Review: The Conjuring

The Conjuring made big waves on the horror scene when it got an R Rating despite having not bad language, no sex or nudity, little violence and none of the other good shit. It was just for how scary it was that the censors decided only adults could take it. Now when you have that kind of unexpected buzz you're going to have a lot to live up to and The Conjuring didn't mark itself out as the scariest film I've ever seen, however it was a very creepy and very atmospheric piece that at least had some thought and effort put into it.

Based on a true story from the 70s, the film focuses on Ed and Lorraine Warren, two paranormal investigators, most famous nowadays for the Amityville Haunting but this is a few years beforehand where they are known but now worldwide yet. The two of them are approached by Carolyn Perron, a mother whose family has just moved into a new house in Rhode Island and have been facing some terrifying and unexplainable events, Carolyn is aware of the scepticism but is desperate for anyone that can help.

Ed and Lorraine agree to investigate as a courtesy and for peace of mind but once at the house, they realise that something very violent and very angry is in the house and has infected the family. They agree to stay a little while and document some footage to show the church and hopefully be granted an exorcism, but the longer they stay with the Perrons, the more they realise that whatever is haunting the family, it has an awful plan for them.

Not too difficult a plot but it's a true story and needs to hold as close to reality as it can, at its best it's a good haunted house story and the backstory of the demonic presence, touching upon the Salem Witch trials and Satanism was a nice touch that tied into the ending quite well.

In terms of acting the characters weren't the deepest but everyone did a great job at portraying the different relationships and emotions, namely fear which is the biggest and I truly believed this kids were scared out of their fucking minds. There was a slight problem of too many kids (real life, I know I know) so getting to know them all was difficult, I remember Christine because she had one of the most terrifying scenes of the film when she sees something hiding in the shadows and the amount of fear etched onto her face was horrible, but in the best way. I also remember Andrea but that was because she was the girl from Detention and I'm not going to forget her in a hurry.

No wait, there was also little April, the youngest, her little mind was too innocent to be scared of the ghostly goings on (namely the spirit of Robbie she sees in a toy mirror) and until the danger came to her she held a nice opposite to the older, more knowledgeable adults.

Ron Livingston and Lilli Taylor played the heads of the Perron family Roger and Carolyn, Roger had the less shower part but his turn as the head of the household, trying to hold himself and his family together was great in its own right, his fear was subtle, held back so as to keep the family strong. His wife Carolyn had a much bigger role since it was her the spirit was after, she got the sharp end of the stick, a slow burn at first, her gradual descent into madness through fear for her life and the lives of her family was shown in agonising detail as the film went on, going from strange bruises to hearing noises in the background and seeing shapes where there shouldn't be before finally losing her mind and turning feral in the film's final moments, the maddening acting from Taylor was the film's ace in the hole and she went all in.

The main couple of the film was Vera Farmiga and Wan regular Patrick Wilson as the Warren's, a pair of paranormal investigators that were a decade too early to call themselves Ghostbusters. They are two sides of the same coin and have different roles to play in the investigation, Ed was a self-taught demonologist and the only non-church investigator recognized by the Vatican, Lorraine was a gifted clairvoyant who could see spirits easily but this left her more open towards possession herself and following their most recent incident, was still recovering from a demon attack. Both of them were great and create a well established couple between them, they were both in a strange line of work but looked after each other and you show the relationship and care between them. Like Carolyn, Lorraine got the bigger role because of her gift and she brought about some pretty damn scary moments because of it.

If you want to pin down why this film works as well as it does look no further than James Wan, I've seen nearly the whole of Wan's back-catalogue (not seen Insidious 2 yet) from bringing us the modern horror icon of Saw to properly terror based horror films that rely on smaller budgets and more psychological effects, The Conjuring isn't my favourite of his (it's going to take a good lot to knock Death Sentence down) but it is his best made. Starting from a purely aesthetic outlook, the film not only gets the 70s style down with its choice of clothing and just general look of the film, it's that retro sort of look, slightly flared, slightly out-there styling, but also in the feel and cinematography, this feels like one of the haunted house movies from the 70s, I wouldn't be surprised if it uses The Amityville Horror as a reference point, it's all in the camera work and how Wan uses lights and shadows to his advantage, never showing everything but not showing nothing either, he lets our imaginations fill on the rest.

That's the film's biggest achievement, the fact that it allows for an audience to fill in the gaps, to let our minds do the work for him, a major problem with horror nowadays is that they show too much and for a film like The Conjuring which relies heavily on the unseen and the darkness, not showing everything is vital. Partly it's out of the low budget (only $20 Million, which granted is nothing to be snuffed at but in film terms it's like a student loan) but mostly it's out of Wan's knowledge of how to squeeze the most out of what he can get, whether it's a slight movement in the mirror that you don't know exactly what it was but it still freaks you out or the use of the hand-held camera, shaking slightly but not to a vomit-inducing degree, letting the fear and the terror feel a little bit more real, if only for a moment.

I said above that the film isn't the scariest I've ever seen and I mean that in the sense that I didn't feel frightened, there are a few jumps scares but thankfully not that many and none of them feel especially jump, however they don't really work. Where the film shines is building atmosphere and letting the creepiness slowly roll in, it's a slow-building horror, allowing for the fear to come in slowly, it benefits both the audience because you're not throwing everything at them at once and it benefits the story since Carolyn's madness is one of the driving plots and seeing her slow descent in detail gives it a lot more credit. The film is at its best when it's building up to the jump scares, when the camera just lingers on something that little bit longer, when the dark is hiding something that little bit more than it should, be it an odd jerk of the camera or a slight sound somewhere in the darkness, the movie has a fair few chilling moments that, while not absolutely terrifying, do make for an unnerving experience.

The Conjuring was never going to live up to its hype, whether the film team liked it or not they got an R Rating for scares alone and that brings a whole lot of attention. While it's not the best horror film of the year it's a top 5 for sure and arguably James Wan's finest moments, the acting is strong, the story interesting and there's plenty to like about it, including a very cool exorcism scene that I just realised I forgot to talk about. Definitely one to check out for fans of old-school haunted house flicks as well as modern horror lovers looking to see it done right.

8/10