Honestly? I've seen this one a few times and holy cow is this a PROPER scare of a film. The Conjuring (2013) is one wickedly well-done horror (and terror) film. Congrats to literally everyone involved, because this is a masterpiece. Not only are the characters there and interesting, but the scares are well-done, the effects were supportive of the terror that had been built up, and the unexpected is to be expected. Bravo!
Now let's talk about a few different aspects of this film. The audio design. Holy tortellini, do I love me an immersive sound design. This entire film made me feel like I was IN it. Sure, it helped that it was dark and my lights were off, but the moments of near-silence and the very jarring calls to attention the score and sound effects lent to this film were well-placed, and clearly not by accident. The hide-and-clap moment is, of course, one of the more frightening moments earlier on in the film, but that sound design really induced me to shit myself just a little.
The visual effects, mostly practical, were INCREDIBLE bro. I don't even know which moment to pick. Bathsheba's face in the finale turning to Ed Warren in shock? Or the floating chair? Or the kids being dragged and thrown around by their hair? All marvelously done, and if I remember correctly, these were almost all practically done. Which is not only killer impressive, but also makes for a long-lasting, resilient, and fun-to-watch film.
The plot: now here is where again I am bothered by Jesus-saves-everyone moments, but I liked that that over-arching plot definitely became more about the haunt becoming so bad that they had to use their own internal faith in the Divine to defeat Bathsheba's violent repetition of killing children and then the woman she is possessing. The plot went on to be paced quite well from beginning to end, and each character lent themselves to creating a believable world.
I loved every character. All the kids. The parents. Ed and Lorraine. Even the poltergeists were brilliant in their brief moments of performance. Everyone was believable and real.
In fact most of these characters WERE based on real people. See here for cool lore. You can also book the haunted house for a haunted visit. I'm not kidding.
"It turns out there was actually a real person named Bathsheba Sherman who lived on the Perrons property in the mid-1800s. She was rumored to have been a Satanist, and there was evidence that she had been involved in the death of a neighbor’s child, though no trial ever took place. She was buried in a nearby Baptist cemetery in downtown Harrisville.
The Perrons believe that it was Bathsheba’s spirit that was tormenting them. ... Over the ten years that the family lived in the house, the Warrens made multiple trips to investigate. At one point, Lorraine conducted a seance to attempt to contact the spirits that were possessing the family. During the seance, Carolyn Perron became possessed, speaking in tongues and rising from the ground in her chair."
Well, I won't be sleeping tonight. Anyways go watch this movie.
-B
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