The Conjuring Review: The Horror Genre floats to New Heights

It is almost midnight and I am by myself in my apartment. I was about to watch the trailer of The Conjuring (out Friday) just to refresh my memory before writing this review. The truth is that I won’t. I refuse to watch it. I know this sounds silly, specially if you are reading this at daytime. But for someone with an active imagination like myself, reliving those incredibly scary scenes would probably cost me some sleep.

But fear not, I remember it quite well. The story, based on real life events, centers on both the heroes and the victims. We have on one side The Warrens, a legendary couple in the world of paranormal phenomena (‘Amityville Horror’ and ‘A Hounting in Connecticut’ are also based on their cases). The tormented side is the Perron family. After moving to a placid house near a lake they start suffering attacks by evil forces.

Oh man. This was a bad idea. Now I have started to replay those sequences and they gives me goosebumps. Do you think you can handle it better? Wait until you meet Annabelle, the doll. Chucky is a cupcake compared to this diabolical toy. After she appears on screen the unsettling mood is installed in the darkness of the theater and it won’t go away until the final credits roll.

All the actors do a terrific job, specially Vera Farmiga and Lili Taylor. The ladies have to endure the most physically demanding shots. Patrick Wilson, who at this point is James Wan’s lucky charm (he also stars in the director’s Insidious 2, released later this year) may not seem that convincing at moments. But the fault should lay more on the awkwardness of his character than on himself.

At 36, Wan has stabbed his mark in the annals of horror history. After originating a Halloween tradition with the Saw saga, Insidious took the box office by storm packing clever scares in a low budget movie. Before moving to big Hollywood blockbusters like next year’s Fast 7, he wanted to surpass himself in the genre that made him famous. And boy he succeed.

He shows a lot of confidence, taste and knowledge in The Conjuring. His understanding of what could be the most effective thing to do in a certain situation is amazing. On top of having the idea of “the scare”, he executes it in such a sophisticated way, that right after watching it I had to tweet “I believe that Wan has been possessed by Hitchcock”.

This movie would be a great double feature with Evil Dead. The Conjuring to gain the tension, and then Fede Alvarez’ remake to release it. I have more things to say but honestly, now it is past midnight and I don’t want to keep thinking about it. If you want to experience a wonderfully crafted genre film, just conjure some courage and submerge yourself into the darkness of a movie theater.

The Conjuring manifests itself in theaters Friday July the 19th.