There should have only been The Conjuring

Rating: 4/10 (17 August 2016)

First I have to say I had difficulty trying to figure out why the first one was so much better but I think I have some theories. I feel the family in the first film was more likable probably for reasons that seem wrong. The family in the first film was more traditional. They were a two parent household with a dog and probably easier for me to relate to as an American because they were American. The family in the second one is British and run by a single mother who at the start doesn't seem to be the best mother but then again she had her moments; I.E buying biscuits for her son instead of cigarettes.
The first one had more unpredictable scares and more genuine scares. In this one it seemed as though there were times when James Wan was like "oh yeah we gotta throw in a scare". The firetruck rolling into the tent and then back out was so predictable it was borderline boring. Also in the first one you found out how much evil had happened on the family's land whereas in this one it just seemed as though the little girl was possessed by an old man for most of the movie and at times it got old. When the dog ringing the bell stood up and became the man from their toy I practically laughed at the stupidity of it. It just seemed random and unnecessary. Of course with these stories it's always hard to tell what's for the movie and what actually happened seeing as how they're "true stories". I would bet the majority of what you see in these films is rubbish as the Brits say.
Also the house in this film is so dark and so dilapidated it looks like it's condemned. Lest we forget all the scariest moments were seen on the preview thus making them not effectively scary in the film.
Though what I did like about the film was the tribute to Ed and Lorraine Warren who I think were very brave, good people who truly did want to help people. They seemed like very down to earth people despite their occupation and also seemed to be very in love and made for each other which was beautiful to watch. I also liked that they touched on the Amityville investigation which is probably the most popular investigation they ever did. However I think this film like most sequels was not necessary and tried too hard to top the original but in my opinion fell short and I even found myself dozing off here and there.
I think Lights out will be the scariest film of the year so in comparison this was just a horror film that falls on the pile of mediocre films such as The Boy and The Forrest.