Not original or deep but highly effective and entertaining as a horror

Rating: 8/10 (29 April 2015)

Horror movies never make me jump. It's extremely rare. I'm usually not even tense. But The Conjuring kept me pretty tense for most of its duration. I was almost frustrated by how it was scaring me in a subtle, simple way I had no control over. I didn't jump but there were many parts that sent involuntary chills down my spine. Whenever the movie suggests an ominous presence or that something sinister is about to happen, you cannot help but buy into it and start imagining and anticipating things. James Wan is very successful at manipulating his audience with all the horror movie tricks that there are. In this way, The Conjuring works really well. I'm usually very underwhelmed by the directing and acting in horror movies but this is a nice exception.
The Conjuring manages to avoid annoying us for the most part. The characters aren't complete idiots. However, they still manage to leave out important details when talking with each-other. And they are conveniently separated or put into vulnerable positions a lot of times. But the aim is to scare and it works. You have to sometimes accept that the lights aren't going to work and that people might be dumb enough to play blindfold games in a haunted house. And of course they can't just move out because, well... because money. Anyway, the plot keeps moving and it's engaging all the way through. Bits of information are revealed in a very effective way that build the suspense and dread. The climax is quite dramatic and satisfying. Fairly intense, but not retarded.
There are many similarities to Paranormal Activity. That film possibly had less plot-holes and maintained more mystery. It also didn't claim to be based on a true story. But The Conjuring has much more character- depth and humour. We really care about the family and the investigators. There are probably lots of similarities to The Exorcist as well, but I found that film to be highly over-rated. At least The Conjuring is far less boring. And much scarier. It taps more into universal fears whereas The Exorcist seems to benefit from some religious beliefs which I don't carry.
I was a bit annoyed when I looked into the story behind this movie. Why base it so loosely on a true story? There are way too many liberties taken. I invested a certain amount of trust in the story, that most of it actually happened. There appears to be practically no evidence of much of any of it having taken place. Most of the history seems to be completely false. Because so many stupid, inconsistent details were thrown together, they should have made this a pure work of fiction. Then you could laugh afterwards about how creative and scary and ridiculous it was.
The Conjuring generally avoids cheap scares and focuses on being creepy and having original moments (in style, not in story). James Wan knows what we're expecting and where we're looking and uses this to his advantage. He makes us stare into a rotating mirror, helplessly searching for the slightest hint of an image so we can empty our bowels the instant we see it. He makes us stare into the darkness, waiting for some malevolent being or force to make itself known. The house and surrounding environment are both shot really well. They look really cool.
Anyway, this is a really good horror movie, but it feels a bit dishonest. I mean, they record video in the movie but is there any footage of what they got that the public can see? Are we meant to believe ghosts exist and hauntings actually happen but somehow there's absolutely no solid evidence of them at all? Clearly I don't. But I guess the Warrens were convinced and we should at least respect their sincerity.