Delivers The Goods

Rating: 7/10 (20 August 2013)

Is it THAT scary? Well uh, no.
Is it scary? Well actually, yes.
The Conjuring is what it claims to be. A fun ghost-ride. It ticks all the haunted-house horror-show stories with a brief nod at exorcism films.
Good acting, exceptional horror direction and a real attempt to connect the audience to the characters (good script and decent actors for a change) make this well above the norm for the horror genre.
So is it anything groundbreaking? Definitely not. Is it a fun night out that delivers actual scares? Oh my yes. Probably the scariest part is the prologue about Annabel but that's OK. The film still managed to sustain an atmosphere of unease throughout and I was quite happy. Plus, a scary prologue goes a LONG way in a horror movie, as anyone who saw the original "Halloween" where the first 5 minutes are by far the scariest can tell you.
I think the word I am looking for here is "competent" but that's not often a given in the horror world.
p.s. As for the "based on a true story" stuff. Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever you say.