Forced and uneven, The Conjuring was far more effective.

Rating: 6/10 (12 September 2013)

I saw this at an advanced screening in Toronto. I'm glad I saved my admission.
I'll keep it short.

It is less effective an both of its predecessors. Most of the scares are loud jump scares rather than atmospheric disruptions. The entire movie did not have the dread that was felt throughout The Conjuring.

The filming was typical Wan, and the music was by the same composer as Insidious and features the same eerie string themes that worked well to keep you uncomfortable.

The plot twists were forced and had several blatant loop holes.

There are several unintentionally funny scenes in the latter half of the film.

All in all:

Did I get scared? Yes, about 3 times. All jump scares and made everyone in the theater scream.

Did it last or will it last? No. Unless you haven't seen most of the genre. Again, I emphasize, it is not very effective as a horror piece from Wan. I expected this as he pushed out two films as opposed to his usual one. And honestly, I'm impressed at how he handled the plot because I had no idea how a full-length feature film could be developed from the last episode.

Lastly...

It makes a hint at another sequel at the end. It was very disappointing and I hope Wan isn't doing this out of studio pressure because he was just starting to mature as a strong gore-independent horror master, as a horror-lover it would be heartbreaking to see him regress.