Review: The Conjuring (2013)
Review by Disgruntled Monkey
Director: James Wan
Writers: Chad
Hayes, Carey Hayes
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor
I’m kind of obsessed with ghost stuff. I watch a butt tonne
of ghost reality shows, I dig the heck out of ghost movies and I have many
books on the topic. It’s not that I believe in ghosts, more
that the subject matter intrigues me so much. So when I say how excited
I was for this movie, you can understand where it’s all coming from. The Conjuring
is a ghost film based on
an apparent true tale and is centred around
famous ghost hunting duo Lorraine
and Ed Warren. I know these two well; you can’t wander through the mass amount
of ghost media without learning about this pair. Expectations are high, seat is now buckled; what
kind of ride am I going to have?
Ever since Paranormal Activity I think the ghost movie has gone through
a little bit of resurgence. However it wasn’t until Insidious
that we saw these films
really hit their stride. The PA series, while enjoyed by me (well maybe not
number 4) hinged very much on the jump scare. While Insidious does have its jump scares, it uses cinema techniques
other than just the now ubiquitous
‘found footage’ to create an excellent sense of atmosphere. The Conjuring continues this tradition and
it seems that James Wan as a director is really getting a handle on this.
The Conjuring
oozes a style that is both disturbing and intense - the audience I had reacted
to just the sheer promise of dread, instead of the actual outcome. All because
right from the get go there are camera techniques used to make the audience ill
at ease. Even in the happiest moments the shadows are always lurking. One of
the more intense scenes occurred thanks to a squeaky door, some shadow and some
excellent acting from the child cast members.
However while I could continue to give The Conjuring a sensual massage till the cows come home, time has
come to stop and pay up. There are problems with the movie that, while they don’t really stop the movie from being a great
little watch, never proves to be that exceptional.
The biggest problem is that
Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson steal the show as Lorraine and Ed Warren. They share a great
chemistry and are enthralling as the ghost hunting couple, so much so in fact that when focused on the family
being terrorised I couldn’t help but want to get back to the Warrens as quickly as possible. It’s not that
the other cast members are bad, in fact Lili Taylor is fantastic as Carolyn
Perron, beleaguered and haunted mother, it’s just the script seems to be more
in love with the Warrens. It’s a very weird feeling to have the focus of the
movie on two characters that aren’t actually the main protagonists
of the story.
Not only does this effect the acting, but I personally felt
like I was never given enough of the Warrens ,
or the haunting effecting the Perron’s. It makes the individual stories feel truncated and yet the movie suffers from being overly long. It could definitely use a trim here and
there. I think the film would have been more
effective if we stayed with the Warren ’s
and journeyed with them instead of cutting back
and forth. This may have hurt the Perron Family dynamic, but unfortunately
sometimes sacrifices need to be made.
The Conjuring is
an excellent movie and is a great example of a ghost story done brilliantly. It
pays a lot of respect to the Warrens, who are legends in the ghost hunting
world and gets us to care about all the characters involved even if the lime
light isn’t fully on them. This could very well be one of my favourite movies
of the year and makes me really excited for
James Wan to unleash Insidious Chapter 2.
Good movie... story is not that new but amazing direction. Could not sleep for 2 days after watching it...!
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