Warner Bros. sent me an early Blu-Ray copy of their latest box-office success The Conjuring. I never got the opportunity to watch this film in theaters but I have to admit that watching The Conjuring in the comfort of my living room was a better choice. Halfway through the story I had to resort to watching parts of it through my fingers, cowardly shielding my eyes from the nerve-racking scenes.
The Conjuring is directed by James Wan, a man who truly knows his horror. The Conjuring felt like a simplistic and cohesive horror story that kept me at the edge of my seat. From the beginning scene with the 1970′s style title card, Wan directs us through haunted scenes that are reminiscent of classics such as The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist.
The storyline was very linear, never straying from the fundamentals of what a horror movie should be. The big empty house, the loving family that moves int and is oblivious to its dark past. Disembodied voices and noises. All the cliche stuff is there yet the cast and those behind the cameras are talented enough to make this story look alive and unnervingly authentic.
I like the theme and tone that The Conjuring carried. It could easily become one of my all-time favorite horror films. Well, behind The Exorcist and a few others of course.
Blu-ray/DVD release.
As far as a horror movie goes, this one is well done. But what about the supposed real stories behind the movie? The story of a haunted doll that terrorized two nursing students in their apartment? Or the story behind the Perron family? Those who claimed to be haunted by several ghosts while living in their isolated farmhouse in the 1970s.