I've reached my quota for Horror Movies this year as I only promised myself that I'll only catch "The Conjuring" and "Mama" and now I'm through and what a send off the former is.
The movie follows the story of the Perron family who moves in to their new home and start to experience a lot of weird stuff going on such as clocks stopping at 3:07 in the morning, the family dog dying all of a sudden and much, much more. The haunting goes on until the mother Carolyn (Lili Taylor) decides to seek the help of Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren in their case to save her family.
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| Let's play "Hide and Clap" |
I'm not entirely sure where the POV comes from as details are contradicting. Some claim that the film was based on the Warrren's POV while others claim that it's the Perrons. What's clear though is that they experienced the same things and they witnessed the same horror that tormented the family for days.
Effects wise, the movie did not scrimp on anything. It's nice that they still use practical effects and makeup in a few scenes and not rely solely on CGI. Much props for making Bathsheba a really scary force of demonic nature. The same thing can be said for possessed Carolyn who makes a big splash at the film's climax. Her's is also a source of inspiration for future collectible figures soon.
The suspense and horror aspect is fresh. Director James Wan knows that we're all sick and tired of all the mindless, useless CGI effects to scare the hell out of moviegoers so he takes a step back and employ all the tactics and strategies he used in films like "Saw" and "Insidious" to bring out the gasp factor. And it works brilliantly. Wan knows better that a film will work if you go and screw with the audience's minds before bringing out the A-Game.
Allow me to elaborate through this trailer...
Consider it mindblowing foreplay before sex. The subtle use of creepy music, the building of dread and the sense of doom and gloom made THE CONJURING such a great win for the horror movie genre.
The casting was great and Patrick Wilson shows why he's kicking ass in this genre (Wilson also appeared in that other massively popular flick INSIDIOUS as well as playing Night Owl II in Zack Snyder's WATCHMEN adaptation). Vera Famiga was also beautiful here. I don't know why she's suddenly this cute. Her other films sort of didn't cast her in the spotlight I guess.
James Wan knows what he's doing and crafted a brilliant horror movie that's BASED on a true story. There might be a few inaccuracies in the film's depiction from the Warren's case files and from the books that the Perrons released but this is as close as we could get to the actual events that occured with the Perrons and the Warrens and from Bathsheba...
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| Those moments when I can only ask "WHY?" |
... unless of course you want her to stay by your side tonight.
Perhaps one of the best scenes here in the movie was the teaming up between the ghostly Bathsheba with the rest of the spirits locked away in the Warren's home particularly the sinister Anabelle doll which is used heavily in marketing the film.
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| The unholyalliance of Bathsheba and Annabelle |
VERDICT: "A"
THE CONJURING is such a great movie but be sure to leave the lights on before you sleep and chuck away your old dolls at home. Oh and no matter how 'brave' you are you will let out a loud scream with all the creepy stuff in the movie.
Photos appear courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Special thanks to WB Philippines for the passes. The Conjuring opens AUGUST 21.
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