The CONJURING Classic Horror Revisited

RATING: 3.5/5

The Conjuring's biggest scare is the tagline 'Based on a True Story'. One might try googling the movie and end up finding a list of websites that shed light on the real family and its history too. But the movie makers also tried to recreate whatever history it claims to be based on, in the most old-school way possible.
It's a story about satanism, eternal haunting, paranormal encounters and investigations, and of course, the salvation in the name of an exorcism. It's got the family (the Perrons) that is caught unaware, and the family that takes the duty of the heroes up its sleeves (the infamous Ed and Lorraine Warren). We come across gadgets and technology that movies on paranormal activity have always celebrated. It has a cloud of familiarity to it in terms of story, events, sounds and sequences, and yet manages to be very refreshing.
The most refreshing feature has to be how the movie tries to not take the usual route of suddenness to scare the audience and instead tries to involve the audience with build-up and keeps them waiting for the scare. It's the waiting and the dreadful awareness that something bad can happen that kept me afraid the most. It relies less on the gore and disturbing appearance of the ghosts, and more on the story and the pace. And it's a big success for the director, James Wan, whose glory days lie undoubtedly on the back of the “Saw” franchise. It's good to find a movie with no exaggerated effects, camera work, make-up and gore. But it's also not too toned down.
The soundtrack is just right. Its chill factor and eeriness complement the pace of the movie. The acting is good too, and the children deserve to be mentioned for their mature performances.
This is a smartly made movie with just the right amount of spooks to be considered good horror, but not annoyingly scary that would make life and visits to the bathroom impossible for a few days.
Watch this if you liked The Last Exorcism, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Paranormal Activity.