Scary and chilling. I loved it!

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2013)

I am usually not one for horror movies. In fact, I am very selective when it comes to seeing or skipping horror movies. However, I do find James Wan to be a very good director. I still need to see Insidious, but the first Saw movie, which he directed, is the only good one of its franchise.
The film begins with two roommates being interviewed by Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) , paranormal researchers, regarding a possessed doll which they named Annabelle. This interview is shown on a film at a college seminar where the Warrens are guest speakers. The film then cuts to Roger Perron (Ron Livingston), his wife Carolyn (Lili Taylor), and their five daughters moving into a new home in the country part of Rhode Island. However, their dog Sadie refuses to enter, being suspicious of the house. Shortly after, the family notices strange things happening. Carolyn wakes up with random bruises on her body. The clocks stop at 3:07. The daughters find themselves being messed with while asleep. When the girls are scared out of their minds, Carolyn goes to the Warrens for help. They take on the job for the Perrons. While there, the Warrens look for all details of why the Perrons' house is possessed.
The highest praise for this film goes to director James Wan. His attention to details show here. He does a great job of sticking to the story and script. His direction of each actor from Wilson and Farmiga to Livingston and Taylor, to even the daughters works so well that he got great performances from his actor.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga knock their roles out of the park as Ed and Lorraine Warren. Wilson does great as a man who has been through a lot with past jobs regarding other paranormal research, but shows that he truly cares for the Perrons' who don't know where else to turned to. Farmiga is moving as Lorraine, who can see more into the lives of everyone else. She is also moving as a mother who cares for her daughter and can see the pain of Carolyn. Livingston does some fine work as the Perron patriarch, who shows gratitude for the Warrens and loves his family. Taylor is moving as a mother and chilling in the film's final act. The daughters each do a good job with their role.
There were a lot of great technical aesthetics to this film. I enjoyed the camera work by DP John R. Leonetti. I also enjoyed Leonetti's work with natural lights and with regular lights for each shot. The production design (more specifically the house), is very well done and Julie Berghoff's work here with attention to details of making this house be haunted and believable is excellence. Composer Joseph Bishara makes some truly chilling music that makes each scene for effective in terms of scary and jumpy. The editing by Kirk M. Morri is effective and well put together. The makeup artists do a wonderful job. The sound design is also excellent, not just for the music, but the use of natural sound as well as putting other sounds to make the creepiness of what makes things sound scary even more effective.