So contrary to popular opinion, I really don't hate every new and hip horror movie that comes out. Really. I quite enjoyed the first 'Saw', and enjoyed the first 'Paranormal Activity' for what it was. I was a bit surprised to see an exorcism movie being rated so highly by critics and fans, thus I was excited to finally be able to see it. After the disappointing Sinister (2012), I've still been waiting for a decent high-budget horror to come along and get under my skin. Sometimes for me, just the experience of seeing a movie in theaters can turn an otherwise average movie into a fun one. Between the loud, surround sound speakers and the huge screen that makes it hard to turn your head, I was really hoping that The Conjuring would finally please me. Unfortunately, this may be one of the most over rated films I've seen in a long time. This review will contain spoilers.
The whole 'based on a true story' thing just annoys me, so I went into this one not reading anything about the Warren family or the case involved. By the way, this film is probably about as 'based on a true story' as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was. I don't believe in anything paranormal, so until a demon from hell comes by and taps me on the shoulder one day, let's just ignore that aspect of the film. The movie follows the Perron family and their five children, who move into an old home in the country. As the family is moving in, the children discover a hidden basement that was boarded up. I know what everybody's thinking, something terrible must have happened there! Well, duh. It turns out that the basement is only filled with a lot of old furniture and cobwebs, but not much else. Or is it?
The family begins experiencing paranormal activity, such as banging noises in the walls and all the clocks in the house freezing at the same time. Of course, let's throw in a few dead animals and funny smells in the bedrooms for good measure. Hey, let's make some pictures fall off of the walls while we're at it and maybe open some creepy old doors. Despite feeling at this point like I was watching some sort of carbon copy, modern day remake of The Amityville Horror, I still clung to some small bit of hope that the next half of the film would deliver on some level. The wife seeks out the Warrens, a husband and wife team who specialize in demons and the paranormal. Lorraine Warren is some sort of clairvoyant and both her and her husband work with the Catholic church in terms of exorcisms and paranormal stuff. I guess this was the part that was 'based on a true story'. Anywho, the Warrens agree to help the family and upon arriving at their new home, they determine that the presence is indeed a demonic one and the house must be exorcised. Through Lorraine's psychic powers, she is able to discover what truly happened in the house many years ago. This all leads up the the final showdown between demon and humans, all of which culminates into an incredibly lame exorcism scene with an irritatingly dull happy ending.
The movie is exactly as lame as it sounds. Every genre cliche in the book is thrown in for good measure. A few jump scares here and there with your typical demonic faces and noises also work their way in. Some of the parts which attempted to build suspense just fell flat. If you're scared by creepy faces and demons hiding in corners, you may like this. That stuff doesn't do it for me. I understand that horror is a very cliche genre. How much more can you really do when making another haunted house/demon film? I think that the cliche of the genre as a whole has certainly been a challenge for new filmmakers and fans alike. But what draws us horror fans back and back again is that urge to feel frightened. Is it possible to make a rather cliche film, but make it scary? I would say absolutely. There are tons of horror films with the same concept. I sometimes wonder if anything is truly original anymore. We have our killers and madmen, our haunted houses, our demonic/possession flicks, psychological horror, etc. But in order to make a really good horror, your scares, setting, and story must either be effective on some level, or your movie must suck so bad that it's actually awesome. Unfortunately, The Conjuring fits neither of these criteria.
Some nice things I can say about the film was that the acting was very good, especially the role of the younger children. There was one particularly creepy and effective scene, in which the younger child sees someone behind her sister looking at her and is terrified, but the audience is never shown the entity. There was some very nice camera work in the film and overall it was really a very well made movie. Still, I can't help but wonder just how this movie got rated as highly as it is on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes. It's certainly a well made movie, but is that really enough? Are people not bothered by the fact that this movie is pretty much the same as any other standard exorcism movie that otherwise would just get brushed under the rug? Are we being brainwashed into liking this film just because critics are rating it so highly? I don't know. What I can tell you is that as a movie lover who has seen endless amounts of these kinds of films, there was nothing new here. If you want to compare this film to any of the other dreck coming out of Hollywood these days, you could almost say it's a breath of fresh air. Hey, at least it isn't a remake, right? It's for sure an above average horror when you look at all of the other options. However, for me, an above-average cliche doesn't make a film good. No one will remember this one in a few years. Disappointing.
RATING:
** 1/2 out of *****
The whole 'based on a true story' thing just annoys me, so I went into this one not reading anything about the Warren family or the case involved. By the way, this film is probably about as 'based on a true story' as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was. I don't believe in anything paranormal, so until a demon from hell comes by and taps me on the shoulder one day, let's just ignore that aspect of the film. The movie follows the Perron family and their five children, who move into an old home in the country. As the family is moving in, the children discover a hidden basement that was boarded up. I know what everybody's thinking, something terrible must have happened there! Well, duh. It turns out that the basement is only filled with a lot of old furniture and cobwebs, but not much else. Or is it?
The family begins experiencing paranormal activity, such as banging noises in the walls and all the clocks in the house freezing at the same time. Of course, let's throw in a few dead animals and funny smells in the bedrooms for good measure. Hey, let's make some pictures fall off of the walls while we're at it and maybe open some creepy old doors. Despite feeling at this point like I was watching some sort of carbon copy, modern day remake of The Amityville Horror, I still clung to some small bit of hope that the next half of the film would deliver on some level. The wife seeks out the Warrens, a husband and wife team who specialize in demons and the paranormal. Lorraine Warren is some sort of clairvoyant and both her and her husband work with the Catholic church in terms of exorcisms and paranormal stuff. I guess this was the part that was 'based on a true story'. Anywho, the Warrens agree to help the family and upon arriving at their new home, they determine that the presence is indeed a demonic one and the house must be exorcised. Through Lorraine's psychic powers, she is able to discover what truly happened in the house many years ago. This all leads up the the final showdown between demon and humans, all of which culminates into an incredibly lame exorcism scene with an irritatingly dull happy ending.
The movie is exactly as lame as it sounds. Every genre cliche in the book is thrown in for good measure. A few jump scares here and there with your typical demonic faces and noises also work their way in. Some of the parts which attempted to build suspense just fell flat. If you're scared by creepy faces and demons hiding in corners, you may like this. That stuff doesn't do it for me. I understand that horror is a very cliche genre. How much more can you really do when making another haunted house/demon film? I think that the cliche of the genre as a whole has certainly been a challenge for new filmmakers and fans alike. But what draws us horror fans back and back again is that urge to feel frightened. Is it possible to make a rather cliche film, but make it scary? I would say absolutely. There are tons of horror films with the same concept. I sometimes wonder if anything is truly original anymore. We have our killers and madmen, our haunted houses, our demonic/possession flicks, psychological horror, etc. But in order to make a really good horror, your scares, setting, and story must either be effective on some level, or your movie must suck so bad that it's actually awesome. Unfortunately, The Conjuring fits neither of these criteria.
Some nice things I can say about the film was that the acting was very good, especially the role of the younger children. There was one particularly creepy and effective scene, in which the younger child sees someone behind her sister looking at her and is terrified, but the audience is never shown the entity. There was some very nice camera work in the film and overall it was really a very well made movie. Still, I can't help but wonder just how this movie got rated as highly as it is on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes. It's certainly a well made movie, but is that really enough? Are people not bothered by the fact that this movie is pretty much the same as any other standard exorcism movie that otherwise would just get brushed under the rug? Are we being brainwashed into liking this film just because critics are rating it so highly? I don't know. What I can tell you is that as a movie lover who has seen endless amounts of these kinds of films, there was nothing new here. If you want to compare this film to any of the other dreck coming out of Hollywood these days, you could almost say it's a breath of fresh air. Hey, at least it isn't a remake, right? It's for sure an above average horror when you look at all of the other options. However, for me, an above-average cliche doesn't make a film good. No one will remember this one in a few years. Disappointing.
RATING:
** 1/2 out of *****