Ghost tale with power and panache!

Rating: 8/10 (1 October 2013)

I'm always very wary and skeptical when it comes to slow-brooding and atmospheric nowadays ghost movies. All too often the setting, scenery and atmosphere are meticulously perfect, but the plot is confusing, full of major holes or even just downright inexistent. Ti West's "The Innkeepers", for instance, is such an example of a recent ghost story that is full of suggestive horror tableaux and false scares, like slow moving cameras through the hallways and doors slowly closing by themselves, but eventually it leads absolutely nowhere and the overall film ends up being a disappointment. The last thing anyone could say about "The Conjuring" is that it exclusively features suggestive imagery and false scares! Quite the contrary, this is probably the most action-packed and gruesome ghost story ever made. But the thing that makes "The Conjuring" a truly great horror accomplishment is that it masterfully combines the gruesome stuff with a powerful plot AND a petrifying atmosphere! The set-up and rudimentary plot is traditional stuff, with a happy family – mum, dad and five daughters no less – moving into a large and isolated countryside mansion where, evidently, a number of horrible events took place in the past. This house doesn't just hold one single dark secret, oh no, it's pretty much a museum of horrors and a hotbed for sinister occurrences! One small piece of advice: if the dog refuses to cross the doorstep, don't even bother to unload the car. Paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren quickly have to come to the rescue, but even they haven't visited such a hopelessly ominous place in all their years of experience. It may sound like a giant cliché, but "The Conjuring" is one of the sole movies in its kind that makes you feel uncomfortable the entire time, like there are evil spirits sitting behind you in the theater and breathing down your neck! Like he already demonstrated in "Insidious" and the shamefully underrated (in my humble opinion, at least) "Dead Silence", director James Wan has a wonderful talent to select the utmost nightmarish scenery, like the creepy doll and the gloomy piano in the cellar. The scares are also professionally timed, highly efficient and accomplished with make-up effects disturbing enough to surprise even die-hard genre freaks. The acting performances are more than adequate, from the adult lead stars as well as from the five young girls. The climax is slightly unsatisfying, but in defense of the film, I also have to admit immediately that it's very difficult to come up with a finale that matches the build-up.