Filmology Rating: 3.13 out of 4

 

n 1977, paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren travel to London where they meet Peggy Hodgson, a single mother of four. She tells the Warrens that something very evil is in haunting home and is possessing one of the girls. As the Warrens try to help the girl, they soon become the next targets of the evil spirits.

The Conjuring is one of my favorite horror movies in recent years. I thought that not only was it scary, but it had excellent writing, characters, directing, and plot. Co-written and directed by James Wan (Saw films, Insidious, and Furious 7), we see a sequel that is very equal to the first if not better in some aspects.

Maybe my favorite thing about the Conjuring films, first and second, is that it has this vintage feel to it. It feels like a movie that was made in the 70’s or early 80’s. I can’t really describe why I like that so much but it really just adds a fresh feeling to it. It might be because a lot of horrors are so filled with cliché jump scares and poor talent and just careless directing. A few decades ago horror movies were made to be actually scary and not just have a loud sound or something jump that gives the audience jump scares. The Conjuring 1 and 2 are genuinely scary and tend to avoid modern day horror clichés. Because the Conjuring has such a good plot that is frightening along with the brilliant tension building by James Wan, these movies don't need jump scares to scare you…. It already is scary.

So once again we have a movie that is actually scary and both interesting and engaging at the same time. I was really interested in what was going to happen. The Warrens are fantastic yet again. I really care about them as a couple and care about their safety. In several scenes when these characters are in trouble, I was genuinely scared and locked up because I was so nervous for their safety. After one such scene finished, my brother and I had a huge sigh of relief and a chuckle because we were both feeling the same thing. James Wan has mastered this tension when it comes to the Conjuring Films.

A few more things that I liked was that it had some funny moments! I was so shocked when it happened but it was much needed for some comedic relief and even better, it didn’t feel out of place at all. People had little one liners that actually were really well done and funny. Again just goes to show the skill that the writer’s had to put in jokes in a horror movie and make it work really well. And lastly the family fit really well together. They seemed believable and a group that you could relate to.

Really the only thing that I dislike was that they repeatedly had only one person wake up to a very obvious loud noise and apparently nobody wakes up anybody. They used this a few times and it got old and slightly unbelievable. Other than that this movie was fantastic! One of the best horror movies I’ve seen in a long time.

Rating: See It 

-Nick