Genuinely scary.

Rating: 6/10 (3 August 2013)

I'm not a big follower of horror movies because I always perceive them as mere distractions. Squeeze a proper horror film tight and all you get is a murky story that thrives on gore and special effects. They're made with a sole aim to shock you, to creep you out enough so that you know that this experience has been worth the wait. But that's not the case with "The Conjuring". It is a more archaic version of an clichéd plot of a demonic spirit that spooks a family that has just moved into their new home. And spook it does, being so gleefully scary and wonderfully crafted that it's one of the better horror films I've seen in a while.
In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron (Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston) move into a new countryside house with their five daughters. From the first night, they notice strange things happening when they go to sleep. Doors open and shut of their own accord, their daughters complain of someone pulling their legs in the middle of the night. A rotten smell wafts through the place all day long. But when Carolyn notices bruise marks beginning to form on her limbs, she grows suspicious. Once, while investigating strange clap noises, her fears are confirmed. She seeks the help of two demonologists and paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who agree to perform an exorcism on the house after they catch the unusual happenings on tape. But when Lorraine figures out what the demon really wants, she finds that the task will be a lot tougher than she had initially guessed when her family is also targeted by it.
Director James Wan, who had gained a substantial amount of notoriety for his 2004 film "Saw", a whole new evaluation of the genre but complete detritus intellectually, certainly knows his thing. The tension mounts gradually, with just the creaking floorboards and moving objects giving you the chills in the first-half, and Wan slyly exploits the baffling episodes to magnificent effect. I've got to say, creaking doors have never creeped me out so much. These are old tricks, you see, with the abandoned farmhouse and dark history behind it, there's bound to be a creaking door somewhere. And when the demonic spirit restlessly stealths and haunts the Perrons, you are assured to have a tough time staying in your seats. The premise is simple, yes, but it's also supremely effective. Minus the loud sound effects and garishly-dressed ghosts, the film is one of those rare ones that alarms solely because of its tension and some smart filmmaking. My favorite sequence in the film, the one that spooked me the most, was a comparably mellow sequence in which Carolyn plays hide-and-clap with her youngest daughter. It's the first shocker of the film and a memorable one, smartly-directed and petrifying to the boot.
"The Conjuring" works rather well in the first-half but gets increasingly smudgy in the second. After the demon is finally revealed, the plot goes terribly awry. Then come the floppy investigations and supernatural observations, wherein Lorraine sees visions of an old witch who is now haunting the family. The scares keep coming though, but they seem to shabby to invest in. The exorcism scene in its climax is caricatural and the memories of the 1971 horror masterpiece "The Exorcist" make it look laughably awful in comparison. But Wan's too smart a filmmaker to let this blemish the film.
Of the performances, none of them are memorable but they aren't bad either. Wilson and Farmiga are largely convincing in their respective roles. Taylor manages to give a potent performance, which is a surprise considering she started out as an incongruous accessory but she maintained a dignified presence as the story progressed.
"The Conjuring" isn't a great horror film but it's satisfyingly scary. Based on a true story, it is a believable account of the terror a family witnessed but as a film, it doesn't work after a while and ends on a whimper. Still, it unnerved me enough to rob me of my sleep for a while. And I can't pay it a higher compliment than that.