The Conjuring (2013) - MOVIE REVIEW! ver.2

The Conjuring follows the Perron Family (consisting of Carolyn, Roger, and their five daughters) who have just moved into a new house. The family quickly realizes that something inhuman and insidious is present in the house after numerous unexplainable paranormal occurrences. After a night on which Carolyn gets trapped in the basement and their eldest daughter is attacked in her room, Carolyn decides to get help from Ed and Lorraine Warren, a demon/ghost hunting power couple. The Warrens start their investigation but when the haunting starts to affect their own family they have to fight harder than they ever have before.

*clap, clap*

Did I scare you? No? Well it works better with video reviews, oh well. The Conjuring is a haunted house movie directed by horror-genius and puppeteer, James Wan. The film stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Varmiga as the real life demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren. It also features Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston as the parents of the Perron family. 

When I first saw The Conjuring I enjoyed it a lot and after re-watching it, I was once again completely taken aback! It doesn't happen a lot that a horror film can still entertain and scare me the second time I watch it the way this did. This proves to me that The Conjuring truly could go down as a great haunted house movie.

I've heard a lot of people criticize The Conjuring because they say it "doesn't bring anything new the genre." Really? Just because a movie is similar to others, it doesn't mean that it's not innovative or "new." James Wan told a story that has been told before, but still managed to make it his own. That is what makes The Conjuring so interesting and fun to watch.

Although there are some jump scares throughout, it's not what the film relies on to actually scare you. No, the truly scary scenes are scary thanks to more atmospheric things like other characters' performances and James Wan's incredible ability to make it feel like you're the character experiencing what's happening. One way he accomplishes this, is by only showing what the characters see, when they see it. A good example of this is the scene in which Roger is walking through the house at night and the camera only pans to where he looks.     

I want to congratulate Wan on this film. There are so many little things he added that make the movie so great. One being the way he made several scenes look like they came straight from a 70's classic. The movie is also filled with really interesting POV and spinning shots that make you feel like you're in the film.

Wan also did a fantastic job with the scary scenes. One scene in particular (where one girl sees someone is standing by her doorway while her sister doesn't see anyone) really frightened me. It was done extremely well, without even showing anything. Wan also used the "hide and clap" game the girls play in a very creepy and effective way to further the story.

One of my favorite scenes.

However, The Conjuring is far from perfect, one of the biggest gripes I have with the film is that there are way to many characters in the Perron family. Because there are so many people, it's extremely hard to properly develop all of them. This led to me not really caring about some of the daughters (I cant even remember most of their names.)

Another thing that bothered me was the ghost make-up. While Bathesheba was done pretty well, the other spirits looked very cheap (much like the ghosts from Insidious.) Throughout the film there were also some cheesy voice over effects that didn't fit in with the atmosphere at all, but in the end this wasn't enough to actually take away from the film's overall experience.  
  

Ohh, Bathesheba, baby, why you so cute, beau?

All in all I think The Conjuring is a really well made and actually scary horror film. While it does fall a bit short with the character development and make up effects, it makes up for it with a fantastic story and great cinematography. The film did end a bit abruptly, but the final act is still a very entertaining spectacle that reaches a gratifying climax.

With a sequel and a prequel coming up, I am very excited to see where the series is going, I just wish James Wan would reprise his roll as director because clearly he knows what he's doing... 

Rating 7/10

This is part of the Final Girl Movie Club! Check it out! (http://finalgirl.blogspot.com/)
A few months back I wrote another review for this but decided to re-write it. Check out the original here!

Evil Dead (2013) - Review by The Insomniac's Cinema

Evil Dead (2013) - Review

Directed by: Fede Alvarez.
Produced by:  Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and Robert G. Tampert.
Starring: Jane Levy, Lou Tayor Pucci, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmor

Evil Dead is a remake/reboot/continuation of the 1981 horror classic, The Evil Dead, which was directed by Sam Raimi and starred Bruce Campbell. Since almost 99% of all horror remakes suck really badly a lot of people were skeptical about this one as well, but since Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell were both producers (who were very  present in the making) of this film, there were also people (including me) that were excited for it. In the end I can honestly say that this is one of the best Horror remakes ever! However, this is very different from the original. One of the biggest complaints about it, is that it's too scary and not funny enough but something that I think people forget is that the reason The Evil Dead was funny, wasn't because it was supposed to be but because Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell had a budget so small they couldn't even afford to buy gum while filming it (true story!) Evil Dead is The Evil Dead made with the budget that Sam and Bruce never had, it's more scary because they could actually afford the effects the wanted...

Evil Dead is about a group of friends who go to stay at a cabin in the woods so that their drug addicted friend can get clean, but when one of them reads from a mysterious book something evil is released that starts to possess them one by one, the different characters have to defend against their now deadite friends and try to survive the  night… Jane Levy plays Mia, the young drug addict trying to get clean with te help of her friends Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), Olivia (Jessica Lucas), Natalie(Elizabeth Blackmore) and her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) 

The characters were pretty much what you’d expect in a horror (under-developed, boring etc.) except for Mia , who was the only interesting character and only one you really cared about. I think that most of the cast did fine acting wise but everyone made extremely dumb decisions throughout the movie (like reading a book bound with human flesh, full of scribbles like, “DON’T READ THIS” after finding it in a cellar full of dead cats hanging upside down...) 

There are some major changes in the story compared to the original (including an awesome twist in the end) like Mia’s drug addiction which is a great reason for them not wanting to leave or taking what she says or does too seriously. Something that I WISHED they never put in the movie was the opening scene. In my opinion it doesn't add anything to the story, all it does is put questions in my head like, "when did this take place?" and "who the hell are those people?" or "why did they kill all the cats?" and "whoa, what's up with that dude." The opening scene was also one of the very few scenes in which they used CGI instead of practical effects. 

Original Book of The Dead compared to the remake.

The practical effects in the movie are done really, really well! They are disgusting and creepy and will definitely make you cringe at least once. The movie isn't very scary in the typical sense but it is very tense and disturbing, even the (few that there were) jump scares were done very well. I don't know if it was just me but the first time in a long time that I watched a movie that made me feel so super tense, not scared, but tense... Roque Baños composed a fantastic and eerie score which I would easily buy. Something that made a few scenes a lot creepier to me personally was that they used a siren sound effect throughout the movie when something scary was happening and every time I heard it, I thought of David Lynch's short film Six Men Getting Sick. I was also surprised to find that there was quite a lot of foreshadowing and symbolism used, like the fact that Mia is fighting to herself, trying to get clean but she also has to fight the real demon inside of her. 

Evil Dead was a disturbing, well made and interesting retelling of the classic. To me, the biggest problem was that the characters were under-developed. The movie does differ from the original but is still scary and effective in telling The Evil Dead story. The practical and sound effects were done really well and some changes added to the story, while others could've been left out. All in all, Evil Dead is a super cool and disturbing horror movie.

Evil Dead Final Verdict:

Best Character: Mia.
Worst Character: Natalie.
Best Scene: Final Fight Scene.
Worst Scene: Opening scene.
Best Change from the Original: Mia's drug addiction and *spoiler*  the fact that Mia "became" Ash.
Worst Change from the Original: The Book of the Dead.


Rating: 7/10 GOOD!

*spoiler talk*
After Bruce's cameo in the credits I immediately thought holy shit, Mia and Bruce are gonna star side by side in Evil Dead 2! But after doing some research I found out that Sam And Bruce are planning a Army of Darkness 2 and Fede Alvarez is already busy working on Evil Dead 2! How cool is that? They said that they want to have the two movie series' to conjoin in the 7th Evil Dead movie! Nothing is completely set in stone so only time will tell!!!

*end of spoiler talk*

The Conjuring (2013) Review - Insomniac's Cinema

The Conjuring (2013) Review by Insomniac's Cinema

Rating: 78/100

*clap clap*


Did I scare you? No? Well, it works better in  video reviews... Anyway, The Conjuring  is yet another haunted house movie directed by James Wan. Patrick Wilson and Vera Varmiga star as Ed and Lorraine Warren, two demonologists who help families all  around America get rid on the demons haunting them. The film is marketed as "based on a true story" but since this can get slapped on almost any movie these days I  did some research to find out how true this statement was. I was surprised to find that Ed and Lorraine Warren were actual demonologists who were active during the middle to late 1900's (They were some of the first people to investigate The Amitiville Horror house!) I also found out that the Perrons are also based on a real family that was supposedly "haunted."



The Conjuring follows the Perron family (Carolyn, Roger and their five daughters) during 1971 when they are busy moving into a new house. From the first day strange things start to happen (like all the clocks in the house stopping at 3:07 am.) After a night on which Carolyn gets trapped in the basement and their eldest daughter gets attacked by a supernatural being, they decide to contact the Warrens. At first Ed is unsure about taking the case but does give his consent after Lorraine speaks to him. The Warrens then start their investigation but things go farther than they ever anticipated when the haunting starts to affect the Warrens' daughter as well. Now Ed and Lorraine have to fight harder than they ever have to try and save both the families...

Left: The Real Annabelle. Right: Ed and Lorraine Warren

I thought everyone (even the young girls!) did a well enough job acting wise I just wish that the were less of them. I understand that the real Perrons did have five girls in their family, but the problem is that it's almost impossible for the seven Perrons and the two Warrens to be well developed in a two hour long movie. In the end I thought that only Ed, Lorraine and Carolyn were developed at all...

Patrick Wilson and Vera Varmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren

The same can be said for the demons haunting the Perrons. I know there is one "main" demon, but there are also at least three other ghosts whose stories get cut short or are completely ignored (kind of like all the ghosts in American Horror Story if you know what I mean) Another big problem I had with the demons were that they weren't scary enough (how many times have we seen the dirty, crazy lady in a nightgown or a pale boy in Amish clothes, amirite?) I mean the only thing that gave me a fright was the jump scare in the trailer... If they had kept her appearance hidden longer I think it would've at least made her seem scarier


The director has said that he "modeled the film's cinematography and atmosphere after vintage 1970's horror films" and while I do think this is evident in some fantastic shots I also think it felt a bit forced in other scenes (it's pretty far out, yeah it's groooovy!)  He did however add some really creepy stuff like the whole "hide and clap" game. The part of the movie in which Ed and Lorraine investigate the house was really interesting, I just wish we could see more before the shit hits the fan. Speaking of that, I was kinda dissapointed with the end of the movie, it felt very abrupt and to me it seemed like not all the loose ends were tied up properly. It was however one of the more creepier scenes in the movie...


 
The Conjuring Final Verdict:

So, to sum up The Conjuring is an interesting haunted house movie which told a creepy story but wasn't extremely scary. It was done well even though it didn't bring anything new to the table. I enjoyed it very much but I don't think it's as fantastic as some people are saying. After watching this I am thoroughly exited for Insidious (and even the Curse Of Chucky, thanks to you Annabelle!) 

Rating: 78/100 (Great!)

The Haunting (1963) Review - The Insomniac's Cinema

The Haunting
1963
Horror
Robert Wise


In my opinion this can easily be considered to be one of the best haunted house movies ever made. It has everything you want in a this type of film, from the interesting characters to the scary house itself. The film was based on Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill house and was directed by Robert Wise (who two years later directed The Sound of Music) It stars Julie Harris as Eleanor Lance, a troubled young woman who gets invited by Dr. Markway to join the paranormal investigation into Hill house.

When she arrives at Hill House she meets Theo, Dr Markway and Luke Sanderson and together they embark on their paranormal investigation into Hill House. At First everyone is skeptical until things start to go horribly wrong and they realize that the house is in fact haunted...

Eleanor is an extremely interesting character (and was also portrayed fantastically) At the beginning of the movie she starts off as very naive and innocent (with hints that she does have a dark side) but as the movies progresses, Hill House (and it's spirits) start to change her into something very screwed up. During the film we don't get to know much of Eleanor's background but the things that you do know really make her up to be someone who is capable of doing things that (at first sight) you never thought she would or could do.

Since this movie is a 60's black and white horror film it does contain some overacting and overall cheesiness but in the end the characters still seem realistic and can successfully creep you out(Eleanor's dancing scene anyone?) The sets were also fantastically chosen, Hill House is extremely scary! Even though you don't really see the "ghosts" in the movie they are still very menacing thanks to the way they taunted the characters. (As properly demonstrated in the scene where Eleanor and Theo are trapped in their bedrooms)

The only thing that I would've wanted to see more of were actual paranormal experiments and also to see how the spirits affected the other characters...

All in all The Haunting is a truly fantastic movie and a definite watch for all movie buffs!


...9/ 10...(doors built on an angle)