While I like movies quite a lot, and I've played my fair share of horror games, horror movies have never really been my calling, which isn't to say I don't have horror films I like, because I do. A friend of mine wants to see the Conjuring 2 over the weekend, so I figured that it would be a good idea to watch the first one, and I don't have any regrets yet.
This film starts off in an interesting way, showing a brief sequence in the Annabelle case, one that does a pretty good job of establishing our 2 ghost hunters and establishing the atmosphere. The Warrens are some very interesting characters in my opinion, while they definitely believe in the paranormal, they approach every situation as sceptics, this does a very good job of keeping the pair grounded, and making them surprisingly relatable, since they aren't fools, they see these demonic situations like you or I would, looking for an explanation rather than looking for ghosts. The most interesting of the 2 by far is Lorraine, who is a bit of a clairvoyant, and who as in her life, had a particularly nasty encounter with a demon, one that's left her deeply scarred and makes her a very sympathetic character, as well as a mysterious one. This event isn't something the film dwells on, but it really adds to her character. Ed is less interesting, but he's still pretty good, while clearly a firm believer in demons and ghosts, his open mindedness to the situations him and Lorraine encounter makes him a very likable character, and his protectiveness of Lorraine is something that's easy to get behind. what makes the Warrens particularly interesting from an audience perspective is that these 2 are professional demonologists, but they approach every encounter with scepticism, so when things start going down in this film, and they get scared, that fear is contagious, in fact I'd go as far as to call it, Insidious, couldn't resist. The Perrons are, admittedly, less interesting, which isn't to say they don't have their moments, the kids in particular, I've seen this film a few times in the last few days, and I still remember a scene in a bedroom with 2 of the girls, it's one of my favourite scenes in the movie, and I'd argue a big part of that is how well the kids sell that they are scared. but while the family falls short of being as interesting as Ed and Lorraine, the supporting cast also has its moments, including one funky moustache and one remarkably creepy doll, who got her own movie, but that's for another day. I do take slight issue with the film's story however, if only for its lack of originality, but that really isn't fair, because while this film is nothing new, A, The Force Awakens did nothing new and it was my favourite film of last year, and B, this film isn't trying to surprise you, it's trying to scare you.
I like to think of myself as a tough little Camelid, and when it comes to horror, very few things have actually scared me, but I'll be completely honest, this film did scare me a few times. Something this film completely nails is the atmosphere, very rarely does it let up, and in practically every scene, there's always a subtle tension, an unease that is relentless in this film. This comes from James Wan's very good directing, this film has some very creative cinematography, ranging from long shots tracking through the house, to ominous zooms, to some visceral hand held camera in some of the more demonic scenes, the funky camera trickery does a great job of building the atmosphere, but the imagery does it even better, there's no gore in this film, no hellish monsters, unless you include a witch, but this film thrives on some when you see it type frights, a figure in a window, a ghost in a reflection, or even just nothing at all, it's this kind of stuff, that gives you just enough time to notice it before disappearing. unfortunately for the faint of heart, this only happens about half the time, the other half is some of the most effective jumpscares I've seen in a horror movie. Wan has a very good trick of making a jumpscare work, often holding back, deliberately giving the viewer some time to process the whatever it may be, and then deploying the jumpscare, I'll admit this film does have a few cheap jumps, but the vast majority of them aren't, serving as less of a jolt and more of a release of the brilliantly built tension, it's actually a shame a certain jumpscare in the basement was spoiled in the marketing back in 2013, because it legitimately was frightening. This film really kicks into gear as things start going bump, and has a pretty creepy exorcism scene towards the end, but here is another kind of issue I have with this film, for so long the film keeps the hairs standing up so well, but then the film just kind of ends. The ending itself isn't the problem, it's just that the wrap up feels a bit rushed, I don't really know what I was expecting, maybe a more drawn out confrontation, but things go from full speed to crawl speed in what feels like about 2 minutes, it does feel rushed. This is also a very modest film, so no horned beasts from the Mars facility here, but what's here works, and in typical horror movie fashion, it tries to do a lot with a little, but it gets it right.
I actually was genuinely surprised by The Conjuring, I went in expecting a horror film that, while probably living up to the praises I've heard, will be something I will watch once and then probably forget about, but after seeing it, twice, I have actually really started liking this film. it's modest, creepy, has 2 very likable leads and serviceable supporting characters, a largely by the numbers story of demonic possession that got the job done, and had some very effective moments that had my friend covering his eyes and me transfixed, this film did scare me, and it's a film I'll almost certainly end up picking up on Blu Ray, because I would very highly recommend this film, it's not just scary, it's good, and it's definitely worth watching.
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