The Conjuring

The hype that surrounded this movie was confusing, to say the least. Trailers had people mesmerized by the creepiness to come, calling this movie prematurely the best horror film of recent years. But I didn't see why. Sure, Patrick Wilson was in it, sure it was a James Wan movie, but none of this was giving me any reason to expect much from it. But then again I thought the same thing about the lead and director of Cabin in the Woods. So I was hoping for something at least fun.

But this was definitely not the movie I was looking for. No, instead of finding myself creeped out or frightened, I found myself laughing a bit, and making fun of the movie out loud. I'm a wuss when it comes to horror movies. I always cover my ears. There I admitted it. But this movie never once had me feel truly afraid. Except for one point that made me jump, apparently scaring the gentleman next to me more than the film actually did. (The gentleman is my best friend, and he's a wuss too, apparently).

The whole time during the movie, I was expecting something new, something scary, or a throwback to classic horror movies that I loved. But I never really got that. Instead, I got a horror movie that felt pretty close to most horror movies I see in theatres. Maybe it was nicely not CGI, which is definitely a plus, but that's not enough to save it from hackneyed plot points, moments of dumb decisions from leading characters, and sometimes laughable moments from scary jump scenes. And it didn't even benefit from an original idea like The Purge (which yes, wasn't good, but at least had an interesting premise) or an idea that simply hadn't been put to film yet like Cabin in the Woods. No, it played out like most horror flicks, benefiting only from the "Based on a true story" tagline.

No, my real joy in the film came from openly mocking it. Saying "I have a good feeling about this" whenever a character was left alone. Screaming the famous line from The Exorcist when a little girl is walking down a hallway calling "mommy?". Sick, twisted humor, sure. But that's really the only joy I got from this movie. And even though a horror movie is supposed to ultimately scare you, fear in cinema is inherently fun. I didn't find much joy in this until I put it in myself.

Sure, The Conjuring is not a bad movie. And it is probably the better of recent horror movies. But that being said, I did enjoy the premise of Mama far more. And I didn't really think that there was much going for this movie that I hadn't seen before a million times. To be honest, I really am surprised that the film is getting as much attention as it is. But surely there are worse movies to get the attention.

Rank - 2/5