Movie Review: The Conjuring (English)

The Conjuring

Most horror films these days rely on too much gore, torture and splatter that the intent, which is to play upon the audience's fears, gets lost in translation. And director James Wan, having had a hand in the resurgence of torture porn through the Saw franchise, interestingly stays away from his own material to deliver a terrifying horror thriller. Set in the early seventies, The Conjuring opens with a family of seven into a roomy farmhouse in Rhode Island. When the very next day, the family dog is found dead and Carolyn, the wife, wakes up with bizarre unexplained bruises, what's only the beginning of true horror waiting to be unleashed upon them, quickly escalates into pure supernatural terror, leading famous paranormal investigator couple Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) to get to the bottom of it all.

The Conjuring, to sum it up, is every bit cinematically banal. Not only does it faithfully follow the 'horror movie template' to the tee, the classic scare tactics in attendance - creaking doors, eerie basements, mysteriously stopped clocks, strange rancid smells, and whatnot - are stuff we've seen a thousand times before. But director James Wan plays them smart, guaranteeing enough seat-edge moments that scare the daylights out of you. Bolstered by a fantastic camera work (John R. Leonetti) and a genuinely creepy background score (Joseph Bishara, who appears in a surprise cameo), TC's seventies backdrop adds an atmospheric feel to the proceedings. While the actors excel in their respective roles (Kyla Deaver as April deserves a hoot!), the relationship between Farmiga and Wilson adds a dramatic heft to the thrilling story. The biggest surprise, ultimately, is James Wan himself, who exorcises his humble torture porn beginnings to conjure a brilliantly executed thrill ride. The Conjuring marks the return of old school horror, and is undeniably one of the scariest movies in recent memory.