Monday, August 5, 2013
Most of you know that I’m a little girl at heart. I know that is an odd way to start a review, but just go with me. What I’m trying to say is: even though I scare very easily, I still really enjoy a good horror movie. But recently it’s been hard to come by a really excellent horror film. We had Cabin in the Woods, which was excellent, but more horror comedy than anything. And we also had Insidious and Sinister, which were superb horror films. But those have been the exceptions. Most of the horror films that come out nowadays are all about jump scares and graphic murders. This fact made me very hesitant about how good The Conjuring was going to be.
The Conjuring follows the story of the Parren family when they move into a new home in Rhode Island. After a few nights, strange things start occuring in the Parren household. As the strange occurrences start to escalate, the Parrens seek the assistance of two demonologists: Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren.
This movie has so much going for it, so let me just go down the list.
The biggest strength of this film probably falls to the cast. There are so many strong performers in this film that it’s really hard to narrow down just one. Every single person who appears on screen gives an excellent performances, whether it be Joey King or Lili Taylor or even Ron Livingston, they all do an excellent job. I thought the film was going to be driven heavily by Wilson and Farmiga, but I was really surprised at how strong of an ensemble piece this really was.
But great acting can’t support and entire movie. Which brings me to my next point: the script. I absolutely loved the script for this film. It was so simple, but also so elegant. In the last decade, we have gotten a lot of haunting films, but this one takes that concept and goes a little further with it. We get to learn more about the characters and see how the haunting effects them. This is much more about establishing character than scaring you. And to go one step further, this movie is more about scaring you with suspense, then scaring you with jumps and monsters. That is such a throwback to classic horror films that really hit home with me.
Lastly, I want to talk about two things (that sentence got away from me...) Those are the visuals and the score. I think that in order to make any good horror movie, you need one of the two, but The Conjuring managed to have both. The visuals in this film were very well framed, as to focus your eye in the right place and draw your attention to exactly what it needs to be on. As with any horror film, framing is the key to causing tension in the audience and actually frightening them. Then you couple that with a bone chilling score, and you have yourself a winner.
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I’m still having a little trouble believing how much I enjoyed this movie. It is an excellent horror movie that is a throwback to the classics of the genre. It doesn’t solely rely on jump scares, but depends more heavily on a good (and eerie) plot. Coupled with excellent acting, a cringe-inducing score, and spot on visuals, this movie is a must see this summer.
Writing: 7.5/10
Visuals: 8.5/10
Acting: 8.5/10
Pacing: 7.5/10
Score: 7.5/10
Rewatchability: 7.5/10
Score: 7.8/10
