Ain't nothing holy 'bout it - terrifying

Rating: 9/10 (21 July 2013)

The Conjuring is a blood curdling treat, if you're into movies that spook the bejeezus out of you. Fast-moving, tense, and dark, this is not one of those laughable underwritten suspense movies with more special effects than actual plot. It's the kind of movie that slowly builds for a half hour or so before figuratively unleashing itself upon its audience.
In the same vein as 1979's The Amityville Horror, a family moves into an old farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. It's 1971. People have porkchop sideburns and wear loud pants. Roger Perron (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) have five - count 'em, five - daughters and a dog. The house was cheap. It didn't take long for the family to find out they picked the wrong farmhouse to inhabit. Yep, you guessed it, malevolent spirits.
Legs are literally pulled in the middle of the night. A smell not unlike rotten eggs comes and goes. Various pieces of furniture, left behind by previous owners, shake and rattle. There's a boarded-up basement. An old music box is found by an even older tree by a deceptively tranquil stream. Pictures fall. Everyone, particularly the kids, is terrified.
Desperate for help, Carolyn contacts the Warrens, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga). Ed is a demonologist - yes - and Lorraine is a clairvoyant. As soon as they step over the threshold of the Perron house, Lorraine sees a presence, and she and Ed, both veterans of investigating the paranormal, are soon faced with the most treacherous, beguiling case of their lives.
The framework of the movie is that of a traditional haunted-house story, with the terror turned up past 11. That's because - no spoiler here - there are multiple spirits about, although they share a common ancestor, spiritually speaking. Roger and Carolyn are helpless, which we expect; Ed and Lorraine are as well, which we do not. Also, poor Lorraine has already suffered tremendous emotional trauma from previous investigations. Even if and when the investigators can determine the root of the Perrons' problem, they may not be sufficiently equipped to deal with them, even with their cameras, infrared devices, temperature sensors, and the help of assistant Drew and police officer Brad.
This movie is terrifying. Director James Wan is an expert at manipulating light and sound to heighten our sense of dread and fear. When Carolyn descends into the cellar, we descend with her, our hearts palpitating like a lawnmower. Both Ed and Carolyn are inherently relatable, as are their five daughters. Who hasn't played a game like Hide and Clap? (It's sort of like Blind Man's Bluff or Marco Polo, on land.) This is definitely one of the scariest movies of the year, and thankfully it wasn't released in 3D. There are long tracking shots that will exhaust and exhilarate; off-camera noises sound closer and closer with each pressing, bottled-up moment.
There is very little blood, but don't be fooled into thinking this is a harmless movie for kids, either. Whereas The Amityville Horror was almost cartoonish - bleeding walls? - The Conjuring relies most heavily on the human psyche for its fright attack. And it is very, very successful at scaring one almost breathless. There are a lot of things to love about this movie, from its creepy atmosphere juxtaposed with its all-American family to the evocative acting by all of the principals, particularly Farmiga and Taylor, for whom this is her best role to date. No character feels generic or ill-formed, and the intricate, tortuous plot is complex without being complicated. This is a movie to see.