The Conjuring continues James Wan's rich vein of form as one of horror's best directors around today. Based on true events, we follow paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) as they enter the home of the Perron family.
Mother Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and father Roger (Ron Livingston), along with their five young daughters, begin to experience strange goings-on within the house as it becomes apparent that paranormal entities are running rife. As the experiences become worse, the family, along with their aid begin to uncover further secrets within the house.
The Conjuring is quite simply one of the most terrifying horror experiences you will have this year, but not quite as you would expect it to be. While many directors within the genre rely upon cheap jump-scares, James Wan cleverly weaves a web of intrigue as he walks the corridors and rooms of its focus house and ramps up the tension throughout. Never does he indulge in these often overused ploys to get audience reaction, favourably choosing the pulse-pounding terror of silence and visuals to really hit home hard.
It's easy to stick to clichéd realms of paranormal activity in films and, whilst it does feature many of what we've seen before, Wan delivers everything with a great poise and certainly stamps his own unique mark on the genre. Coupled with his fantastic direction, both Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga prove their metal with superb performances, along with the rather larger-than-usual family featured in such films.
Tense, eerie, heart-pounding terror the way horror should be done, The Conjuring is without a doubt one of the year's best horrors so far and if Wan continues this way then Insidious: Chapter Two will be brilliant. Here's hoping...
Film rating: 4 F's out of 5
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