The Conjuring

My Grade:  B-

I had been hearing such great things about this horror film called The Conjuring so I finally got around to seeing it. I must preface this review, though, by telling you that I am not the biggest fan of horror movies. I like them but I am by no means a fanatic. There is no urge I get deep down in my gut to watch a horror movie. But The Conjuring is a reasonably solid effort by veteran horror director and one of the geniuses behind Saw, James Wan. As a side note, the first Saw was genius and that’s the only one he directed... that’s why I called him a genius.

The Conjuring captures a great mood and feels like an old school horror flick in the vein of The Exorcist (a film which I found to be rather silly and not at all terrifying). So, the look of the film is solid and it certainly delivers plenty of scares as it builds up to the inevitable exorcism. That’s no spoiler... there is always an exorcism in this kind of film. I also am into the idea that they call in experts and take this thing head on. It makes for an interesting dynamic between the evil spirits and the family being tormented by them. It’s better than the family just being docile victims and continuing to live in a place despite their hellish experiences. Also, the experts (played wonderfully by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) are the most interesting characters in the film. They are the only ones with any kind of backstory or any underlying issues. Unfortunately, the film focuses too much on the family being haunted by an evil presence and not enough on these more interesting characters.

As for the acting, it’s fine. The story is alright. The dialogue is acceptable. That’s the problem I have with this film:  everything is only alright. It doesn’t do anything new. You could watch any other exorcism or possession themed horror film and it be a similar experience to watching this film. That is actually one of my biggest beefs with the horror genre in general - it is so inundated with product that nothing seems to be fresh anymore. 

Overall, The Conjuring disappoints because, despite all it’s critical success, it fails to tread any new ground. With that being said, it does hold up as an acceptable entry in the annals of horror and is worth a watch if you are a fan of the genre. We have James Wan to thank for that. He is a talented horror director, but we’ll see if he can step outside of the genre and still impress us when his latest effort, Fast & Furious 7, rides into theaters next year.