Directed by:
James WanCinematography:
John R. LeonettiCast:
Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Shanley Caswell, Joey King, Hayley McFarland, Christy Johnson, Mackenzie Foy, John Brotherton (more)Plots(1)
In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron move their family into a dilapidated Rhode Island farm house and soon strange things start happening around it with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn contacts the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to examine the house. What the Warrens discover is a whole area steeped in a satanic haunting that is now targeting the Perron family wherever they go. (Roadshow Entertainment)
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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!
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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%
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I definitely have to commend Wan after the awful Insidious. Lesson learned this time; he doesn't try to render the digital finale on his cell phone alone, and more importantly, he's formally keeping pace with the times. I even snorted with delight at three shots – the lighting at the Warrens' first lecture, the intensity of which also determines the depth of focus of the shot, which informs the viewer of the setting of the scene by shifting the focus from the closeup (the lecture ticket in the visitor's hand) to the long shot (the packed auditorium with the Warrens on stage); the Perron family's move into their new house in a one-shot take, beginning as a crane establishing shot and then moving through the house, leading the camera through all sorts of obstacles and then a confusing camera sweep from under the bed to the door. Wan has done his homework, you can make a list of all the essential horror films of the 70s and 80s and tick them off as the film progresses. He does a great job of selling a thousand well-established routines to an audience only marginally watching horror. The problem, however, is if you’ve watched dozens of hours of this horror subgenre. For this reason, The Conjuring unfortunately doesn't have much more to offer me.
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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.
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“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.
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