Potential for memorable horror achievement without the ghost busting duo ...

Rating: 4/10 (9 August 2013)

'The Conjuring' is not a bad film throughout, however it fails to stand shoulder to shoulder as it tries to do with similar, superior predecessors of the haunted house sub genre. Director James Wan and writers Chad and Carey Hayes have conjured us up a fright flick in the vein of such cult classics as 'The Legend of Hell House', 'The Amityville Horror', 'Poltertgeist' and others.
Had the script not attempted to so obdurately, obviously imitate the aforementioned much more groundbreaking examples of haunted house cinema, the objective horror fan might readily have judged the result on its own merits. Such is not the case however, due to its overall composition leaving no choice but to compare away 'The Conjuring' to much better similar films which preceded it's release.
The film is set in the early seventies which serves to lend it somehow a more gritty, darker tone overall almost as if the beginning of that decade - from where this reviewer also hails - was some bygone dark age where shadows licked hungrily at the mind, and the creak of a floor board in the middle of the night conjured night terrors of the dead fresh up from their open graves. The period setting sets up a powerfully dim feel to the movie a modern setting simply cannot achieve. Period dress, music and clothing also inspired nostalgia which will draw in many viewers who remember that era.
However, the period setting also brings to mind several of the similar haunted house films I've listed above also set around the same decade, and that definitely detracts from the potency of 'The Conjuring' as once again the viewer cannot avoid comparison - provided he or she has seen those other movies.
The film follows two separate groups of characters who lead very different lifestyles. The Perrons are a rather normal middle class couple working hard to support a large family when they move into a spacious turn of the century American Gothic farmhouse to start a new life in the Rhode Island countryside. Their story is very easy to identify with. Carolyn is a housewife and mother of five daughters, Roger is a long haul truck driver whose work keeps him on the road several days each week. Together the actors who portray them do so convincingly and the window the film provides us into their lives is comforting and enjoyable to watch them through.
The Warrens, who represent the other group followed by the script, Ed and Lorraine, are much more difficult to identify with and their profession in the context of the film requires some serious suspension of disbelief to avoid viewing as humorous, or worse - as a clumsy Hollywood creation. The Warrens are special paranormal investigators who at first seem to be in the business of debunking the hauntings they are hired to solve. We learn that Lorraine is "sensitive" to the supernatural, while Ed is the only non-clergyman outside the Church sanctioned to be titled demonologist. The introduction to their dynamic duo is borderline cheesy, and their "work" very quickly becomes cringe worthy for the serious horror fan.
As haunted house movies go, 'The Conjuring' weaves a capable visual and contextual story with the potential to frighten the audience more readily than any other recent, similar genre example. Ed Perron must leave his family to go out on the road just as the newly kindled darkness with the old new house sharpens its claws. We experience genuine building tension and terror with Carolyn and her daughters as their joy of settling into a new home unhinges into the realm of dread and animal fear.
Had 'The Conjuring' solely followed an account of the Perron family's terrifying experience in that big ancient house, this reviewer would have rated it a grateful eight stars out of ten. Regrettably, the writers chose instead to duct tape on a pair of ghost hunters, the extremely difficult to believe aspects of their ghost hunter lives including a room full of "haunted" items very similar to that found in 'Friday the 13th' the series, and a very unnecessary and contrived demonic possession and exorcism.
The behavior, backstories, dialog lines and general presence on screen of Ed and Lorraine serve to diminish the impact of the Perron's struggle and late in the plot even redirect our attention from that family's plight in order to serve up and wrap up the Warren's own needless side plot involving their child daughter. A glaring mistake the way I see it, and also a symptom of modern films trying to do far too much in the allotted running time let alone within the scope of a given plot.
'The Conjuring' is one of the more atmospheric horror films of the last decade in which bad dialog, unbelievable characterizations, unnecessary side plots and removal of viewer attention and suspense from the main story more than once mar what could have been an example of the haunted house horror sub genre capable of standing abreast of its more potent cinematic peers.
If you've been watching horror movies for several decades, you will quickly classify 'The Conjuring' as a composite of many other similar films you likely dust off and watch every so often. Likely as well you will agree that those "borrowed" concepts recycled here were much more satisfying when you viewed them in their original, respective places.