Movie Review - The Conjuring

The Conjuring **½ ( R) Those who wax nostalgic about the tenor of horror films that pre-dated the splatterfests of recent years, subtly building tension and menace before the payoff mayhem erupts, will find this variation on genre entries like The Amityville Horror, The Exorcist or The Omen a welcome change of pace. Still scary, but more tingly than yucky. Beyond that, it features a battle between Amityville’s actual demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga), and another set of occupying entities from beyond our mortal coil.

In 1971, a family with five daughters moves into a creepy old house in a woodsy New England setting. The family dog knows something’s wrong from the get-go, refusing to come inside with the humans. Why was the basement sealed shut? Why are odd little things happening? Why didn’t they see a few movies or read some Stephen King before buying this obvious haven for haunting?

When the phenomena start escalating in danger levels, they call Ed and Lorraine, who have been on the lecture circuit following their previous supernatural successes. They diagnose the cause, explain the basis, and start trying to purge the peril. Whatever one’s beliefs may be, their explanations are plausible, in context. Director James Wan, who started his feature career with Saw, does a fine job of toning down the overt displays of gore, and working more insidiously on his viewers’ minds. The pace of the buildup may seem a bit slow, but the film succeeds at delivering the type and degree of fright it promises. (7/19/13)