Look what you made me do...

Rating: 8/10 (5 September 2013)

James Wan, director of such films as Insidious, Saw, Dead Silence and the upcoming Insidious Chapter 2, has made quite a name for himself after reaching critical success in his frightful horror flicks, which have been praised by both critics and movie-goers alike. Based on a true (and most terrifying) case of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) , The Conjuring display's Wan's talent in the genre, as well as scarring us with a fear of what lies within our wardrobes.
The main thing to grasp with The Conjuring is that if you're a horror fan, you have seen most of this before. You've seen door's move on their own, you've heard eerie creeping noises in the same old, run down house, and you've most likely seen some form of exorcism one way or the other from countless movies out there (although you've probably cleared the bad memories from tiresome exorcism film The Devil Inside). Despite the horror traits/clichés that do appear more than every so often in The Conjuring, the film remains to be highly shocking and succeeds in scaring it's audience.
Opening with an unnerving scene revolving around an old Warren case featuring a haunting china doll, the story soon moves onto Rodger and Carolyn Perron (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) and their four daughters, Andrea, Nancy, Christine and Cindy (Hayley McFarland, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy and Kyla Deaver) who move into their new but slightly run down house in the countryside. It doesn't take long until the boarded up basement is discovered and the paranormal stuff begins to occur, and at this point you begin to wonder if this film is offering nothing more than a rehash of the most well known horror traits. Well, you're right, only The Conjuring works these traits so well it makes them feel like whole new scares, and they never intend on slowing down. It builds and builds from one scare to the next as well as making time to develop the characters so that we care about them (the biggest example being the romance and passion in the paranormal with Ed and Lorraine), which is something horror films seem to be lacking lately. The Conjuring does what it sets out to do and raises the bar to all future upcoming horror movies, and, with previously mentioned Insidious Chapter 2 on the way, one can only imagine what it is that James Wan has in store next.
My Verdict: A suspenseful, highly well crafted horror story based on the most kept hidden paranormal case file keeps up the scares and proves to be a real treat for anyone looking for a good fright.