Don't believe the 'truth'!

Rating: 3/10 (3 November 2015)

The Conjuring is a film I've been interested in seeing for a while and the vast majority of reviews were claiming that it's one of the scariest films of the last 20 years. A story about paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren could be excellent. Well all I can say is don't believe the hype. This is easily one of the most overrated horror films in a long time, and why is that? Because it simply repeats the same formula and scares that have been hammered to death in other recent films of this kind or done much better back in the 70's/80's. The terrifying images and sense dread people were talking about are completely absent and I must have been watching a different film to them. All I saw were creaking floorboards, bad Exorcist make-up and the ultimate annoyance of the jump scare.
The problem with many recent horror films is that they simply can't build up suspense or terror properly and therefore rely on shock value or jump scares, and neither of those things are that scary when you think about them. The 'scares' here are so predictable that I was guessing them with ease. The camera lingers on something in the dark, something goes BANG! very loudly and then it cuts away. It does this over and over again, how on Earth is that scary? The story starts off interestingly enough, if a little slow, whilst never straying too far from the haunted house formula, but the final third descends into chaos and nonsense.The climax itself clearly rips off The Exorcist and Poltergeist. The reveal of reason for the haunting was a massive let down as well.
I can't find many faults in the cinematography as the film looked fantastic for the most part and letting it in 1971 was a very nice touch. The acting was fine too. Patrick Wilson is always solid and Vera Farmiga was good while they made a believable couple. The family were decent and the young girls were all believable too, though Lili Taylor's appearance should have rung alarm bells seeing as she also starred in that horrid remake of The Haunting. The music was okay, but it felt like it was trying to scary you with dissonance rather than add to the mood.
The reviews saying this is scary beyond belief are nonsense and those people seriously need to watch more horror films of yesteryear. Tip to the film-makers, jump scares are not scary whatsoever when they are overused like they are here. The Conjuring is a let-down in every sense of the word.