Rating of
3/4
A milestone of modern suspense horror.
memento_mori - wrote on 08/23/13
James Wan. Wow. Thank you.
Thank you for moving away from the commercial horror and making the most original horror film of the year.
Focusing heavily on atmosphere and tension, Wan seemed to captivate me with every shot in this film.
The Conjuring is an excellently made film. Not just an excellently directed or written film, but it as a whole it makes me overjoyed this project was green-lit.
I think the main element that was the definite standout in the film was of course the suspense. It is perfect. Very rarely are there jump scares, and when they are, they have been set up very well for the viewer to actually jump in their seat.
This movie just did correctly what others couldn't do. Like in The Sixth Sense, we saw Cole go around hallways and witness dead people. I'm not saying that was done wrong. It was scary, but The Conjuring did this better.
Because here, for the most part, we don't even see what the characters see. A child will start crying and point at the door saying someone is behind the door, but we see this from her sister's perspective. We only see the door and have the idea of a vision behind it. That is great writing.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are actors I haven't exactly followed in the past, but I liked Farmiga in The Departed and Wilson in Hard Candy (good movie).
They both deliver their best performances as the paranormal investigating couple Ed and Lorraine Warren. They gave me a sense of danger and made me care for their characters.
I was just really disappointed that the trailers gave away half of the movie's scares. That's why I generally stay away from trailers, and because I go to a normal theater I can't avoid watching them before the film. So, pity.
I also like how the characters actually use 70's slang. Like 'funky'.
This is a true milestone for suspense cinema. I loved The Conjuring and everything it had to offer. Apart from the one jump scare here and there and the spoilers in the trailer, I dug every bit of this movie, that seemed strangely realistic.
