Inside our trip to London to interview the stars of The Conjuring 2

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of horror movies. Sure, I’ll watch a horror movie with the missus but it’s often through the gaps in my fingers as they cover my eyes.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy the occasional scary story. It’s just that, faced with the possibility of witnessing an exorcism, I would much rather exercise my legs and walk out.

But when I heard there was a chance for me to go to London, to watch an early screening of The Conjuring 2, all those fears somehow disappeared in a buzz of excitement.

Of course, I had to get the most important things out of the way, like watching the first The Conjuring film like a million times over, before getting to the more mundane tasks done, like packing several pairs of underwear into my bag. “You never know how scary the film might get,” I kept telling myself.

Finally, dog fed and bag bulging at the seams, I headed off to catch a plane to the land most famous for the queen and poems about dodgy bridges that keep falling down.

After a flight that seemed to stretch to eternity, I landed at Heathrow airport, where I navigated an endless maze of people and tube station passages. My travels were only made more pleasant by the fact that I had a bag so small I could put it in my pocket if I tried hard enough.

My first stop in London central, besides the loo, was the bus station to book one of them fancy open-top bus tours that all those tourists take in the movies. I heard it takes you to loads of posh places and I had been sure to pack in a bottle of marmalade in case I bumped into the queen and she insisted I stay for tea.

Searching for the queen

With a plan firmly in place I went in search of her majesty. First stopping was the awe-inspiring St Paul's Cathedral in the hope that I might find her during the busy Sunday services that attract hundreds of visitors each week. Instead, I found a shrine of gold and grandeur.

Next, I took a bus over the famous Tower Bridge and past the castle that shares its name. I had heard that the castle contains the crown jewels so I decided to take a peek. I asked around and the gentleman said that her majesty was not in and that I best move right along.

I took further stops at Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus and even the McDonalds on the corner but couldn't find her.

I thought she might be at home so I stopped past Buckingham Palace for a chat but found the imposing black iron gates closed and the curtains drawn.

Resigned to the fact that her majesty must have been looking for me and somehow our paths had not yet crossed, I headed back to the hotel to drown my sorrows in a bottle of complimentary water (the conversion rate is enough to turn a drinking man sober, they say) and an episode of EastEnders.

“Maybe with my luck she would be at the screening of TheConjuring 2 the next day,” I thought.

A fright

I woke up the next day with quite a fright. You would think that I had just watched the trailer for The Conjuring 2 in my sleep but the source of my anguish was not in a film, but in the fact that I had actually overslept, and missed the early rush for breakfast. Upset, I drudged downstairs to the hotel restaurant fully aware that I had probably missed the best bits of bacon on offer - the miserable weather an outward reflection of my inner feelings in the moment.

After breakfast I grabbed my umbrella and made my way to the cinema to watch The Conjuring 2. I could hardly wait as I skipped down the road.

As a big fan (and a new one) of The Conjuring, I couldn’t wait to see how this one measured up. I wasn’t disappointed as scene after scene brought unexpected surprises. I thought it was incredible with more visual effects, more suspense and more scare than ever before. Some had said that it wouldn’t have the jump scare of the first film, but the guy next to me was jumping so much I thought his seat might be made of trampoline!

In fact, it was so frightfully brilliant that I had to shoot down the road to have a word with the director James Wan and lead actor Patrick Wilson. I had an honest and frank chat with them (which you can read about here) and learnt all about what inspired the film and their role in it.

Rush home

Like the old adage goes, time flies when you having fun, and before I knew it, I had to bolt off to the airport to catch a plane home in a mad dash across town.

Finally, having made it on the plane, I was faced with my own scare moment worthy of any The Conjuring movie: a middle seat in the centre aisle. The only consolation was that it wasn’t next to any Marilyn Manson look-alikes (like found in The Conjuring 2- ed: it's an inside joke, appaz).

They must be hard at work on The Conjuring 3.