Effective and good looking, but nothing new

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2019)

The characters are likeable and the movie establishes itself pretty quickly, with some very effective scares and spooks. For anyone who like the typical 'family moves into haunted house' type movie, The Conjuring will be an enjoyable watch.
But many movies like it have been made and The Conjuring doesn't add that much we haven't seen before. The one aspect I did like is how the psychics that get involved really get involved and the stakes are raised considerably during the movie.
But like others have said, it's set in the 70's to make it work the way it does and this is mainly because horror movie writers and directors will need to get creative to make horror for the current age. Setting it in the 70's allows for all the familiar tropes and makes for a nostalgic horror environment. Asian movies like Ring show that there is room for something new and modern, so I don't agree that setting it in the 80's or 70's is a requirement for the genre.
A niggle I had with The Conjuring is that the tone shifts quite a lot. After some considerable buildup, the movie loses a lot of steam and even though it does build up after that, it's a lot slower and I felt it never quite achieved the atmosphere it has about a third in.