Movie Review: ‘The Conjuring’

Before the Ghostbusters, there was Ed and Lorraine Warren, a real-life pair of paranormal investigators whose repertoire of cases included exorcisms, werewolves and a slew of demonic activity, most famously the Amityville Horror case.

“The Conjuring,” directed by horror veteran James Wan, opens up the Warren case files once again to bring to screen what’s said to be their most terrifying case yet.

Drawing from the old school method of style-over-effects horror, “The Conjuring” may not be scary enough to keep you up at night, but it won’t put you to sleep either.

The film follows two families: the Perrons, an average working class family who move into an isolated farmhouse in Rhode Island, and the Warrens, a pair brought together for one purpose: to help the haunted.

As the Perrons move in, they pretty much walk the same steps as the usual haunted house family. Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger (Ron Livingston), the parents, start noticing odd things around the house: clocks that stop working at the exact same time, animals lying dead outside the house. Their five daughters go about the house tinkering with creepy looking antiques, playing hide-and-seek in dark corners and otherwise inviting danger upon themselves.

Things start to pick up as the storylines converge once the Perrons seek out the Warrens for help. Ed (Patrick Wilson), the brave demonologist, and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga), the clairvoyant, move in to investigate what evil resides in the house.

While the Perrons set the suspense up quite nicely by settling into their roles as a family driven mad by a mysterious spirit, the Warrens drive the movie. Their troubled characters, haunted by a life of fighting evil and a daughter at home to take care of, mesh perfectly with the plight of the Perrons.

Wilson and Farmiga take on their roles as Ed and Lorraine with masterful depth. Wilson returns with the same good-guy energy from “Insidious,” while Farmiga’s grace and soulful expression do justice to Lorraine’s clairvoyance.

So much so, that the still living Lorraine had this to say.

“The Conjuring” takes some time to set up, but once it does, it executes marvelously. The sheer number of characters slow the pace but also give a lived-in feel to the haunted house, with a wholesome family worth screaming for.

For example, a goofy cop who serves as the skeptic proven wrong adds some tension-relieving comedy, while the five Perron daughters multiply the scares: One sleepwalks, while another has an imaginary friend. All in all, the characters bring back an era of horror that was more fun and spooky than grotesque.

It never takes itself too seriously, but still manages to stay away from the two camps of recent horror flicks: formulaic, forgettable special effects relying on cheap thrills and campy gore-fests that offer some fun, but no real scares.

Wan instead chooses to take a step back and goes back to the classics, using style and suspense over all else. As far as “The Conjuring” is concerned, the devil is in the details.

Each shot is crafted ever so carefully; the camera follows the action as an extra pair of eyes in the room, sometimes as a victim and sometimes as the predator. Paired with an aesthetically beautiful yet haunting set design and production, the scares pull you into the film as more than just a viewer.

Despite this, frequent nervous giggles from the crowd bring to light an important point: it’s that we know when and what thrills to expect, because we’ve seen them before. Without giving any spoilers, it’s enough to say that more than a few scenes are a little too reminiscent of “Insidious.”

But the similarity is not necessarily a bad thing. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, Wan sticks with the same formula that worked for him in “Insidious,” which shakes up some genuine scares. “The Conjuring” lives up to its R rating, even with relatively little blood spilt, or rather vomited.