The Conjuring has been touted as one of the scariest movies since The Exorcist or Poltergeist. The commercials have great taglines like, “This movie is the nightmare your nightmares have.” Not to mention, it has the creepiest trailer I’ve seen since the original Paranormal Activity. If you haven’t seen the trailer, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb-jRz7HWqs All this is a lot to live up to, and I have to say, The Conjuring delivers.
The movie is based on one of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s cases. The Warrens played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are paranormal investigators–he’s a demonologist endorsed by the Vatican and she’s a clairvoyant– best known for their involvement with the Amityville Horror. In this case they are investigating an old, rural farmhouse in Rhode Island owned by Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger Perron (Ron Livingston).
The Perrons and their five daughters moved from New Jersey to Rhode Island in November of 1971. Almost immediately odd things started happening, the family dog refused to enter the house, the clocks all stopped at 3:07 every night and the youngest daughter started playing with a new imaginary friend. By the time Carolyn convinced the Warrens to come out to the house, the whole family was sleeping in the living room, too scared to sleep in their own rooms. They also had doors in the house tied shut because it was the only way to keep them from banging all night.
Upon seeing what the family was going through the Warrens agreed to help, warning that things were liable to get worse before they got better. Ed and Lorraine researched the history of the house and the surrounding property. What they found was a series of murders and suicides stretching back hundreds of years. One suicide involved a witch, who cursed the property and anyone who tried to live in her house. It was the ghost of this witch that was terrorizing the Perrons. Here’s where I stop. Anyone who’s going to see this deserves to go in as spoiler free as possible. Besides, you already know whether this is a movie for you or not, yammering on about the plot isn’t going to change your mind.
There’s a few big things that set The Conjuring apart from your average horror movie. One, the way the tension is slowly ratcheted up throughout, creating a sense of dread that starts with the very first shot. Credit for this goes to director James Wan, who allows the story to creep up on the audience, without relying on too many jump scares. Then there’s the incredible cast lead by Lili Taylor and Vera Farmiga, who are just outstanding. Let’s face it, that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody. The real surprise though, are the girls who play the daughters. At no time do you doubt how truly terrified they are. Something else cool, is the way Wan chose to kind of “age” the film stock so it looks like you’re watching somebody’s old home movies. This also gives everything a documentary feel that’s unsettling.
As a horror fan, I subject myself to an endless parade of shitty movies, hoping to find a rare gem like The Conjuring. This film is an almost perfect storm of a great script, falling into the hands of the right director, who then somehow manages to surround himself with a stellar cast. So if you’re a fan of horror movies, run, do not walk, to see The Conjuring. Seriously, who knows how long it’ll be until something this good comes along again. In the meantime, you can find me here, reviewing that endless parade and waiting.
ANOTHER DAMN POP CULTURE BLOG!! 