The Conjuring - Movie Review

"Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse."

The first of what could be a momentous year for Australian born director James Wan who attempts to tackle the summer movie season with The Conjuring before bringing Insidious: Part 2 to the screens in October. I'll start things off by saying that I'm a fan of James Wan's previous work. I love the original Saw, enjoyed Death Sentence but didn't care for Dead Silence. I'm also yet to see Insidious. All of this and a somewhat seemingly scary and well put together trailer with some haunting imagery gave me fairly high expectations for The Conjuring.

Centered around a families torturous events that are deemed 'based on a true story', I thought the film excelled on this aspect. It seemed like despite creating many things to make for an entertaining popcorn flick, plenty of it was true to life and taken straight from the cases that were explored all of those years back. Both the writers and director did a great job of transitioning this on screen with Wan's know how approach making for some stomach knottingly tense sequences and an intricate, layered story and script to help back this up. James Wan does a formidable job of driving home every set piece to its maximum potential and bringing the over exaggerated saying of having audience's 'on the edge of their seat' true for once. I felt myself completely compelled in the film straight from the get go and a large chunk of this does go down to how Wan tackles the material he's been given; mixed with his expertise in this particular genre of filmmaking. His skill set comes into full force as he makes plenty of rehashed ideas and scares become fresh and innovative once again. Plenty of times did I feel myself thinking "I'm sure I've seen something like this before?" yet when the scene or moment would end, I would completely change my opinion on the matter. The film oozes with a man that is indefinitely passionate about the line of work that he is operating in.

Drawn out moments of suspense and sheer terror is what you can expect The Conjuring to bring to the table for the horror genre. Undoubtedly one of the main faults with modern horror films are that they are filled with dull, cheap and more than definitely predictable 'jump scares'. While I'm not saying The Conjuring was home free from including these, I can safely say it would be difficult to pick out more than a few. For what felt like a fleshed out film while never truly stopping to give the audience any track of time or what was going on outside of the movie, this is a solid achievement. Again credit is due to the writer's for this who produced a script with some overly confident scenes and scares that were truly horrifying. These are the exact things that I was hoping I would take away from this film when I saw the first trailer for it. I wanted to be scared while watching it, but the horror films that are considered the classics are the ones that stay with you after you've left the cinema; for plenty of time to come. I believe this is well the case with The Conjuring as I attended a Saturday night screening of the film and it has been playing on my mind ever since it finished. The haunting images that this film included was masterful, done in such a beautifully crafted way while keeping the audience oblivious to what was going to happen next in a story that many of them are already aware of. Only a handful of horror filmmakers possess such a talent and it's one of the reasons why I believe Wan is aboard the success train in the industry from here on out. He has shown signs of what he can do over the years but I don't think we have been truly given everything he can do up until now.

In more detail, the scares of this film were much more moments of pure adrenaline boosted shock and tense filled scenes rather than things popping out and looking to cheaply make viewers jump, gaining an nice, easy, simple reaction from them. As I mentioned before, I'm overly glad that this was not what The Conjuring was going for and it headed in all of the right directions on this level that I was hoping it would. It reminded me of films like The Others, The Exorcist and Poltergeist - films that are memorable, remaining in people's thoughts and lives for years down the line which is exactly what I think The Conjuring could well achieve. I don't like trying to compare this to other horror films because it is different in so many ways and deserves to stand on its own two feet. I can't help but see the comparisons and similarities between the afore mentioned and Wan's latest picture as they tick all of the right boxes on what I at least look for in horror films. I think the real key here is to identify the film as creepy and tense rather than scary, that's my feelings on it. This is a far better response that a film such as The Conjuring can give off to audience's because these are the sort of things that help latch memories and images into people's heads and maintain that long lasting stance with them.

Something else that needs to be mentioned in regards to both how the film was approached in terms of how it wanted to scare audiences and the look/feel of the film was it screamed a 70's/80's horror film vibe. Set in this era from when the Warrens were actively investigating paranormal cases, The Conjuring does an impressive job of fully immersing the audience into this world and especially the home being looked into. As soon as we meet up with the family moving into the home, we get glimpses of just about every nook and cranny in the entire home by the end and it honestly makes you feel like you've been experiencing these horrific occurrences with this family the entire time. The wardrobe and make up departments can take a well earned bow as they did a fine job on bringing that realistic look in what the characters were wearing and looked like which was vital to selling this treacherous tale to audiences worldwide. Right down from the settings used, right down to the grain of the film was extremely well done and also carefully chosen to accurately depict the events that took place from which the film is based off of. Where I'd say it more than pushes the classic horror vibe for myself is the approach and direction it takes. A combination of Wan's illustrious eye for gripping and wowing audiences with a balance of solid writing with character's that felt natural and were more than likable, making the story and events even more compelling were the tell tale signs of this. So many horror films are too centered around aspects that have no purpose such as the later 'Saw' films with their over focusing on the much coveted traps and games that the victims would have to play. Here, James Wan and the Hayes brothers know exactly what is important to making this an over effective horror film and all of the right chords are struck in relation to it having a long lasting effect. That's another area in which modern horrors fail to deliver, as time and time again they remain unforgettable instantly after watching them. An example for myself of this from 2013 is Mama. It had all of the makings for a great horror film but took too many wrong turns and decisions that in the end, I didn't care what was going on and haven't really thought about the film since.

Arguably my greatest praise for the film lies with its pacing. I was shocked at the momentum it carried right from the opening shot till the very end. I'm not sure what others felt about this but at least for me, not a moment of the film let up. I was literally invested and hooked from beginning to end. There wasn't a dull moment whether it was scenes that just had the Warrens discussing something between one another or the events themselves taking place; there always felt like there was something huge happening. That even in the smaller scenes, where a conversation would be taking place, it was building up to something much more and that they were one small piece of the larger scale jigsaw that was this family's terrifying experience. Maybe it was due to my interest in both this particular case that the Warrens investigated and their experiences in general; the huge debate on whether they are legitimate or not that spurred my investment into the film and made the 1 hour 54 minute running time fly by but I more than feel I'm not the only one flying this particular flag.

A couple of finer details that are worth pointing out includes how well they tied in a few of the cases that this couple of paranormal investigators have taken on over their years of work. The Hayes brothers incorporated vast amounts of information over the entirety of the movie to the central storyline while branching off from this every once in a while to give us couple more insights into other cases that had been dipped into. It helped keep what was going on seem refreshing and made returning to the Perron family exciting once again. A little side note that I feel necessary to mention was just how creepy the film adapted "Annabelle" doll was. When it comes to dolls, let's say I'm not the biggest fan of them but this was just on another level. Despite barring no resemblance whatsoever to the real life raggedy Ann doll, James Wan sure knows how to create one creepy looking doll.

Where to start with the array of talent on show in yes, a horror film! Never did I think I'd see the day that a horror film in 2013 would bring some heavy hitters to the table and blow me away with the performances they delivered. Not to say that there hasn't been good performances in horror films to date, I'm merely talking about in recent years. It's become some what of a tradition for cheesy horror flicks to just about nail terrible acting from the whole cast but in this there is something special to behold. Vera Farmiga tops the list for me, not only was she frighteningly convincing, but she brought just about every credential that was needed for her part. The amount of emotions and feelings her character was going through and had to produce left her with an enormous task on her hands and boy did she deliver. Then you have another admirable mention in other leading lady Lilli Taylor. An sympathetic, deeply explored character that Taylor fit the casting for perfectly. Then you have other names such as Patrick Wilson and Ron Livingston bringing solid performances to the screen. Honestly, I would say for the most part the whole cast delivered all round fine performances which was refreshing to say the least. My only gripe would be was one particular scene with one of the child actors, maybe for people who have seen the film you know which scene I mean but it was cringe worthy in my opinion.

(STAY AWAY FROM THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU'VE YET TO SEE THE FILM)

I will finish off by expressing the only problem that I can think that is worth discussing about The Conjuring. The over obvious happy ending was a given by the anti climatic finale was a completely letdown. I expected much more from a film that was hitting home on every level up until then which made the disappointment feel even more weighted. Let's just say that this was an area that left me quite annoyed that a more satisfying ending wasn't given to us. I'm all fine with everything being wrapped up nice and neatly but it all just seemed to happen in a flash. One minute the mother of these five children was threatening to murder her youngest children meaning an exorcism was performed on her then the next minute it's all smiles and even jokes were being thrown around?! I couldn't quite wrap my head around that sudden change of tone and heart but I didn't dwell on it too much, certainly not letting it hinder my enjoyment of the film too drastically.

Overall, The Conjuring was an extremely satisfying and refreshing horror film that was everything I was expecting/hoping it would be and more. It was a perfect homage to the classic horror films that I didn't have the satisfaction of growing up on but have seen in my more recent years. It had some stunning visuals and scenes/images that will remain with me for a very long time. A brutally tense and stomach churningly roller coaster ride of a film that has steered it's way in as my second favourite of the year so far. Deservedly so.