THE CONJURING: Home Is Where the Horror Is

Director: James Wan
Writers: Chad Hayes, Carey Hayes
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Shanley Caswell, Hayley McFarland, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy, Kyla Deaver
Runtime: 112 mins.
2013

I can't think of a single element in The Conjuring that is entirely original. The story follows two paranormal investigators--based on a true pair of paranormal investigators, Lorraine and Ed Warren, if that does anything for you--who are reeled into the supernatural drama surrounding salt-of-the-earth family the Perrons. You see, they only just moved into this spooky old house and already they are having trouble with a malicious demonic presence. The Warrens, however, know exactly what to do. They collect enough evidence for the Catholic church to send a big shot exorcist; the situation, however, ends up being more pressing than they'd previously imagined. There's a pitch black boarded off basement, slowly creaking doors, creepy sleepwalking, and a dusty old music box that ain't quite right.

Sounds like tripe. After all, which of these conceits have not been done to death, then back to life, then to death once more? Yet it is said that creating cinema is an act of alchemy, and director James Wan has become a master alchemist. He takes a solid but workmanlike script and clamps his directorial vicegrip tighter and tighter until you are losing your mind at how frightening this bundle of cliches has become.

Horror, more than just about any genre, benefits from precise, surehanded direction; and horror, more than just about any genre, almost never receives it. Wan is the solution. From the moment we are introduced to the Perron family piling out of their car and into their new home, the camera knows exactly where to lurk and how long to linger in order to maximize our discomfort. For a great deal of the first act, nothing major happens, but the tension is constantly rising. We can sense the filmmakers setting up pieces that will inevitably come toppling down like dominoes. When the characters hear something go bump in the night, we aren't watching them: we are them. The camera replicates the nervous, desperate gaze of someone who is trying hard to see what is just beyond the darkness, yet has no desire to succeed.

The Conjuring works entirely on the back of Wan's ability to assemble and coordinate an incredible production team. Cinematographer John R. Leonetti not only plants us firmly in the perspective of the vulnerable characters, but also expertly tunes the visuals to maximum levels of dread and paranoia. The lighting alone is masterful. So many scenes involve the characters moving slowly through the house, investigating. Typically in such situations audiences roll their eyes and implore the characters to simply turn the lights on. Yet here, there is so much darkness in the house that when the characters turn a light on, it seems a feeble attempt to beat that darkness back. The lighting in The Conjuring is incredible--it may be my favorite aspect of the film. We all understand the difference between regular darkness and absolute darkness, and The Conjuring deals in the latter. One shot sticks with me, a perspective shot of somebody moving into the pitch black basement. The camera descends into the darkness until the hole screen is black, and editor Kirk M. Morri holds the shot a few crucial beats longer than expected, until we feel as if the darkness has swallowed us up.

Props also to props master Robert Beck and Production Designer Julie Berghoff for filling the film with creepy little details like that aforementioned music box. The way the whole team frames the music box, and lingers on it as both we and the character stare at the tiny little mirror, waiting to see if something appears behind us... it's agonizing.

Of course, none of this would quite work if the cast were a bunch of buffoons, and luckily that is not the case. The Perrons are unassuming, and immediately likable. Livingston and Taylor do a tremendous job of subtly grounding us in their lives without attempting to be too interesting, which would surely only distract. The same goes for their children, five girls who never take the spotlight, but each have defined character traits and terrifying subplots that they must deal with throughout the movie. All of them turn in tremendous performances as well, with a special nod to Christine (Joey King) for selling "there's someone behind the door" so well that I'm getting the creeps just thinking about it.

If the film has a weak link, I would say it is Wilson and Farmiga's ghost hunting duo. There's a slightly distracting religious fundamentalist thread that weaves through their dialogue and seems a bit strange in conjunction with the horror movie delights happening elsewhere in the movie. Also, bringing in experts who offer jargon and explanations has a way of declawing the terror of the unknown. That being said, the Warrens getting involved halfway through this movie could easily have crippled the ending, and does in most similar movies, but here it is a hiccup at worst. The Conjuring leaps the monumental hurdle of keeping the movie scary even after the mystique is cleared up, and Wilson and Farmiga help this along by delivering textured and vulnerable performances of their own. I still don't know why that bit with their daughter being menaced by a haunted doll is in the movie though.

Every member of a filmmaking team needs to bring their A-game for any movie to really work. This especially goes for horror, a genre in which one slight misstep can completely ruin the tone of a scene, and bump it into laughworthy territory. There is nothing to laugh at in The Conjuring. It doesn't have the thematic sophistication of other recent indie horror like It Follows or The Babadook, but it is the scariest, most competent traditional haunted house movie you are likely to encounter.

4 / 5  BLOBS