500 Days Of Film Reviews The Conjuring And Isn’t Scared At All… Honestly
When the Perron family and their (many) daughters move into a new house they feel inspired by the new life that awaits them. More space, fresh country air and a home to make lots of new family memories in.
However, their optimism is short lived. Strange things start to happen in the house. Bumps in the night, strange noises, stopped clocks and nasty rotting smells.
Terrified, the family seeks the help of two well known and experienced paranormal investigators - Ed and Lorraine Warren.
What the Warrens find in the house will push them to their very limits.
This is a true story...
Is It Any Good?
I was intrigued by The Conjuring because it is based on a true story. Plus I had heard some pretty decent reviews about the film. The cast list looked good (Vera Farmiga is brilliant as Lorraine Warren and Patrick Wilson turns in a strong performance as Ed) and so I settled down to watch.
Now, I have watched many horror films in recent weeks. I’ve even created a list of my top 20 favourite scary movies. When (or if) asked, I will often choose horror as my favourite movie genre.
Why?
Well, not because I like gore or have any interest at all in seeing someone hurt. No. I like horror films because I have fun being scared - so long as I am in the safe environment of a cinema or on my sofa at home.
And this, I think, is why I was really disappointed with The Conjuring. It just didn’t scare me at all. Not once. It really didn’t even creep me out.
In the end, I felt like I had seen it all before and done better. However, that isn’t the real problem here. After all, genre movies always tread over familiar ground. The main problem was that I wasn’t really that invested in any of the characters.
Would The Conjuring have been better, scarier, if it had focused more on the family or on the Warrens instead of trying to do both? I certainly would have used Vera Farmiga more myself.
I was quite interested in the Warrens and their paranormal investigations. Indeed, at one point in the film, I had to stop myself from Googling them. That doesn’t say much for my engagement with this film now does it.
Random Observations
I am wondering if I am becoming immune to horror, having watched so many scary movies over the past few weeks. May have to do some more research on this point!
The Conjuring’s box office success led to a spin-off movie about the doll called Annabelle. This doll is real and was confiscated by the Warrens. What really made me laugh was when I compared the doll from the movie and the real doll. Who would ever want to play with the movie doll????
Have you seen The Conjuring? If so, what did you think of this movie? Did it scare you? Let me know in the comments section below!