The Enfield Poltergeist review: New Apple series revisits the traumatic true story behind Conjuring 2 by wisely ignoring Ed and Lorraine Warren’s contributions

Grosse made the astute decision to record everything on tape after having decided to essentially move into the 284 Green Street council house in suburban London, where two young girls appeared to be showing signs of possession. Janet and Margaret Hodgson were 11 and 13 at the time, living with their single-mother Peggy, and a younger brother who is curiously absent for the most part. They claimed to have witnessed objects both small and large being knocked over, and heard sounds ranging from loud bangs to carefully timed knocks. This was before a poltergeist named Bill took over young Janet’s body and mind.

Director Jerry Rothwell recreates these events inside a replica of the Hodgsons’ house, constructed on a soundstage. He often expands the frame to show the viewer the entire set — lights, scaffolding, rigs, the works — and not confine it to what you’d see in a regular film, especially one as bad as The Conjuring 2. A little distance, the show seems to be saying, always adds perspective.

The meticulous recreation also gives a sense of the oppressive mundanity that these people would likely have been experiencing at the time — not entirely because of the ‘paranormal’ activity, but also because that’s what things were like during Margaret Thatcher’s reign. Being holed up all day in a drab house, staring at a hopeless future, performing the same rinse-and-repeat rituals day in and day out; they don’t call an idle mind the devil’s playground for nothing.

Watching these events unfold on what is clearly a movie set heightens the sense of artifice that Wes Anderson captured so beautifully in his recent quartet of Netflix films. And this, primarily, is what Grosse was accused of by his detractors. Because he was so determined to prove that the haunting wasn’t a hoax, he refused to consider the dissenting opinion of others, including that of his colleagues at the (not made-up) Society of Psychical Research. Many of them are featured on the series as talking heads, as are Janet and Margaret, their relatives and neighbours, and an assortment of other people directly or tangentially connected to the events.

Thankfully, Ed and Lorraine Warren — the duplicitous protagonists of the Conjuring films — appear only briefly in episode three. And rather surprisingly, not a single member of the clergy shows up at any point, either to perform an exorcism, or simply educate Janet and her sister about the ways of the devil. Incidents like this only ever seem to happen to devout Catholics, or to people who strongly believe in the concepts of organised religion. From the earliest moments of the show, however, it is made clear that this wasn’t a case of demonic possession at all, but plain poltergeist activity.

Mumbo-jumbo aside, the Enfield haunting was actually a case of a traumatised child being enabled by opportunists to continue her odd behaviour without getting proper help. The show reveals that Janet was particularly affected by the separation of her parents, which led her to create alternate realities in her mind as a trauma response. The most telling section of the show is when ‘Bill’ — that’s the spirit who appears to have taken control of Janet — shows an unusual interest in menstruation and contraception.

And none of the grown men who’ve devoted their lives to observing her night and day thought that this was a strange thing for a ghost to ask. Instead, they continually pestered ‘Bill’ for more evidence, only to validate their own beliefs, and not, crucially, to rid Janet of her pain. The show allows this argument, unlike The Devil on Trial, which practically contorted itself to avoid rationality before it became impossible to. But even when it invites opinions that challenge Grosse’s theories, the show never throws him under the bus; The Enfield Poltergeist is unexpectedly empathetic, not only towards the children involved, but also for the adults around them.

The Enfield Poltergeist
Director – Jerry Rothwell
Cast – Paula Benson, Daniel Lee, Charlotte Miller, Olivia Booth-Ford, Christopher Ettridge, Tom Bevan
Rating – 3/5