The Conjuring (2013, James Wan)

Being a fan of "Insidious" and most of James Wan's other flicks, I had relatively high hopes for "The Conjuring". Based on the some of the trailers I had seen beforehand, it thought it looked kinda similar to "Insidious", as well as a plethora of other modern supernatural films, but so did "Insidious" and I was quite pleasantly surprised with that one. Despite my hopefulness, this one was kind of a let down...

A family moves into a new house out in the sticks and the five daughters begin experiencing sinister paranormal occurrences, as well as the mother who ends up taking the brunt of it all, for sure! So they call upon the help of a married couple who are known demonologists who quickly deem their house fit for an exorcism...

Really, "The Conjuring" could've been alternately titled "Insidious in the 70s". It's apparently based on an actual account of a vicious haunting documented by a married paranormal investigating team led by renowned ghost-hunters, Ed and Lorraine Warren. That's fine, though I'm personally not into true stories that are based on supernatural phenomenon. Not one ounce of me believes in it and they mostly just turn out to be bullshit hoaxes that are embellished with all kinds of 'cinematic liberties'. I mean, how else can you do it?! The set up here is pretty much the same as "Insidious" (except there's no comatose kid) such as, the mom being one of the main spectators of the ghostly/demonic activity, they call on the paranormal experts (including a pair of buffoonish technical guys) who inform them that these malevolent entities have pretty much fastened themselves to their family until they manage to cast them out, via a religious ritual. Also, Patrick Wilson - the dad from "Insidious" - is back (no real drastic change in his performance), but with groovy 70s side burns. And Wan's infatuation with evil looking dolls forces a somewhat out-of-place side-story involving the paranormal couple's daughter and a demonically possessed doll named Annabelle...

To be fair, I thought "The Conjuring" was decent, despite it not really doing anything new. Wan definately has a knack for tension, moodiness and intense creepiness, though this proficiency doesn't come across as "strong" this time around. It felt a little like a quick cash-in considering he came right off of "Insidious" and they actually ran a trailer for "Insidious Chapter 2" before the flick, which looked NO different than the original or the movie I was about to watch. I hope Wan doesn't ride this cash-cow much further cuz it's getting a bit over-played, in my opinion. Still, "The Conjuring" is fine. Little more dependent on the jump-scares than I hoped and not as inventive as I was expecting coming from James Wan. However, on the plus side, you get Lily Taylor getting all possessed and taking a bite outta some motherfucker. That was almost worth the price of admission.