The Conjuring 2 – Movie Review

Horror movies come and they go, but some of them, the lucky few, stay in the back of your mind for a lifetime. Like that first time Freddy Kruger screeched his claws on the iron pipes in Nancy’s nightmares, or the time Jason Voorhees pulled the final girl Alice from the boat. They are hard to forget and they plague your mind whenever you are in a simular situation. These scenes or films are hard to recreate or emulate and even harder still to invent. Last night we check out the latest from Australian director James Wan, The Conjuring 2. So, is it any good?

YES

Set in the late 70’s, The Conjuring 2 continues the paranormal investigations of Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson), this time heading to London to uncover the truth of a poltergeist haunting a little girl named Janet Hodgson (Madison Wolfe) and her family.

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Lets start off by making list of things that scare the shit out of me.

  • Things that are hiding in plain sight
  • True Stories
  • Possession
  • Human droning noises
  • Feet

The Conjuring 2 has an abundance of everyone of those except one. The film is based on the true story of The Enfield Haunting, which to this day is one of the most documented hauntings ever.

Director James Wan perfectly builds the momentum of the film, scene after scene the tension intensifies. The Conjuring 2 will set up a scare that appears to be familiar then just when you’d expect the scare to happen it flips the familiarity on its head. The film scares you not only in the cinema, but when your driving home alone, to when you get home and the lights aren’t on, to when you wake up in the middle of the night to strange noises that are just your damn cat scratching at the walls.MV5BMjI1ODk4MTY1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjE1MDkwOTE@._V1_SX1500_CR0,0,1500,999_AL_Their are so many “Fuck that!” moments in the film that I wanted to hold the hand of the person sitting next to me in the cinema and hope they’d tell me “everything is going to be ok”

The Conjuring 2 is filled with twists and turns that continually changed my perception of the haunting. Could the poltergeist just be a hoax? Are the girls just playing tricks on the family?

Madison Wolfe is an incredible child actor, I really felt for her character Janet, she was all alone in her fears of what was happening to her. Her energy and emotions stole scenes right from her peers. Her transformation into the real life Janet Hodgson was astounding.MV5BMTkwNjgxMzc1MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDI1MDkwOTE@._V1_SX1777_CR0,0,1777,744_AL_ copyIt’s hard to knock one film out of the ball park especially in the Horror genre. Studios use this genre as a cash grab, audiences love to be scared and they don’t even care who is in the film. If the trailer is well edited audiences will flock. James Wan continues to improve his craft; with each release he finds new and shocking ways to scare you. My wife will watch a horror film with me, but if James Wan has anything to do with it she will lock herself into a room and watch videos of sunshine and rainbows till it’s over. This alone secures his place as one of the best horror directors in the history of film. I cannot think of another director that has consecutively made a horror film work time and time again. The Conjuring 2 is actually better than the original and could be James Wan best film yet. This is a must see film if you love to be scared.

THE CONJURING 2 is in Australian cinemas now.

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