Being one of, if not the scariest movie I have seen, James Wan’s movie, The Conjuring kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire movie. James Wan is also known for movies such as Saw, Lights Out, and Insidious. The Conjuring, which is rated R, was released July 19 2013 and is roughly based on a true story, in part this is one of the reasons it is so terrifying. There are four primary protagonists in this film, Vera Farmiga plays Lorraine Warren, Patrick Wilson plays Ed Warren, Lili Taylor plays Carolyn Perron, and Ron Livingston plays Roger Perron. The Conjuring is both very well made and terrifyingly scary in ways that make a very successful horror movie.
This film takes place in the 1970’s when a family, the Perrons, move into an old house out in the country. The film creates a very innocent and sweet vibe to the family, there are the two parents and five daughters varying in age. They seem very happy and they all tend to get along. On the other side of the coin we get a glimpse of the Warrens, they are paranormal researchers who help to solve cases where there are ghosts or demons present. We see an old case that they once were involved in that puts us on edge so at the start of the movie we are already a little creeped out.
One of my favorite aspects of this film is that we get a lot of backstory and depth to the characters, which adds dimension to the movie and gives us the reasons why things are happening, unlike some other horror movies where we have no clue why things are happening. As the family moves into the house they start to experience supernatural events that they cannot explain. The filmmakers use things such as the absence of light and medium close ups to create some severe and well placed jump scares within the film. One of the most effective ways in which this is done is by using a game that the girls play called “hide and clap”. This is a game played by the girls and throughout the movie is a motif that continues throughout the film.
An example of when it was used to build a sense of creepiness is when we see hands clap within a wardrobe but no one is in the wardrobe. It turns into a full on jump scare when it is used by the demon to put out the mother’s match which surrounds her in darkness and she proceeds to fall down the stairs. Besides the jump scare this motif adds a sense of creepiness to the movie because when it happens we don’t know what is about to happen.
The fact that they add a backstory to what is going on in this film really adds a sense of “realism” within the film. We come to understand that a witch had cursed the land and devoted herself to the devil and killed herself after sacrificing her child so this helps us to understand why the mothers starts to be targeted and then wants to go after her daughter. This added a sense of fear not as much because of the story itself but because it gave it a sense that things like this could happen in the real world because they are based on things that some people really believe and have done. Another way in which they do this is by making it religious in a sense. They use religious items such as crosses, holy water, and verses from the Bible, to fight the demon the movie. This gives the movie a sense of being real as well because it connects the events to a real world idea and something that many people in the world believe in.
The Conjuring is a very well made and well performed movie that really creates a lot of fear and a lot of terror both when you sit down to watch the movie and when you have gone home. It follows you and stays in your mind which is a mark of a truly scary movie.
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