After setting up the Warrens and what they do, the film introduces us to Carolyn and Roger Perron (Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston) and their five daughters, who have just moved to a beautiful old lake house in Rhode Island. Of course, they soon discover they are not alone, experiencing some pretty terrifying, unexplainable happenings, which leads Carolyn to beg the Warrens to come and help them.
As the paranormal events escalate the five little actresses playing the girls are required to tap into some intense emotions. They do a remarkable job. As does Lili Taylor, who also has a tough task, particularly in the third act, plus Vera Farmiga adds a depth and warmth to her clairvoyant character. That secondary plot line of the Warrens offers a tiny bit of respite from the tense action, but unlike many horror films which start slow and then build, the scares are quite relentless from start to finish. Expect a sleepless night if you are easily scared.
James Wan has become a master of the modern horror flick; distancing himself from the torture porn trend he began with Saw, focusing instead on using old-school horror tricks to their best advantage. We may have seen these scare set pieces before (e.g. the possessed doll, the dark cellar, the crows flying into the house) and we know how music manipulates us to create jumps, but Wan pulls these off in such a way that the film feels both fresh and terrifying.
He’s achieved that, in part, by paying homage to the type of horror films he loves from the 1970s. Most of the effects in The Conjuring were created practically on set, rather than through a computer, which makes them feel all the more real. The cinematography by Frank Leonetti is simple and beautiful, and together with Wan, has created some creepy images, which may become iconic and possibly will be lampooned by the Wayans brothers at some point.
A lot more is suggested rather than shown in The Conjuring, proving the old theory that what you imagine can be scarier that what you see. There’s almost none of the gore or nudity that’s usually seen in horror flicks, which makes the R rating given to The Conjuring a little surprising.
Hopefully the rating won’t keep audiences away, because this is the type of film you should see in a cinema packed with people. Even if you’re not a fan of being scared, there is something still fun about seeing an audience all jumping at the same time, then laughing at themselves for getting sucked in. It’s a rare shared experience in this age of watching movies by yourself, huddled over a phone or computer screen.