Aside from the obvious hype factor, movies are often marketed as being based on true stories because that makes it easier for filmmakers to place audiences in the right mindset for cinematic scares. After all, suspecting that a story could be true can sometimes be just as scary as knowing that it is. And if there’s one franchise that still uses this age-old technique to great effect, it’s The Conjuring. While the long-running series tends to embellish its source material and plays fast and loose with the facts, these movies inhabit a special place in the horror community’s collective heart because they still focus on real family dynamics, with our lovable leads always at the center.

And with the release of the first teaser trailer for the upcoming The Conjuring: Last Rites, it appears that this latest sequel (which is set to conclude the so-called “Phase One...