October 2013 Edition #14: THE CONJURING

Director: James Wan
Screenplay: Chad & Carey Hayes
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor
Release Date: July 19th, 2013


THE CONJURING is an absolutely hair-raising tale of parapsychological terror, a fantastic throwback to classic ghost stories such as THE HAUNTING and THE AMITYVILLE HORROR that allow character and atmosphere to take center stage over special effects, creating an unbearable tension and fear of the unknown that, once unleashed, creates the sensation of free-falling into the mouth of hell itself. Director James Wan has taken the lessons learned on his previous horror outings, including SAW and INSIDIOUS, to craft a remarkably well-made and thoroughly chilling tale that will make even the most ardent non-believers in the supernatural think twice about venturing into the darkened corridors of their homes in the middle of the night.

The film follows two families, the Warrens and the Perrons. Ed (Wilson) and Lorraine (Farmiga) Warren are paranormal investigators living with their daughter in New England whose services are called upon by Roger (Livingston) and Andrea (Taylor) Perron. After moving into an old farmhouse in the backwoods of Rhode Island with their five young daughters, the Perrons have been subjected to a series of bizarre and increasingly malevolent occurrences. After the accidental discovery of a basement hidden behind the wall of a downstairs closet the family begins to notice small peculiarities around the house. Pictures are knocked off of the wall, every clock in the house stops at 3:07 every morning, strange knocking sounds can be heard coming in repetitions of three, and the smell of death seeps into the oldest girls’ bedroom every night. The youngest girl’s beloved dog mysteriously dies, birds kill themselves by smashing into the upstairs window, and Andrea wakes up each morning with unexplainable bruises all over her body. Soon the malignant entity perpetrating these becomes outwardly violent, taunting the girls as they lay terrified in their beds, and luring Andrea into the basement  by emulating the sound her daughter’s hand-clapping while playing Marco Polo. As the toll on her family becomes unbearable, Andrea turns with desperation to the Warrens, who once visiting the house immediately sense the vile entity and it’s nefarious deeds. Over the course of the next several nights the duo bring in their investigative crew, angering the demon and leading to a series of events that threatens to devour the very souls of both families.

THE CONJURING claims to be based on true events, chronicling a heretofore undisguised encounter the Warren’s experienced in the early 1970’s. This of course is complete horseshit, as was the couple’s chronicling of the events in Amityville, Long Island. However I’d rather not get into the argument over the questionable morality of the Warren’s real-life adventures, if, as their critics so passionately dispute, they weren’t in fact merely exploiting people suffering from severe mental illnesses for personal gain. That’s not the point of this movie, and also I haven’t done the research on the subject and wouldn’t know what the hell I was talking about anyway. What matters is that THE CONJURING, while trading in the sort of haunted house tropes seen every week on awful shows like PARANORMAL WITNESS, takes the material and elevates it via enveloping sound design, a truly hellacious score, and some electrifying yet subtle camerawork that successfully places the viewer in the mindset of the Perrons to truly chilling effect.

James Wan has demonstrated in the past a clear understanding of what makes the best horror films work. While his break-out hit SAW has become notorious for the torture-obsessed films it inspired, Wan has gone on to exude a level of restraint in all of his films that followed, allowing the characters to drive the narrative forward while subtly messing with the viewer’s mind behind the camera. The most effective scene in THE CONJURING for me involves one of the young girl’s being awakened by something tugging on her leg in the middle of the night and cautiously hanging her head off of the side the bed in order to see what might have done it. The camera goes upside down with her, immediately putting the viewer in her headspace, as I’m sure just about everybody can remember doing the same thing as a child. Wan milks this scene for every bit of tension he can, focusing on the child’s increasingly horrified expression as she stares into the darkness beside her bedroom door at…nothing. At least as far as the audience can see. As she jolts up to see what it could be, the camera flips over and upwards with her, keeping the viewer off balance and in tune with the character’s growing alarm. Wan uses his roving camera and subtle use of CG to enhance the dreadful eeriness of the most seemingly mundane objects and scenarios, as when the Warren’s daughter becomes trapped by the entity in a magnificently foreboding hallway at night, the simple clapping of hands out of the darkness, or in one brilliant moment a single strand of hair on a characters head seeming to raise up due to static electricity…..or, as it quickly turns out, something far wors
e.

Of course none of this would matter if the characters weren’t worth a damn, but fortunately all involved bring their A game. I’ve enjoyed the work of Ron Livingston, who brings a working class familiarity to all of his characters, making it easy to empathize with the plight of he and his family. Lili Taylor more than makes up for her role in the abominable THE HAUNTING remake as Andre and, despite the fact that they are portraying people who were, for all intents and purposes, charlatans, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga acquit themselves nicely, portraying the Warren’s as a selfless duo who want nothing more than to help this family rid itself of this demonic vermin.

The flick, in my opinion,  isn’t nearly as scary as INSIDIOUS, due mostly to the fact that the film’s “true story” claims basically eradicates any tension I might have felt as to the character’s fates otherwise. While the film is filled with eerie, downright disturbing scenarios and copious expertly-timed jump scares, I never had a sense that any of the characters were in any real danger, thus lessening my emotional involvement. Contrast that with INSIDIOUS which, though treading the borders of ludicrousness in it’s third act, was absolutely unpredictable and therefore, to me at least, far scarier.

With THE CONJURING James Wan has announced himself, in my eyes, as the heir to the throne of modern horror master, combining the insane camerawork of Sam Raimi with the relative restraint of John Carpenter to produce a fantastic melding of old and new-school techniques. Hell, even the opening credits, with it’s introduction to what we are about to see and it’s 70’s style yellow text, is mortifying. Despite some minor quibbles with the basic story, as well as the film’s somewhat infuriating claims that the persecuted women of Salem, Massachusetts actually worshipped Satan, the flick works as an exceptional ride, an adrenaline-fueled nightmare that perfectly exploits universal fears. It is not a masterpiece, but it is the goddamned scariest thing I’ve seen since INSIDIOUS. And keep in mind, nothing scares me anymore, so that’s saying a lot.

My Rating:
8.5/10