The Conjuring (2013)

Directed by:
James Wan

Written by:
Chad Hayes & Carey W. Hayes

Main Cast:
Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, John Brotherton, Shannon Kook, Joseph Bishara, and Lili Taylor

The Plot:
Trusted paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) are given the most traumatic case of their lives in 1971, when they are called to a farmhouse in rural Rhode Island. Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor), along with their five daughters, have only just moved in when increasingly violent, supernatural disturbances infect their home.

The Review:
Old-school horror is alive and well in the form of James Wan. With the exception of Ti West, and a tiny handful of other contemporaries, no filmmaker today comes closer to invoking the classic scarefests from the 70s and early 80s. Having made his name as the co-creator of the Saw franchise, Wan has since moved onto classier fare, such as the spooky but ultimately mediocre Dead Silence. However, it was his incredibly frightening Insidious which began to tip off audiences and critics alike that a potential master was at work. And while The Conjuring is yet another film that deals with an imperiled family inside a haunted house, it never once feels derivative.

Working from a smart, three-dimensional script by Chad and Carey W. Hayes, Wan has outdone himself. Because the story is based (albeit embellished) on actual events, the production team does an outstanding job in keeping the specifics of the haunting as grounded and realistic as possible. By placing an emphasis on practical effects and makeup over CGI and excessive gore, it becomes all the more easy to believe in what is happening to the Perron family. Wan has proven himself to be a master manipulator, both in how he stages the suspense and the attention to detail he pays throughout the story. When a possibly malevolent doll named Annabelle is introduced within the first five minutes, Wan knows that the audience will not forget it, and the way he brings her back into the plot later on is absolutely delicious. Whether it is ghostly hands emerging from an armoire, or the idea that a dark figure is standing behind the bedroom door, each scene is assuredly carried out to achieve the maximum effect.

But apart from the horror aspect, what distinguishes the film even further is the relationships that are built amongst the characters. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga successfully establish Ed and Lorraine as a loving couple whose unique gifts work perfectly in synch with one another. While they have made their living dealing with the otherworldly, it refreshingly does not define them as people. Farmiga gives her a performance a particularly haunted quality, suggesting the psychological toll that each successive case has taken on Lorraine. As the patriarch of Perron family, a close-knit unit that has become prey for a hateful entity, Ron Livingston is completely servicable as Roger, but his role is the most undernourished of the bunch. However, Lili Taylor all but steals the film with her sympathetic and entirely convincing performance as Carolyn, an adoring mother whose life is about to change for the disastrous. The five young actresses playing their daughters are all superlative, especially Joey King, who gets one of the film's most indelible sequences as Christine.

Production values are all top-notch, with shadowy and intricate cinematography by John R. Leonetti, impressively layered sound design, spot-on 70's wardrobe and art direction that never appears cheesy, and a characteristically eerie musical score by Joseph Bishara. As stated before, Wan has crafted a sophisticated and truly frightening experience worthy of the genre's most celebrated pieces, affectionately recalling 1973's The Exorcist and 1982's Poltergeist never mimicking them. He understands that, without characters worth investing in, the horror will never resonate. And as the intensity continues to escalate throughout The Conjuring, the viewer can certainly sense the joy that Wan feels in making them jump out of their skin. This is one of very best of its kind in over a decade.

**** out of ****