The Conjuring (2013) Movie Review

A modern classic horror…

After series of deceiving trailers, The Conjuring comes as a pleasant surprise from Malaysian director James Wan (who also directed Insidious and Saw). The film is clearly inspired from 70’s horror movies where it heavily depend on sound effects, camera capability and some fine acting.

For those who don’t know, The Conjuring is based on a true event in the early 70s. It tells the story of Ed and Loraine Warren, husband and wife who work as a paranormal investigators. Do you know how famous were they back then? Two words: Amityville Horror. Yes this power couple work on the infamous haunted house and I am not talking about Ryan Reynolds movie either.

The movie begins with the Warrens giving lecture on demonic possession and exorcism at a reputable university. Why? Maybe it was a popular demand back then, who knows. While Ed works as a demonologist who perform exorcism, his wife Loraine is a clairvoyant with a golden heart. They have one daughter and a house full of haunted things.

Act two: we are now moving to a rural Rhode Island setting, where your typical Brady Bunch American family: a husband and wife with five daughters moved into a spacious house in the middle of no where with a hope to start a better life. Aside from the gorgeous lake and trees all around, the house also come with an eerie cellar and an antique closet where you know bad things took place.

Things took a turn for the worse from the moment their dog died, every clocks in the house stop at 3.07 am and one of their daughter got harassed by something evil. The paranoid parents got in touch with the Warrens and plead them to come and sort out the evil mess residing in their new house. Will they succeed? What’s going on in that house?

The Conjuring is a pleasant example on how a horror film should have been made. The movie’s got one of the best-worst build up tension I’ve seen. I think I must have hold my breath until the last scene; I wasn’t looking so good. The sound effects and the camera work were both paralyzing and amazing at the same time. My favourite scene is the one in the room where two hands come out of the closet and clapped. Wow.

Patrick Wilson have appeared in many movies. From being a superhero in Watchmen to being a father with naked Kate Winslet in Little Children. Now he is playing an exorcist and he excels as one. Really, this guy is one of my favourite actors. Where else I love Vera Fermiga a bit more in this movie. Her performance as Lorraine is so damn believable that you will pray, hoping nothing bad happens to her.

The Conjuring praised itself with a minimum use of blood spill, gore and torture and to that I said bravo!!