“Something terrible happened here…”
The H-Bomb: Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are paranormal investigators who gain prominence in the late 1960’s after handling some rather high profile cases. He is a demonologist, she is a clairvoyant, who can see and hear things that others cannot. One evening, after giving a lecture at a college, the Warrens are approached by Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor), who has just moved into an old, isolated farm house with her husband, Roger (Ron Livingston), and their five daughters.
Ever since the Perron’s have moved into this house, things have not quite been right. It started out relatively harmless, with things going bump in the night, and foul odors coming and going with no apparent source. None of this would be cause for alarm, but then the family dog, who refused to go into the house in the first place, turns up dead. From there, as you might imagine, things only get worse. One daughter is tormented in her bed, while another has made a new imaginary friend named Rory, who may not be so imaginary, and Carolyn has bruises that have been mysteriously appearing all over her body. The situation gets so bad that the entire family starts sleeping in the living room, each one of them unwilling to venture into any part of the house alone.
After listening to Carolyn’s story, Ed and Lorraine agree to go out to the house and investigate. Upon their arrival, Lorraine immediately senses that there is a presence in the home. She is especially disturbed by what she feels when she enters the basement. When the Warrens finish touring the house and interviewing all the family members, they arrive at the conclusion that whatever is in that house is not merely a ghost, but something much darker and more malevolent… something evil that most certainly means the Perron family harm, and that can only be driven from the home by a priest.
Permission for an exorcism of this scale takes a long time to obtain, and time is one thing that neither the Perrons nor the Warrens have, because ever since the Warrens have gotten involved, the entity, angered by their interference, has been upping the ante, becoming increasingly dangerous, and has started making threats towards the Warrens, and their young daughter, as well. Of course, all of this is “based on a true story…”
In this post-Paranormal Activity age, demonic ghost stories such as these really should not be scary anymore, and for the most part, they’re not. But, if such a well-worn premise is given to a filmmaker who truly understands the horror genre through and through, then there are still some genuine scares to be wrung from it. Director James Wan proves this with The Conjuring, a haunted house flick that isn’t necessarily anything we haven’t seen before, but that plays with the conventions and executes them so well, that it remains consistently creepy throughout, and that, in a number of choice moments, is truly terrifying.
Yes, I am admitting that, as a grown man who prides himself in not getting scared by movies, sitting in a screening with more than 100 people in attendance, The Conjuring fucking scared me. As the film progressed, I could literally feel goosebumps on my arms, the hairs standing up straight, and chills going down my spine… and none of this was caused by the air conditioning in theater. The only reason I’m not totally ashamed of myself for my sissy reaction to the flick, is that there were other guys in the theater, douchey jock types, who were hiding their eyes and jumping and screaming like little girls.
That the film is so effective is a real testament to Wan’s skills as a director, as well as to the terrific cast that plays it earnestly, with special kudos going to Farmiga and Taylor, both of whom bring a real emotional weight to their characters that makes it all the more impactful. There are jump scares aplenty, but they are so well timed, and provide brief images that are so startling, that the movie never fails to shock. One standout sequence is when the mother plays a game of blindfolded Hide and Clap with her daughters, and a new player decides to join the game uninvited. When this new player is finally glimpsed at, I nearly pissed my panties, and that is just one of many jolting moments.
I would go as far as to say that The Conjuring will go down as a horror classic, if it weren’t for the fact that this story really isn’t anything new. It certainly is effective, but we’ve seen movies like it before, and if there’s one thing I’d come down on Wan for, it’s that he covers much of the same ground in this film that he did in Insidious, including the way in which the investigators gather photographic evidence, and a recreation of that crazy scene where the demonic spirit is throwing everyone around the room. Also included is the requisite exorcism scene that we’ve seen countless times before, with high winds blowing in the room, people shouting Biblical incantations at the top of their lungs, and other such Exorcist staples… but, nobody spits pea soup.
So while The Conjuring isn’t the most original horror flick out there (and sorry, but I still don’t buy that “based on a true story” bullshit), it is a damn scary one. Pardon my French, but it is fucking scary as hell, easily one of the scariest movies I’ve seen in years, and that is saying a lot. From Saw to Insidious, and Dead Silence in between, James Wan has shown himself to be a budding young horror maestro to be reckoned with, and now, he has completely one-upped himself. It may only be mid-July, but with the arrival of The Conjuring, it looks as though Halloween has come early.
