Sacrifices Plot for Jump Scares (But I Like It Anyway)

Rating: 7/10 (28 July 2013)

The Conjuring never strays from well-tread territory, and where that would almost automatically trigger a negative review from me, I have to say that I liked it anyway. The exposition was rushed to the point where I don't even know why they bothered. Wan devoted about 3 minutes to explaining why everything was happening, but that was also the worst part of the movie so I'm glad we didn't waste too much time on it. It was pretty standard anyway.
The scares were good. Wan has finally perfected the craft after a few mis-fires. Everyone in my theater looked sufficiently frightened. It was much scarier than both Insidious and Sinister (which were both pretty lame IMO). I'd say it's ten dollars worth of boo noises, so I am happy with my purchase.
I probably would have liked it more if I hadn't already seen The Haunting, The House on Haunted Hill, The Changeling, Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror, The Woman in Black, Ju-On, A Tale of Two Sisters, or read House of Leaves. Like I said, well-tread territory. The story is old, but it is a good story so I don't mind being told it again.
Spoiler Maybe: Villain tropes are a pet peeve of mine, so others might not find this so troubling, but witches and satanists are not evil and shouldn't automatically be the bad guy. The Christian religious message was really heavy-handed and gets pretty annoying for non-believers. I imagine it would be downright uncomfortable for actual witches and satanists. They go out of their way to get the Catholic prayers right, but blunder through alternative religions without even looking at the Wikipedia page. This might be annoying to just me, though.
Overall, it's nothing new, but I was scared in a fun-scared kind of way. It's worth the movie ticket.