Demons and dolls

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2014)

When did the movies first discover how spooky dolls could be? As well as being one the scariest horror movies for a long while, "The Conjuring" also offers a pretty good entry in the spooky doll genre.
"The Conjuring" doesn't waste any time trying to scare you, it's eerie from the get go.
The movie starts by introducing two renowned demonologists, Lorraine and Ed Warren played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Famiga, as scrolling text introduces their toughest case, "Out of the thousands of cases throughout their controversial careers, there is one case so malevolent, they've kept it locked away until now".
Although the film claims to be based on fact – there is plenty of information about it online – the movie is still a great ride on the ghost train even if you don't believe a word of it.
The movie cuts between Ed and Lorraine and their daughter Judy, and the seven-member Perron family, with Lili Taylor as Carolyn Perron, who ends up getting belted around like a contestant on "Wipeout". The Perrons move into a large, old two-story house and start to experience strange happenings. In the best tradition of "Ghostbusters" they call in the experts.
For a while, the story moves back and forth, bringing the Warrens and the Perrons together. As the Warrens work to exorcise the Perrons of their demons, after each scare, Ed and Lorraine give lucid explanations about paranormal activity – the film is so creepy that you find yourself mentally clinging to them like a palm tree in a hurricane, but eventually, they too are swept up in the demonic activity. In the end, both families are left fighting for their sanity and their lives.
Over the decades, filmmakers have learnt a lot about how to build the tension in this kind of movie. As "The Conjuring" shows, they don't always need spectacular effects, just a darkened hallway, a flight of cellar steps or a creaking door is enough to give a sense of dread.
On the scale of scary movies, this ranks right up there with "The Exorcist" and "The Amityville Horror" and actually has touches of both films, with even a hint of Hitchcock's "The Birds".
If you enjoy being creeped-out by a really good scary movie then you will get your money's worth with "The Conjuring", even if you know you are being manipulated by some of filmdom's most clichéd techniques. If you think you have seen these too many times for them to be effective, believe me, they will still have you jumping out of your seat in this cleverly-made movie.