Review: The Conjuring

Set in the 70s, when a seemingly typical American family (Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, and daughters played by Joey King, Shanley Caswell, and Mackenzie Foy) is terrorised by a sinister presence in their new Rhode Island home, they must call in the services of paranormal investigators (and God-fearing husband and wife to boot) Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga to rid this house of evil.

 

I honestly didn’t expect “Insidious: Chapter 2” to be the best James Wan (“Saw”, “Death Sentence”) film of 2013, but indeed this old-school supernatural flick is the lesser of the two films from the Aussie director for the year. However, it still earns an above average grade from me, if only just. I was quite disappointed, actually, as word of mouth had this pegged as a really scary horror film. It just didn’t get there for me.

 

Perhaps I have underrated the screenwriting efforts of Leigh Whannell, because this one comes penned by Chad and Carey (W.) Hayes, who previously gave us the tedious remake of “House of Wax”. The main problem I had was with the structure. I understand why it was done, but by switching between the situation with the family and with the husband-wife team of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, it’s hard to maintain tension to the point where genuine scares occur. It distances you from the action a bit, taking you out of the situation. The movie would’ve been so much better had the opening scene been removed, and only introduce us to the Wilson-Farmiga characters once weird crap starts going down at the house. After about 50 minutes or so, boy does this ever get started. But if the Hayes’ had made the changes I suggested, we’d get there after, what? 30 minutes at most? It’s a damn shame because, original or not, this could’ve been something really, really good. But every return to the private lives of Wilson and Farmiga and that stupid doll is regrettable and unnecessary.

 

The film is aiming for “The Exorcist” meets “Poltergeist” by way of “The Amityville Horror”, basically. Like “Amityville” it’s based on supposedly true events, a claim pretty hard to swallow considering how dubious the real-life “Amityville” case is. And considering the real-life paranormal investigators here also investigated the “Amityville” case…well, let’s just say I’m not buying it. Still, the structure is the main flaw here. And actually, there’s a fair bit to like here, no doubt about it. The best thing about the film for me is that even the sceptics aren’t as stupidly pigheaded and closed-minded as usual. In a film that is going to rely on some well-worn clichés, it’s good to avoid at least that most irritating and unnecessary one. Also, I have to say that the title crawl and even the font used in the credits is perfect for this sort of thing. Those sorts of small technical details are important to me. I’m a dork, OK?

 

The casting is really quite clever, too on paper. Patrick Wilson isn’t my favourite actor in the world and I’ve previously only liked Vera Farmiga on “Bates Motel”, but casting them and Lili Taylor is really quite cute. In addition to Mrs. Bates Vera Farmiga, you’ve got Wilson from Wan’s “Insidious” movies, and Lili Taylor of course was in the lame remake of “The Haunting”. Aside from their previous roles, the casting of these actors (and indeed Ron Livingston) is that they all seem like normal, decent people, not kooks. And among the cast, Farmiga is particularly good (as a character who is religious, a paranormal investigator, and a clairvoyant to boot!), and although I didn’t like the intercutting between the two storylines, she and Wilson play quite interesting characters. Meanwhile, I absolutely would not have wanted to be in Lili Taylor’s head on the set of this film. That would NOT have been a fun character to get inside of.

 

Although the film can’t refrain from some corny FX, the exorcism sequence is the best seen on screen since 1973. Best of all is the film’s visual style and camerawork from cinematographer John R. Leonetti, who did terrific work on the “Insidious” films. There’s plenty of terrific, creeping camerawork, with very good shot composition. We even get some lovely foggy exteriors, though not enough of them if you ask me! Leonetti really does help give this film a lift, it might be his best work to date. Also, as much as the basic story elements have been done before, it’s kinda hard not to go down “Amityville” territory (especially in this case), and I’d much rather something like this than the umpteenth movie about pretty, pot-smoking jerk 20 year-olds. And boy does the house in this film have the most mind-blowingly effed-up history in the history of haunted house films. This house has mucho problems encased within its walls.

 

This is a perfectly OK film overall, but it could’ve been something truly special if the structure of the plot were changed. As is, it’s hard to get much tension built up when you’re constantly cutting away.

 

Rating: B-