Film: The Conjuring (2013)

I used to doodle that swirley thing shiit

Years back I did a sort of 'October-fest', though not with those nifty trousers or any of the kind of festivities involving loads of alcohol - I watched one scary movie a day. I wouldn't exactly call the majority of those flicks scary, but they were certainly childhood classics that I enjoyed that celebrated the spirit of Halloween. I'm a huge fan of Halloween, though usually it's the moral-high-ground plots (you bad ghost you) and cute pumpkins and skeletons who sing songs. I've never been inclined to sit down screaming my head off, as the last scary film I watched voluntarily was The Ring back when it first came out. Somehow that film wasn't so terrifying, but that's because I was mesmerized with the cinematography most of the time (Goré Verbinski knows his shit). The Conjuring I've heard of for a while, and like always the sentence 'scariest movie of - - -' appeared repeatedly. There's always some line about how magnificently terrifying something is, so I found myself bothered enough to watch it. We kick off my newly reinstated 'October-fest' with something actually freaky (I've got like one hour and fifty minutes worth of footage where I'm screaming my head off).

The film starts with us getting to know a married couple The Warren's - Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) who both deal daily with the supernatural. Not in a ghostbusters-kind of way of course, as it's an eery enough intro with a pair of women getting spooked by some possessed doll. Anyone who really knows me - know that I'm not fond of dolls, especially old-timey porcelain dolls with those curly wigs (just no). Anyway getting past that we finally get the stereotypical plot-device that has been popping up lately - a family moves into a big house. You might as well bring out a pillow because you know something's going down, as it were. Literally every new horror trailer that I've glimpsed at lately has this premise, and I regularly steer clear because most of them end with ominous messages. But I'd heard a great deal positive about this one so I decided to brave it, despite my general scaredy-cat behaviour - and it also had Vera Farmiga (I just love her).

obviously ghosts fond of lady gaga's 'applause'

So we've got the family called the Perron's with Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger (Ron Livingston) and their five daughters who move into this big house, there's the family-pet a dog who gets spooked, unwilling to step across the threshold and there's unexpected rooms popping up. It looks innocent enough, but of course you're just expecting something to happen. Unlike most horror films these days it doesn't try to thrust you with its - this is freaky - message. Most of the tense scenes are actually unnervingly quiet and rather small, but enough to make the goose bumps start peeking through your jumper. The fact that none of the characters fall into any typical pits makes me admire the film for its casting and direction.

Directed by James Wan who is known for Saw there's no wonder it gained popularity in no time, but despite its tremendous build-up, it does go for jump-scares in the end. It doesn't mean that it is a poor film, since it's actually highly-entertaining and has some surprisingly light-moments. There's credibility and belief in its general construction, though it didn't need 'based on a true story' to make it riveting whatsoever (especially those 'filmed' scenes). But I've always been a sucker for 'something awful happened here' and old stories crawling forward, despite the fact that it wasn't a particularly chilling back-story (but that's me though). It's worth a look - the filming is good and there's good acting done by the kids and adults, besides some pretty memorable scenes (making you yell a lot of course). You might need a loved one or daylight outside of your window as a companion though (if you're one of an easily frightened disposition).

7/10