The Conjuring - Review

About 20 or so years ago at the ripe age of 10 my mother took me to see a presentation by Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous supernatural investigative husband and wife team. They spent about an hour and a half showing us slides of ghost photos, possessed items and playing audio tapes of demons speaking through their possessed hosts. Hearing those voices and seeing the images of a purportedly possessed children's doll was enough to actually frighten that horror film obsessed 10 year old. So as The Conjuring unspooled in front of me on the screen it wasn't long before I was experiencing some major deja-vu.

The Conjuring concerns a family consisting of Carolyn, Roger and their 5 daughters. They purchase an old rundown home only to discover that it is inhabited by a malevolent force. As this force becomes more violent they seek help in the form of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Ed is a renowned demonologist and Lorraine a clairvoyant and they work to rid not only the home but the family members themselves of this entity before it literally tears their family apart.

The Conjuring is an amalgamation of several tropes and plot lines we have seen before. Wan calls on films like The Amityville Horror (also a Warren case), Poltergeist, The Entity, The Exorcist and even his own Insidious for inspiration. Actually, I think there may be a little bit of Evil Dead imagery in here as well. All of these sources could have been a major downfall for the film if it hadn't been well executed. However, rather than feel like a cut and paste money grab experience, all of these elements come together seamlessly into one giant melting pot of a film that works surprisingly well from start to finish.

First off, the film looks fantastic. The color palette is almost completely drained of any vibrance as if the life has literally been sucked out of it creating a sense of dread that permeates every scene even before things go horribly wrong.

Wan also manages to masterfully build the suspense in each scene, particularly throughout the second act, using a combination of ambient sound, a muted score and cinematography to pull the audience into the story actually inducing a sense of anticipation and fear about what might happen next. There is also a general lack of "false scares" here with every build up paying off and driving the story forward rather than faking us out.

This might be due to my previously mentioned history, but the most interesting part of this film for me are the Warrens. Even though the film is technically about a haunting this is their story. These were real people who believed in what they were doing and made a living doing it. They worked on some of the most famous hauntings in history and regardless of what you believe their story is fascinating. In fact, I would be interested to see a film focused primarily on their lives and their various cases. The endurance of their marriage through such trying events along with the combination of ridicule and embrace they must have received would be interesting to document.

In regards to this case, however, there are clearly indulgences which I guess you have to expect with any adaptation of a "true" story. Unfortunately it's a necessary evil many times for the sake of the story and the audience. There are a few scenes involving the possessed doll I mentioned earlier that seem to be there primarily just to have a creepy doll and an opening zinger. I don't blame them, dolls can be pretty creepy, but for this film, pushing two hours in length, they probably could have removed it. Also, the third act is a bit much. While the second act builds up very nicely to the third it still feels over the top and it's not so much about suspense anymore as it is about horror imagery. Once we understand all of the backstory and the mystery is gone it's more about ending in the most grandiose and predictable way possible. I was thoroughly entertained and engaged but it would have been interesting to see the third act executed in a more anti-climatic way.

The Conjuring is a unique release in a theatrical market packed with big budget summer films. It's a "small" horror film that spends two thirds of its running time focusing on suspense over action. While its hype may precede it for some, I hope most will go in just looking for a good and entertaining horror film. It's not the best horror film you will ever see but it's a really good one. It should please both genre fans and casual viewers alike. And while I can tell myself repeatedly that I am no longer that 10 year old believer, I still don't think I would want to be within 100 feet of this doll.

Score: 4/5