“The Conjuring,” the new film from “Saw” co-creator James Wan, plays like a mash-up of “The Exorcist” and a particularly spooky episode of “Ghost Hunters.” Based on true events it follows one of the most devilishly famous cases of real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The ghostly action really begins when Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), self described “demonologists, ghost hunters… and kooks,” are called in to investigate the haunting of a rambling old farm house purchased by the Perron family, Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn (Liv Taylor) and their five daughters. The house is creepy. Doors slam, someone or something gooses the girls while they sleep, clocks stop at 3:07 precisely and the smell of rotten meat hangs in the air.
This place makes the “Amityville Horror” home look like a country carnival haunted house.
The family can’t simply pack up and leave, because, as Ed says, “Sometimes when you get haunted it’s like stepping on gum—it follows you everywhere.”
It’s up to suburban Ghostbusters Ed and Lorraine to exercise their knowledge and exorcize the house’s demons.
For the most part “The Conjuring” is all about what you don’t see. For the first hour or more Wan builds tension with lo-fi effects like slamming doors, ghostly images only the girls can see or a dark cellar, and does a great job of moving you toward the edge of your seat.
Then, just when he has you hovering near the edge of your seat the action heats up and special effects become more elaborate, but still are used effectively and judiciously to ensure maximum effect.
“The Conjuring” is ooky and spooky. It’s a throwback to old school horror—eerie and squirmy enough to cause a white knuckle or two but tempered with several laughs, although I’m not sure all of them are intentional. You’ll find yourself screaming and laughing, occasionally at the same time.
The Conjuring, the new film from Saw co-creator James Wan, plays like a mash-up of The Exorcist and a particularly spooky episode of Ghost Hunters. Based on true events it follows one of the most devilishly famous cases of real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The ghostly action begins when the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), self described “demonologists, ghost hunters… and kooks,” are called in to investigate the haunting of a rambling old farm house purchased by the Perron family, Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn (Liv Taylor) and their five daughters. The house is creepy. Doors slam, someone or something gooses the girls while they sleep, clocks stop at 3:07 precisely and the smell of rotten meat hangs in the air.
It’s spooky stuff, but it’s not the only supernatural case the Warrens investigated that went on to find notoriety on the big screen.
The Haunting in Connecticut breathes the same air as The Town that Dreaded Sundown, Death Tunnel or any movie involving evil spirits, a haunted house, an old aboriginal cemetery or former insane asylum.
The film takes its story from the much documented life experience of Carmen Snedeker and her family who were tormented by evil forces after moving into a reconverted funeral home in Southington, Connecticut.
In the real life 1986 case Ed and Lorraine Warren were called in and declared the Snedeker house to be crawling with demons, the result of former funeral home workers practicing necrophilia on the site.
How accurate was the movie? “I was also told about scratching on the walls, blood and séances,” Lorraine Warren told MyRecordJournal.com. “That isn’t the type of things that were occurring within the house at all. The movie is very, very loosely based on the actual investigation.”
The eerie couple’s most notorious inquiry occurred at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island. The paranormal experiences of the Lutz family, who claim to have been terrorized by supernatural forces after moving into a large Dutch Colonial house where Ronald DeFeo, Jr. shot and killed six members of his family, came to be known as The Amityville Horror. It has been the subject of ten movies, a number of books and was a memorable case for Lorraine Warren.
“The case itself has affected our personal lives more than any other case we’ve ever worked on in fifty-four years of research,” she said.
“The Conjuring,” the new film from “Saw” co-creator James Wan, plays like a mash-up of “The Exorcist” and a particularly spooky episode of “Ghost Hunters.” Based on true events it follows one of the most devilishly famous cases of real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
