Review: The Conjuring

Review: The Conjuring

The horror genre has seen a spike of interest in recent years, most likely kick started by the surprise hit Paranormal Activity. Since then, the likes of modern horrors such as Mama, Insidious and Sinister have not only done well at the box office, but have impressed the vast majority of critics too.

So amongst all of 2013's summer blockbusters comes The Conjuring, a ghost story that channels those classics like The Amityville Horror both with its narrative and the techniques put into play. Yet to make a good horror movie, there needs to be terror - so the most important question is, how scary is it?

Sadly, The Conjuring is not particularly scary at all. The jump scares are timed expertly of course, and the creepy atmosphere is consistently cranked up to eleven, but the problem is that most of the scares never particularly pay off. The horror audience is far too savvy these days, and we've definitely seen it all before: a door suddenly slamming of its own accord, a child seeing something that the adults can't, a creepy doll staring us out...James Wan's latest horror is just far too "been there, done that" to truly be deserving of the hype, although an effectively creepy clapping game of hide and seek manages to send shivers up the spine.

Still, that doesn't make The Conjuring a bad movie in itself and where the predictable scares can occasionally let it down, the script (which is, of course, based on a true story) succeeds in providing some very enjoyable entertainment. For a change, the plot focuses less on the family and more on the experienced couple attempting to appease the spirits in their home. 

Ed and Lorraine Warren are renowned paranormal investigators called to investigate a dark presence terrorizing the Perrons, a large family who have just moved into their new secluded dream home. When the spirit latches itself on to the mother of the family, the Warrens are caught up in the most horrifying and traumatizing case of their lives.

The strong casting more or less ensures The Conjuring's success, with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga amicably leading the proceedings as the Warrens. In fact, all of the performances are played absolutely straight and credit must be given to the child actors in the Perron family - their terror is truly believable, and where other horrors have had some hammy side acting, The Conjuring makes the best of each of its stars, right down to the doll-bothered girls in a largely unconnected prologue.

And that's just it - a lot of the scares in the plot are completely unconnected. A creepy doll from one of the Warrens' different cases makes a few appearances here and there, but it serves nothing to the story. It's certainly creepy, as most dolls are in horrors, but veering off to an unrelated case at particularly nonsensical moments only serves to throw the plot off course with no pay-off from the beginning right up until the over the top finale that surely stretches the truth beyond breaking point.

Summary

Less a horror and more a supernatural thriller, The Conjuring is creepy at best and, speaking as someone who often sleeps with the light on after a ghost story, you won't lose a wink after watching. Wan's direction is strong, providing the jumps when it matters, but this is best viewed in a cinema full of people where the atmosphere is tense enough to contribute to the fear factor. When all is said and done though, this summer's most anticipated fright-fest is more or less just a more sympathetic hybrid of hundreds of its predecessors - less a bump in the night than a small nudge or two.

7/10 - Good

See it if you liked: The Amityville Horror (1979), Insidious (2011), Sinister (2012)