Demons, devils, evil spirits and a haunted house; your typical not-so-scary movie. Except for this summer’s most recent blockbuster hit The Conjuring, which was based on a true story during the 1970’s.
When I first saw the previews for the movie, I was skeptical when I saw audiences in “real” theaters screaming, because most of the time those types of commercials are staged, and the movie isn’t really that bad. But this movie definitely lived up to its expectations and earned all of the screams that were in the previews.
When the movie first began we were quickly introduced to a creepy doll, I sighed and thought this was going to be another Chuckie ripoff, but I was happily proven wrong. After the doll, we were introduced to the main characters, the Perron family; with Lili Taylor playing as Carolyn Perron and Ron Livingston playing as the husband, Roger Perron.
Very soon after the family moves into their new house, unexplainable things begin to happen, as well as the inexplicably bad acting. It felt like they were faking everything they did, not truly becoming the character. Until, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who is played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectfully, were introduced. Their acting was much better than the previous half an hour mockery of “acting”, and with the sudden improvement, it managed to cover up the laugh out loud worthy acting. Whether is was their presence on the set, or the pressure to improve their acting, the other actors picked up the sign to step it up a notch; and they did.
And as soon as the acting improved, so did the movie itself. During the first half an hour, I was seriously questioning if all the hype for this movie was fake. But then, when the first demon showed up, and as I took cover from the screen, I knew the hype for this movie was real. The movie slowly progressed from just plain and embarrassingly funny, to sort of scary, to “oh-my-god why did I agree to come see this?” scary in a matter of ten minutes.
With all the excitement leading up to this movie premier, I was expecting this to just be another faux horror movie dud. The Conjuring not only lived up to my expectations, but far exceeded them. This new summer blockbuster is a must see for the horror-fanatic and average movie goers alike.