The Conjuring

Rating: 4/10 (22 March 2014)

As a fan of horror it always excites me when a new kind of 'higher budget' horror movie is released. Sadly, 'The Conjuring' has let me down quite a bit, even if it was directed by James Wan, the same man who came up with movies like 'Saw' and 'Dead Silence'. In a lot of ways all the horror clichés became part of the scenario.
The first scenes were very promising: the introduction of the famous Annabel doll and the little chat Carolyn and Roger (very well played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) have with the ladies who were responsible for the possession of this doll were both intriguing and alluring But it did not take long for the director to ruin the whole concept of a haunted house. Seriously, when some kind of paranormal power begins to communicate with me and says she is a little girl whose purpose is to play games and receive love, my first reaction would not be giving her permission to enter the lifeless shell of a doll so she could wander about the house. As the story continues, there are a few well done jump scares, complete with visual effects, but I was not able to fully enjoy them, bothered by all these clichés I saw. For example, the moment the woman hears some strange noises coming from a basement hidden behind a wall, did she just think by herself: "Let's investigate this all by myself without any kind of help. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right ?" Clearly, the characters in this horror movie never heard of Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Even the smallest child knows something bad will happen upon entering a dark basement.
Furthermore, the main theme of the movie is the haunting of a house by ghosts who are trying to kill the entire family inhabiting it (as if there were not enough movies about this already). The ghosts conveniently are able to drag the family back to the house, even when they try to escape. Luckily for them, a pair of exorcists know just what to do in order to stop all the horror.
If you want to see an original and scary film, this one is absolutely not recommended. If, however, you find pleasure in a somewhat cliché horror movie that will at times keep you on the edge of your seat, especially at the end, then be my guest.