THE CONJURING

Early indicators suggested that James Wan’s latest horror film “The Conjuring” was destined to be something special.  The film apparently achieved scores unheard of during its preview screening process that were so positive that Warner Bros./New Line Cinema elected to open the film during the American Summer season, that is notoriously bad for horror films, but thus was their belief in this film that it could compete during such a competitive time.  Word leaked out that “The Conjuring” was absolutely terrifying, unlike anything before it, which seemed to be echoed by the MPAA when they gave the film an R rating (it has been rated a MA15+  here in Australia), not for violence or gore like you might expect, but for intensity.  Then followed the initial teaser trailer for the film which is easily the scariest trailer I have seen for a film in ages, and seemed to prove the talk coming out about “The Conjuring”.  Did we finally have that rarest of commodities?  Did we finally have a new horror classic?

“The Conjuring” is actually based on a true story that has come from the files of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the world’s leading and best known paranormal investigators or “demonologists”.  Set in 1971, the film begins with the Perron family, parents Caroline and Roger with their five daughters, moving into their new family home in Harrisville, Rhode Island.  While mucking around in their new surroundings, the girls accidently find a hidden cellar that has been mysteriously boarded up.  The family investigates and realizes that their storage levels have increased dramatically thanks to this find, but Roger explains he wants no one to go down into the basement until it has been thoroughly cleaned.  That night when the Perron family goes to bed, strange things begin to happen; all the clocks in the house stop at 3:07am, one of the girls feels someone grabbing her leg while she is sleeping, and Caroline awakens with mysterious bruises on her body.  No one really thinks anything of it until the weirdness continues and continues to increase on a nightly basis.  What initially felt like a few strange things happening in an unfamiliar place, soon becomes apparent that it is much more serious and that the house is haunted by something that clearly does not want the Perron family living in this house.  In utter desperation and fear for her family’s wellbeing, Caroline tracks down and convinces the Warren family to come to her house and investigate the cause of all the weirdness.  Immediately upon entering the house, Lorraine (who is a medium) feels a number of spirits residing within the property but she is particularly worried about one who is so full of hate that it becomes obvious that this spirit will not let this family leave this house alive.

Director James Wan certainly has come a long way since his directorial debut, the smash hit “Saw”, and it almost feels like everything he has worked on prior has readied him for the making of “The Conjuring”.  It is almost an amalgam of all of Wan’s previous films, put together to make this original film; it has the intensity of “Saw”, the creepy dolls of “Dead Silence”, the family dynamics from “Death Sentence”, to the investigation of a haunting from “Insidious”.  All of these things are present within “The Conjuring” but to describe this film as just a mish-mash of past hits, really sells the film short and does not accurately represent its true qualities.

This really is an assured piece of filmmaking; Wan is at the top of his game here and is in total control of this film right from the opening frame and I loved the expert pacing of the film.  This is a film that is not afraid to take its time to tell its story and to let the audience build a relationship with all of the characters.  The film starts off very slowly, but this ultimately benefits it greatly as in this time we get to know all of the characters in the film, both the Perron and Warren families, and we start to care what happens to them.  Then as the haunting begins, the film continues to slowly build, gradually increasing with intensity until it explodes with unbearable tension in its gripping finale.

What Wan does extremely well is fill the world he has created with a reality that is present in every aspect of the production.  The period designs (both set and costume) are expertly handled, leaving little doubt in the mind of the viewer that what is taking place on screen is happening in 1971, but importantly the designs and period details are never over-the-top to the point of showing off.  I particularly loved the set of the house; it felt of the era with all of its décor and the fact that it felt genuinely like the structure was old and decrepit.  You could smell the mould on the walls it was that authentic.  

Wan is also ably assisted by his amazing ensemble cast who all ground their characters with a sense of honesty and reality.  There is an honest believability prevalent in the portrayals of both families here; you can feel the love and care that exists between the family members, as well as the worry and fear when their loved ones are in danger.  The standouts in the acting stakes are the parents from both families: Lili Taylor and Rod Livingston as Caroline and Roger Perron, and Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren respectively.  Wilson and Farmiga are particularly great and I loved the fact that they were portrayed as normal people (who believed in what they were doing), and not wacky kooks due to their misunderstood profession.  I also loved the way that the Warrens understood why people would be skeptical of what they do and also not to hold that against the person.  There is a great scene early on in “The Conjuring” when the Warrens actually prove to the occupants that their house is “not” haunted and actually goes about explaining why they are hearing the strange noises that they are.

Obviously “The Conjuring” deals with things that are supernatural in nature but never once are these things taken any other way but seriously.  There is no winking at the audience here; rather there is a level of respect shown to the story being told here which is actually quite rare in today’s horror films.  This seriousness and being able to create a sense of reality amongst all of the strangeness, dramatically helps in the conceiving of the scare scenes in “The Conjuring” and what ultimately makes them so successful.

When it comes to scarring an audience, there are some tried and true formulas that still work today (if handled correctly, no matter how familiar they are) as well as the day they were first created.  Wan seems to understand this and thus goes about creating a level of suspense that continually builds until it becomes unbearable, and then he hits the audience with the payoff scare.  One of the most intense scare sequences in the entire film has to do with one of the sisters standing next to an open door.  The camera slowly pushes into the darkness behind the girl until the door suddenly slams shut.  The entire scene is chilling and yet we see nothing; the scene is played out in our minds.  “The Conjuring” is full of such scenes and its reputation for being an intense ride is certainly well earned.

Never is this intensity more prevalent than in the film’s hair-raising finale.  What initially started out as a film about a haunting ultimately becomes about possession and again, this is a subject that is almost impossible to pull off convincingly and believably.  However, Wan and his team have done just that and it all comes down to how seriously they treat the situation.  For the Perron family, this is as serious as it gets; it is life or death, and thankfully this is how seriously the filmmakers have taken these scenes.  For mine, the finale of “The Conjuring” is one of the most intense and sweat-inducing scenes I have seen in a film for a very long time and one of the best interpretations of possession I have seen on film (and this is coming from a guy who rates “The Exorcist” as his favourite movie of all time).

Overall, “The Conjuring” is a stunning achievement from director James Wan and will indeed be considered a classic of the genre in the near future (if it is not already).  The film is almost without fault and comes with a building intensity and menace rarely seen in horror today.  Most amazingly is the fact that this is achieved without the use of gore or violence.  There is no doubt in my mind that once word of mouth spreads, “The Conjuring” will be one of the biggest hits of 2013.  Everyone should rush out to see this film; it is that good!!

4.5 Stars.