will also like the novel it was based on. However, you will surely be surprised how much the story presented in the book differs from the one on the screen.
The horror at a high level
Tormented. A true story is a very good and addictive horror movie. Of course, we are not talking about a novel that competes for literary awards, but it is far from being class B, or even mediocre. The creators are able to scare us properly, and while reading, our hair will stand on our heads many times. A light language and an interesting story will make us read it quickly and we will not regret it. Depending on whether we believe the story really happened or not, we can get even more drawn into the Snedeker family’s experience. It is a pity that the publishers of the original version did not decide to post a few photos, either of the house itself, or even some Warren’s notes, running the whole affair. It would certainly be a very interesting flavor, complementing the whole. So if you like Presence, Have read the previous parts of the novel or you are interested in the life of Ed and Lorraine, without hesitation reach for Suffering !
