July 18th, 2013 
James Shotwell 
Film: The Conjuring
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson
Directed by: James Wan
Having proven himself the top of the horror game with Saw and the more recent Insidious, James Wan turns his skill at filmmaking to world of haunted abodes with this weekend’s new release, The Conjuring. Trends may come and go in Hollywood, but one thing that never goes out of style is a good haunted house tale.
If there is one premise that feels as run into the ground as can be, it’s the idea of a family moving into a large, somewhat rural home before realizing their new residence is possessed/haunted by some otherworldly being. It’s been done, a lot, and since Poltergeist originally debuted few such titles have offered much in the form of lasting entertainment value. For a long time I thought this was due to the simple fact there is “nothing new under the sun” to be done in these scenarios, but then I saw The Conjuring and realized all this sub-genre of horror needed was someone with the skills required to create a truly enthralling experience.
Taking place years before anyone had heard of The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring opens with a pair of quasi-ghost hunters, known as The Warrens, discussing their craft with an eager audience. They explain how most haunted houses have a simple explanation, but never write off the possibility of the unknown. In fact, they live in a home that also stores every evil/possessed item they have recovered over the years, including a strange doll whose powers they’ve yet to fully understand. Their daughter finds this all interesting, but she, of course, is not allowed to enter the storage space.
At this point the film switches focus to its second storyline, which opens with a New England family moving into their new, rural home. It’s a large house surrounded by trees and little, if anything else, and as the members begin to explore their humble abode you get the feeling all is not how it seems. After horseplay amongst the children leads the family to discover a basement they never knew existed, things begin to happen which escape explanation. Confused and scared their recent investment may soon lead to their deaths, the matriarch of the household recruits the services of the Warrens, and before the halfway mark of the first act our two storylines intersect. For those keeping score, that’s two unexplained ghost stories in a single feature. They’re not tied together, but rather used to keep things moving when one story stalls. It works, even if one is used far less than the other.
Without a doubt in my mind I can say with complete certainty that The Conjuring is the scariest major studio release of 2013. Once the story is in motion, Wan squeezes every opportunity for a scare bone dry, and in doing so creates some of the most intense sequences in modern cinema. One moment in particular during the first act, which horror buffs will note makes a stylistic reference to Poltergeist that is simply fantastic, had me so frightened in my seat I found myself having to make a conscious decision to not look away from the screen. The hair stood up on my arms, sweat began to form around my brow, and for just a few moments I felt a sense of fear I cannot recall feeling any other time in my adult life. The rest of the movie does not reach these heights, unfortunately, but even a moment of horror perfection is better than a dozen titles lacking any heart whatsoever.
The main issue The Conjuring encounters is that it seems unable to decide what kind of supernatural horror film it wants to be. The first hour plays like an insta-classic slow burn, with brief moments of shriek-inducing scares, but once the proverbial shit hits the fan Wan changes pace and begins throwing everything except the kitchen sink without much care for setup or atmosphere. This is reasoned away in the film with a member of the ghost hunting team explaining the need to anger the spirit in the house, but the lack of cohesive storytelling is evident nonetheless. It’s not enough to ruin the film, but it’s noticeable, and as a horror buff ate at me as the occurrence of “attacks” began to rise.
The other problem with The Conjuring is one nearly every supernatural film struggles with: the ending. While Wan and crew do a solid job of tying up loose ends, the audience is out of the film as soon as the scares stop, and that happens roughly ten minutes before the final frame. While I sat waiting for the credits to roll, a good portion of the audience got up and began to file out as they saw no reason to further engage with the film. If watched alone, this wouldn’t be an issue, but in a theatrical setting it ends things on a bit of a dull note.
Even when considering its shortcomings, I find it hard to believe anyone will make or release a better horror film in 2013 than The Conjuring. It’s not exactly original, but what it lacks in new ideas it more than makes up for with creative delivery, precision mood setting, and a genuine sense of terror that fills ever near-silent moment. James Wan has already proven he’s skilled enough to make a solid scare flick, but The Conjuring is his first effort since the original Saw that has felt poised for eternal genre glory. It’s the kind of film I can see myself telling my kids future horror flicks ripped off, even though it too takes cues from classic films, and that sense of timelessness is something few genre films ever achieve.
Score: A
Review written by: James Shotwell (Follow him on Twitter)
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