The Conjuring - Review

The Conjuring tells the true story of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. They encounter a supernatural force while investigating the Perron household in 1971. What they find is both disturbing and dangerous.


I have been excited for this movie ever since I saw the clapping teaser trailer earlier this year. I am also a big fan of James Wan's work so I probably would have seen it regardless. This movie has been surrounded with hype about how terrifying and disturbing it is and I have seen pictures on Twitter where some theaters are posting warnings outside of the theater exit. Now that I have seen it I have to say that although I didn't find it terrifying, it was definitely very creepy at times. Very well done.

As far as the plot goes, this is a tricky one seeing that it is based on a true story. The keyword is "based." The basis of the movie is Ed and Lorraine Warren are asked to investigate a supernatural entity inside Roger and Carolyn Perron's farmhouse. The couple acquired the home via auction from the bank so they didn't know the history of the home. The Warrens uncover the truth and immediately begin work trying to find proof so they can identify the problem.
The oldest Perron daughter, Andrea, explains the film as an interpretation of their story through the point of view of the Warrens. Andrea Perron has actually written a 3-part book about the family's experiences in the house titled House of Darkness, House of Light. She credits James Wan for taking the essence of their experiences and condensing them into a two hour movie. She also notes that both she and Lorraine Warren gave the studio tons of information and the screenwriters were basically forced to pick and choose what to include and what not to include. She describes the movie as a work of art and not a work of fiction. She welcomes the skeptics and asks that they send any comments and questions her way and is sticking to the fact that the movie is indeed based off a true story.

With all that said, I loved the flow of the movie. I thought the intensity and overall creep factor was very high. Like I said before, I didn't find it terrifying but it was pretty creepy. The way the movie starts is with a separate case to introduce the Warrens. One thing to remember when going into this movie is the central characters aren't really the members of the Perron family. The main characters are Ed and Lorraine Warren.
I thought the acting was fantastic and it was apparent that the actors did their research. Lili Taylor was fantastic and it's kind of a shame that she didn't have more screentime. Very believable portrayal of a woman scared out of her mind. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga were also very good. I enjoyed the way they portrayed the characters and they had great chemistry.
One thing I loved was they didn't overuse the cheap scares. Of course there were jump scares, but in my opinion those types of scares rely on sound cues as well. The way the moments went in this movie was the initial imagery came before the actual scare. It gives you a little time to process what is happening and lets you almost react before the person on screen does. It's always a fun feeling to look at the person on the screen and want to shout, "look behind you!" I had a lot of fun with it.
I do have to say that I didn't expect it to be a possession movie in the end, though. It didn't kill the movie for me but it wasn't what I was expecting. 

Overall I found this a very well done movie in general, not just a horror movie. It had an interesting story, interesting characters, and it had a very creepy atmosphere. Comparing it to Wan's previous movie Insidious I will say it is very similar in nature and a lot of the cinematography was familiar, but I thought The Conjuring was better. That isn't saying Insidious was bad, but it wasn't on the same level. The Conjuring had more of an interesting story for me.
As a horror fan and a movie fan in general I definitely recommend this movie. I was not disappointed in any way. I don't want to spoil anything or discuss too much, but I think the part that gave me the biggest creep factor was the clapping sequence. It was teased in the trailers but it was a lot more intensive in the final product.

More info regarding the real case of the Perron family and the Warrens work can be found here.

#TheConjuring

V/H/S/2 - Review

V/H/S/2 is the sequel to 2012's V/H/S where two private investigators searching for a missing student find a series of VHS tapes and find more than they bargained for in regards to the disappearance of the student.

I decided to watch this one mainly because I really enjoyed V/H/S, at least for what it was worth. I thought the format was cool and that a lot of things worked. Although the sequel isn't perfect it did fix a lot of problems the first one had and brought a lot more to the table. I really enjoyed V/H/S/2 and I honestly think it is a little better than the first one.

Starting off with the sequences:

1. A man gets a robotic eye after a car accident and is forced to record everything he sees for trial purposes. He starts having visions of dead people and encounters a fellow disabled woman who tries to explain what is happening to him.

2. A man riding his bike through the woods encounters a wounded woman who transforms into the living dead. He is bitten by her and discovered by two fellow bikers and it quickly becomes a zombie epidemic.

3. A small film crew making a documentary about a local cult gets a lot more than they expected to see when they are allowed into the cult's compound to interview their leader.

4. A group of children and teenagers having a slumber party full of tricks and harmless pranks is crashed when a UFO lands and they meet aliens don't seem to be searching for friends.


I have seen many other people say this already, but #3 is by far the best of the entire movie and probably one of the best horror shorts I have seen in a long time. I don't want to ruin exactly what happens because it is just that good. It is the longest of the shorts and takes up a decent chunk of the movie and it is worth every second. 
#1 and #2 were alright. I think #2 was a lot better than #1. I love zombies in general, but this one was just great. The amount of satire and comedy that went into it was great. It was basically a zombie POV video and it was funny and original.
I think the weakest was #4. It felt like a home movie that would show up on Ridiculousness only it got crashed by aliens. That and the dead dog just killed it for me. They definitely didn't save the best for last.

One thing I will give V/H/S/2 is they made more of a story outside of the actual tapes. The first one was just a bunch of shaky cam with thieves who happen to find tapes. In this one the characters are actually invested in each other and there is an underlying plot aside from the tapes. The tapes actually have relevance to what happens with the private investigators and the student. I really liked that.

Overall this was a pretty good horror flick. It was a lot better than V/H/S in my opinion and is definitely worth a watch. It might surprise you.

Sinister - Review

Sinister tells the story of a true crime novelist who is trying to revive his career by moving into a house where a horrific crime took place. In his pursuit of the truth, for the sake of his book, he uncovers secrets and legends that not only uncover why the crime took place but also puts his family in danger.


I had intended to see Sinister when it was in theaters, but I never really got around to it. When I heard it was going to be on DVD I immediately added it to my rental queue and I am happy to say this was not a wasted rental. I really enjoyed Sinister. I thought the plot was great, the imagery and cinematography was beautiful and haunting, and the acting really wasn't too shabby. There were things I didn't quite get but overall I was happy.

Starting off with what I did like is the plot. Without giving too much away I thought it was well executed. Portraying Ethan Hawke to be this novelist who is dragging his family from place to place trying to recreate previous success he had was a good setup. He lies to his family and doesn't tell them they are moving into a house where a family was murdered and the secrecy adds to his stress and nervousness when he begins to discover evidence and information about the crime scene. I loved it.
I also loved the imagery. I thought the home movies, or found-footage, that were in the attic were very creepy looking but it was one of those can't look away scenarios. Each one started with normal, family footage and ended with something terrible which was great. The movies were old fashioned, grainy, and had a very eerie vibe to them. Kudos to the cinematography, for sure.

Some stuff I didn't like mostly lies with the sound and what I thought was an overuse of music. This mostly has to do with the home movies. Each movie had a different tune to them and while they were creepy little tunes I felt they were a bit unnecessary. I think the movies would have been more effective and creepier if they were played in silence only with the noise of the film projector and the outside noise of the house. That is how I would have done it.
It also fell victim to my main gripe with current horror films which is the overuse of jump scares and loud, sudden sound cues. I hate this with a passion and it's not because I fall for them. I never fall for them but I find them annoying and the only reason people are getting scared is because they get the adrenaline rush when they are startled. They aren't scared by the actual material and that is where horror is failing right now. People need to start relying on the material and not on sound and visual tricks. I thought the movie itself was creepy enough to stick with the audience, but apparently they didn't.
It also was hard for me to take Beguul (aka, Mr. Boogie) seriously due to the fact that he looks like a member of Slipknot, but that isn't anything major.

Apart from that I do want to reiterate that I did like Sinister despite the faults. Oddly enough I think the faults showed that they were insecure of the film and didn't think it was scary enough on its own. It also adds elements of two different genres that meshed quite well. At times I couldn't decide whether I was watching a crime thriller or a horror movie. That added to the overall suspense, though. Not a bad movie. Probably one of the better horror movies I have seen in recent years.