Who you gonna call?

Rating: 9/10 (30 June 2016)

In The Conjuring 2 a family of a single mother and four children, living in London, find themselves being haunted by an evil spirit. Because of their increasingly dire situation they decide to contact Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren who answer their aid call. So, James Wan! More like James Win, know what I'm saying? Because he directed this awesome movie? No? OK, sorry. In all seriousness I may have found my favorite horror movie with The Conjuring 2. That's not saying much, as I am not that educated in horror movies but this film showed me that in order to create horror there must be no shortage in creativity and practicality. I've heard people saying that crafting a horror movie must be easier than other genres but this movie proves the opposite. Director James Wan injects his film with horror through some of the most elaborate visual techniques I have witnessed in a movie from this genre. From the simple use of shadows to the use of decoys in the shot that only want to trick our focus, Wan plays with our senses in almost every sequence. You are always left examining every aspect of the environment where the characters are in order to guess where the next horrifying thing will jump from next; and at times it is so obvious that you are left squinting your eyes and cringing waiting for the jump scare to take the color out of your skin. From POV shots to elaborate tracking shots, the variety of filming techniques is also astonishing. Wan's excellent directing also tackles the sound category. Every knock and every squeak serves a purpose and enhances the atmosphere.
In the following I am going to do a very spoilery commentary about to sequences which raised all of my body hair and turned me into a chicken-skinned porcupine, but at the same time made me admire James Wan as a horror director. The first sequence I want to mention is the one where Ed Warren contacts the spirit of Bill Wilkins (Bob Adrian) through Janet (Madison Wolfe). Ed is facing the camera and his back is facing Janet, who is sitting on a couch. The camera very cleverly maintains focus on Ed and through the use of depth of field distorts the image of Janet. As Ed begins to interview the spirit and this entity starts to answer in a very crooked voice, Janet begins to shift very subtly into an old man. This isn't implemented as a jump scare but as a "Holy crap! Look look look!" moment. As you maintain your focus in Ed Warren and Patrick Wilsons great performance the oddity slowly and almost unnoticeably starts to manifest. What's incredible is that the scene lasts about 4 minutes. Wan's complete trust in Wilson's performance and in our attention as an audience is baffling. He has no need of hammering in the fear factor; he trusts that our attention and perception will do the job for him. The other sequence I will delve in switches subtlety for the most horrifying character that will haunt my dreams until I drown it with many sessions of watching colorful cartoons and sitcoms that will dry my tears and keep me from reluctantly waiting for that face to pop out of a window at night. Trust me it really is that scary. And if you've watched it you know what I am talking about. Yes, that nun (Bonnie Aarons) is the stuff of nightmares. The makeup and character design is one of the best I have seen in a horror film, probably on par with The Exorcist. It is much simpler but damn that crap brings the crap. But back to the sequence, man was it bone-chilling. Lorraine following the nun into that room and then the way in which the film plays with us through shadows and the shape of the nun's face, damn damn damn. I really wanted to look away as the nun's face just sat there in the dark, and I think I used all of my cringe faces in that single sequence alone. That is true mastery in film design. The film also included some amazing musical choices. All of those Christmas carols that played as the nun's background music were chilly but also pretty epic. But music wasn't always used to enhance the chills but also to bring some heart into the film. "Can't help falling in love" was used to gather our characters in moments of tranquility which made the pace much more tolerable.
The characters were also quite tolerable for a horror movie. They obviously included the kid who wandered out into the darkness alone in spite of all the spookiness that had happened and made us question why he didn't have at least 7 people accompanying him with all the lights on. But all of the characters in general where entertaining to watch and the family and the Warrens had enough character development for us to care about their survival. The awesome performances, especially from Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga and Madison Wolfe also helped the movie become very digestible.
Although I truly admire this film I do have a few negatives to point out. Firstly, there is a tall and silly monster called the Crooked Man that makes sudden appearances and it just feels very out of place given his very over the top and colorful design.
All things considered, The Conjuring 2 is a true masterwork in horror. It is very uncommon for a sequel to be as good as the original, but in my case this movie surpassed the first one because of some extremely clever filming and storytelling techniques. I am thrilled to experience all of James Wan's upcoming projects and I am confident that he has the ability inflict some very intelligent thrills into us audience members. I am rating The Conjuring 2 with a 9 out of 10.