The Conjuring

After a fantastic opening title sequence "The Conjuring" seemed like it was going to fall into the same realm of today's version of "scary" movies, which in fact aren't scary at all. The first half hour or so is filled with the standard "Paranormal Activity" "scares" of creaking floor boards, doors closing on their own and creepy children. Thankfully though "The Conjuring" then takes a unpredicted turn and while the filmmaker still uses the old standard scare tactics the execution is such that "The Conjuring" ranks for me as one of the better standard scary movies of the last decade.

"The Conjuring" is based on a "true" account from real life Ghostbusters and husband and wife team Ed and Lorraine Warren. I'll say that while Ed and Lorraine are in fact real people and ghost-busting is their real profession I'm sure as with most "based on a true story" flicks a lot of liberties are taken here. Director James Wan, who most notably made his debut with the original and easily best movie in the now defunct "Saw" franchise and more recently with another haunted house flick "Insidious", which I found unbearably not scary and forgettable other than a great performance by Barbara Hershey. "Conjuring" and "Insidious" share a lot of the same DNA, including star Patrick Wilson but whether its the true story elements or just learning from past mistakes "The Conjuring" is vastly more superior and effective than "Insidious". The big difference is that "The Conjuring" is not your ordinary scary movie in that it borrows from many different genres and past movies.

Homages to "The Exorcist", "Amityville Horror" and "Rosemary's Baby" among other great scary movies are all evident here. As opposed to playing out one genre to death "The Conjuring" gives us numerous tastes but never enough to either become boring or repetitive. The exorcism angle was for me most notable as it is very rarely effective on film unless you are watching "The Exorcist" and in this day of computer special effects they chose to use old school make-up effects which makes it look more real which in turn makes it more scary. Creaking floor boards and things of that nature don't really do it for me in terms of getting the chills but as evidenced by the popularity in "Paranormal Activity" people do go for that stuff and there is a lot of it here as well. The musical score, as composed by Joseph Bishara adds to the scare tactics implemented here.

"The Conjuring" is also composed of a surprising for the genre high pedigree cast.  The before mentioned Patrick Wilson (Watchmen)  rebounds from his horrible guest starring role in last seasons "Girls" to play Ed Warren and as his wife Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel) shows she can do this type of genre in her sleep. Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Lily Taylor (Say Anything) round out the adult cast. As was the case with "Pacific Rim" there are very good child performances in "The Conjuring", especially from relative newcomer Joey King who looks like she may be following in the footsteps of Jodie Foster and more recently Chloe Grace Moretz.

Telling you the scary parts of a movie is like telling you the funny parts in a movie, it just doesn't work. What can be said though as someone who is one of the biggest skeptics of "scary" movies out there "The Conjuring" by maybe just process of elimination as there is nothing released recently to compare it to is something that as either a genre fan or as someone looking to get to 2nd base should lay down the cash and go see.