The Conjuring

Rating: 8/10 (21 July 2013)

It's possession galore for the Perron family in "The Conjuring". The film for the most part takes place in 1971 and that's we meet the Perrons, a nice all American type family with a couple and their five daughters. They move into a house which is basically possessed and is haunted. It's all okay at first until the family dog dies, and then some doors start opening on their own, and finally some of the teenage daughters begin to feel a demonic presence in the house at night trying to get at them. They call the Ed and Lorraine Warren for help, a couple who investigate paranormal activity. Eventually we discover some history of the people who lived in that house over the years, and the terrible things that went on in the house. Can the investigators save the Perron family from being possessed completely, or will it all end in tragedy?
'The Conjuring' is a chilling horror movie, and it uses many different things then what we are used to seeing in recent horror flicks. Mirrors and shadowy figures and creaking doors opening are used to create fright, instead of blood and guts and over the top jump scares. Great direction by James Wan, this film had a 'Dead Silence' feel to it (that was also directed by Wan). I liked the background story of the people who lived in the house before, although I wish it would've been explored more.
What I didn't like about this was the exorcism parts. I just felt like it was sort of ripping off of 'The Exorcist', and it fell a bit flat and was a little silly. Any demonic possession movie will get that comparison. The special effects and make up for it was well done though! Acting was good all around, in particular from Vera Farmiga and Lili Taylor. 'The Conjuring' is basically 'The Amityville Horror' meets 'The Exorcist', with a few more scares. Some of the scenes late at night with the kids being basically stalked by the ghosts were genuinely scary, I thought it was really well done. I'd check this out!
8/10