Well made, but no surprises

Rating: 7/10 (9 August 2013)

Roger and Carolyn Perron and their 5 daughters move into a house which turns out to have all sorts of haunting events going on. Professional demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren confirm this to be the case, and end up having to perform an exorcism.
Based on a story alleged to be true (about which I voice no opinion), my comments to you about this film depend on your familiarity with horror films, particularly haunted house, possession, and exorcism films. If you have never seen such a film then this is likely to scare your socks off. If you have - and if you are in the audience then this is likely to be the case - then you will enjoy it, because it is a slickly paced piece of entertainment with a lot of scare value generated by anticipation but also a reasonable amount of "payoff" material. But it won't have anything in it which you haven't seen many times before.
The casting is good - Vera Farmiga (Lorraine Warren) is always very watchable, and Lily Palmer as Mom Carolyn Perron is good, as are several of the girls, the atmosphere is effective, and it isn't overly dependent on loud noises.
If you like this sort of movie then The Conjuring (where does that name come from, by the way?) is a good one.