Goosebumps provided by Wilson and Farmiga

THE CONJURING 2 (2016)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

 "The Conjuring 2" is one oddball haunted house horror flick. Sure, it's got a demonic nun who doesn't like its name being uttered, it's got creepy septuagenarian ghosts sitting on living room chairs, it has possessions and the typical question of whether the hauntings are real or "conjured" up by the alleged people being haunted. What is odd about this sequel is that I cared about the two Demonologists,  Ed and Lorraine Warren, and wanted their story to be told, not the one they are involved in. This may be the first haunted house movie I've seen where I wanted less hauntings and more character definition, you know, like it used to be done.

The Warrens are shown in a over-the-top prologue at the Amityville house where alleged hauntings took place in the 1970's. Once there, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) has clairvoyant visions of the demonic nun, who looks like a standard-issue demon in a habit. This is a pure nightmare for Lorraine who would rather stay away from haunted houses and focus on other things, especially after witnessing a vision of her husband's death. Hubby Ed (Patrick Wilson) has other ideas as they are commissioned by the Church to investigate the Enfield Poltergeist, a true case of peculiar ghosts haunting a small house in England. The Hodgsons family consists of a single mother Peggy (Frances O’Connor) and three children - 11-year-old Janet (Madison Wolfe) is the primary child frequently attacked by these ghosts and occasionally possessed by them. Sessions with Janet speaking with an 70-year-old man's voice are recorded on reel-to-reel (oh, how I miss those days). Skeptics, one played by Franka Potente, feel the whole thing is engineered (as was actually believed and proven to be by camera recordings) but in director James Wan's world, these otherworldly beings are for real.

Most of "The Conjuring 2" is standard-issue terror, including a silly scene where a bunch of crucifixes on the wall turn upside down in unison. I miss the feeling of dread from the first film, the inescapable feeling of tension that suggests a real presence beyond the grave is haunting us. When a dog suddenly shape shifts into the Crooked Man from an English nursery rhyme, sorry, but I almost wanted to laugh at this - it did not scare me or frighten me a little. Janet's character is not particularly memorable and the finale is seemingly rushed though its coda is emotional and affected me.

Despite my misgivings about the film and its slight overlength, "The Conjuring 2" is fitfully fine for what it is but it is Farmiga and Wilson that gave me goosebumps. Their chemistry, as proven before, works and there is nothing as heavenly as seeing Farmiga smile at Wilson who plays an Elvis tune for the kids. It is a love story that stops at the service of the plot of a haunting that is nowhere near as thrilling as the Annabelle doll from the original. Give me a movie about the Warrens and their love affair and I would be more than thrilled - I'd get goosebumps.