The Conjuring


2013 horror movie

Rating: 13/20 (Abbey: 13/20)

Plot: A family of six moves into a new house that apparently is already occupied by Satan.

Based on a true story, eh? This is a little too all-over-the-fucking-place, extending the limits of credibility, but it's still a fairly entertaining ride. Director James Wan, the guy who did the best Fast and the Furious movie, has a visual flair that reminded me a little of Sam Raimi, and the way the camera scoots around the interiors of this haunted home keeps things fresh even when the jump scares and horror cliches make it seem pedestrian. Some of the set pieces work very well, good old-fashioned nut-clinching horror sequences. Others fail to fit with the other horror antics, random happenings that kind of keep the whole thing from making complete sense. It's almost like the ghouls were part of some improvisational horror troupe, and not all of their bits worked as well as others. Cheap scares got in the way of the stuffed that worked, causing this to be frustratingly uneven.

I'm still intrigued enough to check out the sequel, maybe just because I have a thing for Vera Farmiga. Or maybe I have a thing for Patrick Wilson's sideburns. No, it's probably Vera Farmiga.

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