Film Review – The Conjuring

Director: James Wan
Screenplay: Carey Hayes, Chad Hayes,
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Kyla Deaver                        
Genre: Horror Thriller
Rating: ***
Venue: Ster Kinekor Maerua Mall Cine 2

Rating Score
* – Poor
** – Average
*** – Good
**** – Very Good
***** – Excellent

I have always been a fan of horror films, there is just something about them that leaves one wanting more. Something about them drives you off the edge, makes you watch them with only one eye open but with so much curiosity to see what will happen next. Some even leave you feeling haunted. ‘The Conjuring’ fits perfectly into the description of an awesome horror movie. In The Conjuring, the Perrons are a close-knit family of seven who move into a beautiful lake house in the serenity of the woods. Unbeknown to them the pretty house is haunted by the worst ghosts that the human mind can imagine.
They move into the house and then strange things start to happen. First their dog Sadie, that had somewhat of a sixth sense about the house refuses to enter the house. Head of the house Roger (Ron Livingston) sees it as a failure of adjustment to new surroundings for the dog, but begins to suspect something when his last born, April (Kyla Deaver) finds the family pet lying in a pool of blood with its throat slit the morning after the family moved into their new home. Birds that fly over the house fall to the ground and break their necks, picture frames begin falling off the wall and then all the watches and clocks in the house stop at 03.07 am.
One of the children then discovers a hidden cellar door which leads to a discovery of even more haunting things. The mother, Carolyn (Lili Taylor) wakes up with bruises on her body. All these bizarre events prompt the couple to enlist the services of paranormal investigating couple Lorraine, a clairvoyant played by Vera Farmiga and Warren, a demonologistplayed by Patrick Wilson to help them get to the root of the strange events occurring in their home.
It starts off slow and somewhat gets confusing in some of the scenes where it looks like the Warrens and the Perrons are in two different eras but then builds up to become quite an adrenalin rush film. It has just the right amount of scares at the right moment when you least expect them. I take my hat off to Director James Wan for getting it right on that part, because its not often that one watches a scary movie that is not predictable. The actors are very convincing, the dialogue is excellent and the scary scenes are actually very scary. Frightening music boxes, dead bodies floating in lakes, closets with zombies and scary dolls, all make The Conjuring an awesome movie. However it will make you think twice about buying property on auction or property which you don’t know the history of. It’s so scary I could not even watch the credits at the end of the film. All I wanted to do was get out of the cinema hall in case Annabell the doll comes after me. The adrenalin rushes in most scenes of the movie leave you imagining ghosts and even screaming out of the blue. Trust me if you do not believe in ghosts or in haunting dolls you surely will after this.