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So as you know, I stopped writing lengthy reviews on this site this year, keeping the blog as more of a film diary of sorts.  Lo and behold,...

Friday, January 24, 2014

Movie Review - The Conjuring

The Conjuring (2013)
Starring Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, and Ron Livingston
Directed by James Wan

When Carolyn and Roger Perron (Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston) and their daughters move into a secluded farmhouse in the Northeast US, their hope is for a fresh start.  Little do they know that their house is haunted and the ghosts inside aren't exactly known for simply lurking.  No...these otherworldly beings are nasty creatures causing much havoc for the Perron family.  Desperate for help, Carolyn seeks out paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) who, upon entering the Perron home, realize that they've got quite a task ahead of them trying to exorcise these demons from the house.

Based on a true story (which you can believe or not depending on your predilections towards ghostly spirits), The Conjuring is a rather fantastic horror film.  Although rated R, I'm not sure there's a single curse word uttered throughout the movie and there's hardly any blood spewed either.  Instead, that "R" rating was garnered simply because of the mounting tension created by director James Wan.  Aided by a nice script from Chad and Carey Hayes, Wan keeps the film moving at a great pace, although he does allow the story to unfold naturally -- which some could read as meaning "slowly," but I felt was deliberately paced to increase the eerie mood of the piece as a whole.  Granted, there are moments towards the film's end when I felt the writers were getting a little "kitchen sink-y" in that they were seemingly throwing in quite a few classic horror clichés, but I still found myself on the edge of my seat for nearly the entirety of the final 45 minutes.

I've been a fan of Vera Farmiga for a while and she didn't disappoint here.  Farmiga along with her co-stars Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, and Ron Livingston all are much better than your typical "horror movie acting."  They're not acting in a horror movie -- they're acting in a movie.  There's a difference and their nuanced portrayals of admittedly not very complex roles is much appreciated.

Taking place in the early 1970s, The Conjuring certainly feels like an homage of sorts to some classic horror films of that era and I appreciated that it never oversold its somewhat simple story with bombastic special effects or outrageous gore.  Kudos to James Wan -- whose direction of the original Saw made me a little wary about checking this film out -- who's crafted a nice ghost story here that is well worth seeing.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

1 comment:

  1. I think the best part of it was that there were no "jump scares". Every build up was actually building up to something. There was no cat jumping out randomly. Etc.

    I like your description of the acting.

    And how many horror movies involve a good 45 second tracking shot? It was pretty brilliant too. It showed you the entire layout of the first floor fluidly.

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