The Conjuring
★★★★
Mild Spoilers
Directed by James Wan
Written by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes
Loosely based on real-life experts on the occult Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who assist in authenticating cases before calling in the Vatican-sanctioned exorcists. The movie is about one of their most difficult assignments back in 1971, concerning the Perron family who encountered strange occurrences in their new home. It’s the one that also inspired the making of the Amityville movies.
No matter how much I see myself as a proponent of science, horror movies still scares me. A lot. Specifically, the supernatural ones. Science horrors like The Thing, Alien, The Fly I can take. But when it comes to the metaphysical, I’m a scaredy cat. I think Ringu might be the most frightening one for me. Goes without saying that I have a large stack of horror movie Blurays that are still left unwatched.
Back to The Conjuring. I like how the movie plays like a procedural and actually opens with a B case, in which they will quickly resolve before the end of the opening sequence. There is no doubt that the supernatural exists in the movie’s universe, but even so the Warrens’ investigations were methodical, sensible and even compelling. They didn’t just aimlessly flick holy water everywhere and call it a day.
Performances are strong across the board. I was surprised to see familiar faces like Joey King, Mackenzie Foy and Lili Taylor. Ron Livingston was the weakest link here, whom I thought didn’t sell his desperation convincingly enough. The standout was Farmiga, who exudes gravitas in everything she does. Wilson is good as the supporting and reliable husband and ghost-busting partner.
I noticed some influences from Asian horror cinema, e.g., women in white nightgowns, spirits latching on the backs of people, etc., probably coming from Australian director James Wan’s roots. (He grew up in Malaysia.) There are also nods to the classics like Poltergeist and The Exorcist. The Conjuring is really an amalgamation of several genres: a detective mystery, a haunted house story, and a possession flick rolled into one. It makes it unique from the never-ending slew of generic horror films, and I can see why a lot of people loved it.
It’s a good one; I’d recommend it. Now I just need to muster up enough courage to watch Part II, which some are already telling me is scarier than the first! Hopefully, I’d be done watching it before Halloween 2024!