Review: The Conjuring (2013)

'It's not the house that's haunted...'

★★★★

I've watch a lot of horror movies, with only a few select being consider fantastic movies. Modern horror is usually a hit or miss with me, but "The Conjuring" actually surprised me. It honestly felt like a modern version of The Exorcist, with the vibes I was getting. But I did also get vibes from the game, "Phasmophobia (2020)." Both products share paranormal investigation elements, even though, "Phasmophobia" came out seven years after this movie.

In 1970, Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger Perron (Ron Livingston) invite paranormal investigators and demonologists Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) to their house. A ghostly presence has emerged in the remote farmhouse where the Perrons and their five daughters recently moved. At first, the manifestations are very harmless, but as the Warrens learn of the house's gruesome past, things quickly go out of control.

When Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson were cast, they met with the real Lorraine Warren to better understand their characters. Over the course of three days at the Warren home, both actors gathered insights that couldn’t be obtained from secondary research. Speaking of Lorraine, she served as a creative consultant on the film, providing the crew with the story and every detail, as the film was based on a real-life event she encountered. When the film was released, Lorraine gave her stamp of approval and praised the work. If you're adapting someone's story, you have to stay true to their experiences.

Unlike most horror films, where the monster and jump scares are the primary source of fear, this film makes everything scary. From all that happens to the characters, even the smallest details become terrifying. It builds suspense and hypes up the audience. We don’t really know what’s happening or why, but is that a problem? Not at all—that’s how a film should be made. It should follow a story and not reveal everything right from the start.

As the film progresses, it does things we least expect. Each night, something different—or something unsettlingly similar—occurs. One night, it may cause thudding sounds or slam doors; on another, it may drop all the photos hung above the stairs. That’s part of the reason this movie works so well. We know something is inside, but we don’t know what it’s going to do next. This unpredictability mirrors real-life fear experiences—we know fear lurks within us, but its manifestations always surprise us. The Conjuring’s clever pacing taps into this psychological truth, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats.

The director, James Wan, does a fantastic job with this film. Watching it from a technical standpoint, you can appreciate the variety of shots he uses to convey emotions, feelings, and atmosphere through his creative camerawork. One of my biggest pet peeves in films is the use of "shaky cam." It’s a distracting and lazy technique; the picture isn’t fully focused, and it’s hard to concentrate when the camera is bouncing up and down. It’s as if the director is filming a silly vlog on his dad’s bulky Sony camera. James Wan avoids using shaky cam, making the experience feel both realistic and engaging.