Finally, a genuinely creepy horror movie!

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2014)

*Watch the movie first - come back and read reviews later*
Appropriately I watched The Conjuring late at night after the wife went to bed with the requisite creaking sounds of our old house settling to prime me up and create additional atmosphere.
I thought I'd seen enough supernatural/horror movies to be (comfortably?)jaded by the usual methods used to scare the audience. But The Conjuring proves that these methods still work if the director's execution is up to the task.
At first I thought I was watching a film from the 1980's (sort of OMEN production style) as I hadn't researched the film at all. This misconception led me to believe I'd coast through some predictable shocks and jump scares. I was not prepared for the genuinely goose- bump raising, nervous-look-over-my-shoulder episodes or epic flinches that were skilfully delivered.
There's a classic 'what's under the bed - better check it out' character action that I tensed up for that, according to my heart- rate, still works.
I usually like my horror a bit over the top gore, high action, darkly comedic, or with a sexy female protagonist so I was forced to sit back and wonder why I had such a high opinion of The Conjuring which relied on none of these layers. Just good actors, tight story, excellent direction and uncompromising production values. Wow!
One negative was the "based on a true story" premise. It worked well until demonic images and sounds were being recorded all over the place. This inconsistency overcame my ability to suspend disbelief and stuffed up that avenue for me. If they stuck to the premise that demons can't be caught on film, even though the characters could see them, this would have been more believable.
In summary - I haven't been that uncomfortable or scared while watching a movie in years. Allow yourself to feel the fear. Watch it alone (or with someone you can make fun of later), watch it in the dark, be angry when you slosh a drink over your lap during the jump scares.