With The Conjuring 2 we return to the 1970s and the “real-life” paranormal investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren. It is rated NC-16.
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The Conjuring 2 mostly justifies the bloat, because Wan’s style is wonderfully energized and nimble, with a camera that roves quickly, sometimes madly, toward danger and a restless escalation of stakes. So yes, it’s a terribly frightening movie!
Not only was “The Conjuring” a surprise hit in 2013, scaring up more than $137 million, it was also a terrific movie.
Rounding out the cast are Frances O’Connor (TV’s “The Missing”) as the single mom, with Madison Wolfe (TV’s “Zoo”) and newcomers Lauren Esposito, Patrick McAuley and Benjamin Haigh as her children; Maria Doyle Kennedy (TV’s “Orphan Black”); Simon Delaney (TV’s “Roy”); Franka Potente (TV’s “The Bridge”); and Simon McBurney (“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”).
While some scares are unexpected, they don’t shock you for the sake of shocking. Yet it’s clear that he’s been fascinated to see the responses to his films, going from pariah status labeling him as a purveyor of “torture porn” with “Saw” to a master of suspense with Christian heroes in the “Conjuring” films. Now, director James Wan is backing delivering another haunted house thriller, with The Conjuring 2, but, he told us he was pretty terrified to revisit the franchise.
Also, Wan and his cinematographer, Don Burgess, creates scares using a wide variety of depth of field techniques including deep-focus and shallow focus shots.
“She felt that we were very respectful of what they went through and that we tried to capture the spirit – no pun intended – of what happened to them in the late seventies”, Wan said. In the face of what they know and what they’re struggling with, it makes both our protagonists even more heroic, and increases their stature from the previous film. Below, four of the rave reviews that make this a must-see this weekend. Set in 1977, six years after the events of the first film, “The Conjuring 2” kicks off with a summarized version of the Warrens’ best-known case: the NY state mass murder that inspired “The Amityville Horror”. This means that not everything is as straightforward as it seems, and generates dramatic tension that amplifies your already jangled nerves. There are various scenes in the film that are longer-than-necessary and it will take some time before the drawn-out introduction sets the film’s wheels in motion. Her visage completely changes (with no special effects), and she moves and speaks like a completely different person. And as is the case with any horror maestro, the sound design of the film is incredibly nuanced as well. Conjuring 2 will continue to be reverent of the archetypal characteristics of the genre but the core of the movie will be the intensity and the emotions behind the story.
At the same time, “The Conjuring 2” satisfies more than it disappoints.
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“The Conjuring 2” will give you nightmares. Plenty of those for you guys to watch as well. If you like horror.
