The Conjuring

“Look how I can get you with something you’ve seen a hundred times before!” the talented James Wan said to himself. Brilliant filmmaking, especially the long introductory shots. The 1970s atmosphere, which best suits haunted houses, is well depicted. The Conjuring has quality actors and great sound, making it a grade-A horror movie that Warner Bros. can be proud of. But the ending could have offered more. The first [Rec] set a real high bar for final escalation. (16/09/2013)

James Wan is a god. And if filmmakers can’t be gods, then he’s at least a demigod or something like Hercules. Because while I’m not sure where he even came from, I must say that if he sticks to the horror genre, he might become one of the best contemporary horror movie directors. I haven’t ever seen such a great and at the same time horrible – in the good sense – movie. At first glance, The Conjuring seems like a classic supernatural movie. The story has an old house, ghosts, poltergeists, a swamp, an old tree that’s moldering away and an exorcism – so nothing out of the ordinary. But this movie can be surprising. It can surprise you with its atmosphere before and after the movie itself. Before I watched the movie, I only knew that it’s based on real-life events and that the people in trailers were the ones who suffered through those traumas. I also knew that it’s all based on the most truthful truths that you could ever get in a movie and that we could ever manage to swallow down. But after I watched it, I learned about the most famous ghost hunter in the US and I started hunting down more and more information that assured me that this movie isn’t any ordinary movie. Because James Wan shot the absolutely perfect horror. I haven’t seen a horror this good in a long time. And I also haven’t seen a character that the actress could embody this perfectly. Vera Farmiga is absolutely amazing in this! This is exactly the kind of movies that the viewer needs. A healthy dose of the supernatural is always nice. It assures us that there are things in this world that simply can’t be explained. (17/11/2013)

Another thorough lesson in exorcism and communication with ugly ghosts, but this time creatively shot, devilishly well acted and even genuinely scary in places. Wan is not that original in the end, and especially the first half is more or less just a suspenseful patchwork of tried-and-tested clichés saturated with references to Child's Play, Hitchcock's The Birds, and hundreds of films with creaking doors, a possessed bedside clock, and an imaginary friend. Where the director triumphs again, however, is, as in Insidious, in the chilling execution of the scenes with the ghosts – no cheap jump scares, but patiently spun tension that tingles on the viewer's nerves, which Wan clearly revels in and wrings new blood even from disgustingly stale moments like the excellent bed scene. The glowing reviews may have driven my expectations too high, but I have to admit that Wan has a firm grasp on his craft and is perhaps the only one who can consistently make entertaining and successful horror films at the moment. Let’s hope he can continue :-) 80% (10/08/2013)

I-I-I w-w-was sh-sh-shaking with f-f-fear; not. Tension without fear with ineffective fright moments. Which wouldn’t matter if the movie weren’t all about frights and fear. Although, in the first half, Wan builds up and further tightens the tension in textbook style (basing this all on genre classics), nothing comes of it. Although, perhaps... An over-combined finale which tries to cover so much that it covers nothing fully. P.S.: Squealing Valena was priceless! (01/08/2013)

For the time being, unenthusiastic satisfaction, Wan’s reputation and the unusual positive responses may have set the expectations too high. The Conjuring is a very good old-school horror movie that takes inspiration from all sorts of places. With twisted elements and clichés Wan mixes a very tasty atmospheric cocktail. I don’t mind the lack of originality in horror, quite the contrary in fact, I’m glad that there are competent filmmakers who aren’t afraid of making polished classical genre movies (even if schematically). What bothers me a little is when those clichés are not used in an inventive way. The Conjuring is a safe bet. Does it work? Yeah, it sure does. Insidious, Wan’s previous film, worked a bit better (at least for me), because the initial unoriginal premise was spiced up with something (who could have guessed that there would be something like “astral travel”? Nobody. Who can guess that The Conjuring will result in an exorcism? pretty much everyone half an hour in, at most), and it also had smarter and more original jump-scares (remember the guy walking by the window?). In Insidious that resulted in terror that was intensive and crawled under your skin, whereas here, for most of the time, we move within the boundaries of pleasant fear. And then there is that weird subplot with the Annabelle doll, which I think was unused as well as incomplete. But although I can’t avoid such criticism, I think The Conjuring is very well made and a must-see, and I’m sure it will be among my top horror movies of the year. In any case, I’m looking forward to what it will do in a future private viewing, with my face close to the screen and the sound through the headphones. Maybe after that it could get the fifth star. (29/07/2013)