Same Creepy Atmosphere but Ruined by another Derivative Story

Rating: 5/10 (11 June 2016)

The Conjuring 2 is a mixed bag of a movie. It has some unquestionable scary scenes but it also has a ton of unnecessary jump scares where the volume goes from whisper quite to jet engine loud. I'm sure the average Joe or teenager will eat them up and proclaim the movie to be a horror classic, but to me it's not scares that makes a horror movie great. That being said, if you are someone that doesn't mind jump scares, you will most likely eat this movie up!
A lot of the good ideas and moments from the first film are present here in the sequel, the likable Warrens, a standout scare scene (the painting scene), plenty of raising tension, and an eerie score. The problem, however, is that it's all dragged out over the course of two hours and ten minutes. That leaves plenty of time for boredom to set in and room for those less engaging moments (or should I say numerous, cheap jump scare scenes). It seems as though the executives or producers of the movie wanted Wan to through in as many scares as possible, ignoring pacing and runtime. Which leads to many scenes being unnecessarily long and plenty of throw away jump scares.
Not only are some scare scenes tepid, but some are flat out cheesy. Anytime the girl is possessed and the evil, old man 'speaks' it's damn near laughable. Mostly because 'a man's voice coming out of a little girl' isn't anything new nor is it haunting.
When all's said and done, The Conjuring 2 has the same eerie atmosphere from the first film that made it enjoyable, but also the generic storyline that plagued the first film. Amplify that story with an unbearable two hour plus runtime and you get, in my opinion, a failed sequel (even if it does have some scary scenes).