Something new, something old

Rating: 6/10 (4 August 2013)

James Wan directed the original (and best) Saw, the poorly received Dead Silence, and later Insidious, Chapter 2 of which will be his second movie of 2013. He's developing into a modern Master of Horror, but it looks like he may be removing himself from that typecasting as he prepares to direct the seventh instalment of Fast & Furious, which presumably won't involve any dead-eyed smiling dolls. It would be a pity if he was done with horror, because The Conjuring is a very good horror movie. What it is NOT is original. At all. It's more like a greatest hits of the genre, specifically the exorcism sub-genre.
The plot, based on "actual events" (a claim which, if anything, nullifies some of the terror), involves the wholesome Perron family (helmed by Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) moving into a rustic farmhouse, which is frankly begging to be haunted. The fact that there are no less than five daughters gives ample opportunity for creepy blindfold games and exploration, and soon they're unwittingly uncovering the gruesome secret past of the house and grounds. As the hauntings mount up, the Ma and Pa Perron call in demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). They're the ones who "did" Amityville. Cameras and microphones are set up to gather evidence, so that they can apply for an exorcism. At this point the movie becomes like Poltergeist, except actually scary.
A film this formulaic shouldn't work, but the ferociously familiar elements - rocking chairs, doors, whispers, crashes, dolls, Catholics, imaginary friends, mirrors, music boxes, mirrors inside music boxes - are presented so skilfully by both cast and crew that it's hard not to be drawn in. The performances are first rate; the cinematography is exquisite; the pacing is perfect; and the script is better than it needs to be, with some moving moments as sanity levels slip away. These "real life" evil demons seem to have an uncanny knack for patiently building tension and teasing their audience - I mean victims - before they get on with the really nasty stuff. But that build-up makes for a riveting three quarters of a film.
As the film picks up steam it also picks up some annoying habits - specifically the tendency of modern horror to confuse the scary with the startling, and resort to increasing physicality, shouting, and crash cuts as a crescendo to the effective slow-burn. Put it this way: A little girl telling her sister there's someone standing behind her stays with you longer than a grown woman being tossed around like a ragdoll.
This almost feels like a full-stop for the traditional mainstream horror movie; a distillation of all that the genre does well, done very well. Perhaps it's Wan's way of signing off, closing the book on things that go bump and clocks that stop at unearthly hours, to allow some new visionary to come along and try something new. But this one last time the old ways work just fine.