THE CONJURING (2013)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
It is 1971. We have a house in Harrisville, R.I. where a new family has moved in, the Perrons. Roger (Ron Livingston from the cult hit "Office Space"), a mild-mannered type of guy, is married to Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) and they have five young daughters. Apparently this house, unbeknownst to the Perrons, was the site of a woman accused of witchcraft during the time of the Salem Witch Trials who hung herself on a tree branch outside the house proclaiming to be one of Satan's disciples. There is more here that chills the bone involving multiple suicides and satanic rituals where babies are sacrificed. The Perrons get a taste of these ghosts who haunt their home. Doors are slammed, loud knocks are heard, something pulls the legs of the girls while they sleep, and there is that hide-and-seek game the girls play where they clap when they are in their hiding place while one blindfolded girl has to find them. Would a ghost partake in this game? There is also a doll named Annabelle but I rather you discover its importance on your own.
Eventually, two real-life Demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren (strikingly played with complete assurance by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), are summoned to the house to rid its evil spirits (The Warrens, by the way, were best known for their involvement in the Amityville haunting). Still flash cameras and microphones are installed to capture the spirits' essence (do not worry: this is all far more compelling than TV's "Ghost Hunters" and its infinite imitations). These spirits mean business, however, and somehow attract birds to fly into the exteriors of the house and kill themselves. Then there is the issue of the clocks stopping at 3:08 am! More doors fling open and the creepy factor settles in - director James Wan makes good use of dark basements and dark crawlspaces. Oh, never look under the bed either. Plus, maybe unexplained bruises are the lack of iron in the body, or something else. As Lorraine Warren states, "Most haunted houses have a simple, rational explanation." Not this house.
"The Conjuring" is a fast-paced haunted house story that gave me goosebumps and, at the end of the cinematic horror day, that is all that counts. It does it with zero gore and tunes up its thrills and chills to 120, all courtesy of director James Wan who previously helmed 'Insidious" and the original "Saw." Yet the movie does break for an unnecessary finale that smacks of "The Exorcist" and, frankly, I would have preferred a more imaginative conclusion. Still, with an expert cast and an expert director at crafting genuine suspense (and a superb use of sound by sound designer Joe Dzuban), "The Conjuring" will bring up good old-fashioned memories of "The Haunting." Not the 1999 remake, mind you, but rather the 1963 classic. Oh, FYI, Lili Taylor, you have redeemed yourself from the crass "The Haunting" remake you appeared in. Many thanks.
