Okay...family moves into an old farm house. There's strange sounds heard. Stuff falling off walls for no reason. Doors closing on their own. Hidden rooms and cellars with old stuff discovered behind walls. Pretty soon the kids are seeing and talking to ghosts...As the supernatural activity increases, the mother goes for help, seeking out paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren---a husband and wife team that are experts on things like ghost and demon invasions---as we've seen in crosscut scenes, where they give lectures on the subject and show a reporter a room full of "vessels" they confiscated in "cases". Sound familiar? You bet it does, especially in today's oversaturated Paranormal Activity movie market. But this movie is actually GOOD...it's set in the ‘70's, there's more practical scares (and jumps) than CGI, and the digital trickery is smartly used, never calling attention to itself. There's more than a few good frights using framing, loud noises, and camera placement. Director James Wan, who started out with the SAW series and moved on to the INSIDIOUS franchise, proves he knows his stuff here and has perfected his craft. While the CONJURING is a tale much over-told, it proves that sometimes it's not the tale, but really how you tell it. The cast is solid and believable in their parts. There's several good twists in this film, including the entire property being possessed by curses from witches in the past along with a boatload of murders and suicides that followed. There's an eerie, desolate atmosphere and a powerful gloomy soundtrack score by Joseph Bishara. Several times I found the hair on the back of my neck had gone straight up! The farmhouse family's mother is possessed by one of the entities and there's a well-staged end battle between the Warrens and the demon...This movie kept me watching and on the edge of my seat. As always, it's all "based on a true story." I might add that the Ed and Lorraine Warren characters are real ghost hunters, some of the first in the business from back in the '70's, and this flick is based on one of their real cases. This adds to the credibility of the proceedings and makes it seem scarier. Also, was great to see a paranormal movie that was shot narrative style, as opposed to the norm : jerky, POV found video footage. None of that nonsense here. This flick is just plain spooky. Turn out the lights, turn up the audio, and give it a shot.
Okay...family moves into an old farm house. There's strange sounds heard. Stuff falling off walls for no reason. Doors closing on their own. Hidden rooms and cellars with old stuff discovered behind walls. Pretty soon the kids are seeing and talking to ghosts...As the supernatural activity increases, the mother goes for help, seeking out paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren---a husband and wife team that are experts on things like ghost and demon invasions---as we've seen in crosscut scenes, where they give lectures on the subject and show a reporter a room full of "vessels" they confiscated in "cases". Sound familiar? You bet it does, especially in today's oversaturated Paranormal Activity movie market. But this movie is actually GOOD...it's set in the ‘70's, there's more practical scares (and jumps) than CGI, and the digital trickery is smartly used, never calling attention to itself. There's more than a few good frights using framing, loud noises, and camera placement. Director James Wan, who started out with the SAW series and moved on to the INSIDIOUS franchise, proves he knows his stuff here and has perfected his craft. While the CONJURING is a tale much over-told, it proves that sometimes it's not the tale, but really how you tell it. The cast is solid and believable in their parts. There's several good twists in this film, including the entire property being possessed by curses from witches in the past along with a boatload of murders and suicides that followed. There's an eerie, desolate atmosphere and a powerful gloomy soundtrack score by Joseph Bishara. Several times I found the hair on the back of my neck had gone straight up! The farmhouse family's mother is possessed by one of the entities and there's a well-staged end battle between the Warrens and the demon...This movie kept me watching and on the edge of my seat. As always, it's all "based on a true story." I might add that the Ed and Lorraine Warren characters are real ghost hunters, some of the first in the business from back in the '70's, and this flick is based on one of their real cases. This adds to the credibility of the proceedings and makes it seem scarier. Also, was great to see a paranormal movie that was shot narrative style, as opposed to the norm : jerky, POV found video footage. None of that nonsense here. This flick is just plain spooky. Turn out the lights, turn up the audio, and give it a shot.
