The Conjuring

krudler

KilOit wrote: »

It's ok to be scared.


Just watched it and thought it was excellent, a lot better than sinister as a whole but sinister i found to be amazing for the first 3 quarters

Same I really enjoyed it until it got silly in the last act, same as Insidious. Sinister used the footage stuff really well, especially the pool and lawn scenes. Has the creepiest opening sequence in ages as well.

catallus

At least Insidious and Sinister set the bar a bit high before they crushed your hopes. The Conjuring just puts the bar on the ground and steps on it. It really is an insult. It is a lazy hackneyed script with terrible performances and a laughable conclusion. As derivative as the other two movies were, at least they tried to give a scare or two. But this?

Creaking Doors? Clapping Hands? A weird doll? sleepwalking children? Exorcisms? Not to mention one of the main characters seems to be GOB from AD. It fails to set any sort of moody atmosphere at all.

krudler

catallus wrote: »

At least Insidious and Sinister set the bar a bit high before they crushed your hopes. The Conjuring just puts the bar on the ground and steps on it. It really is an insult. It is a lazy hackneyed script with terrible performances and a laughable conclusion. As derivative as the other two movies were, at least they tried to give a scare or two. But this?

Creaking Doors? Clapping Hands? A weird doll? sleepwalking children? Exorcisms? Not to mention one of the main characters seems to be GOB from AD. It fails to set any sort of moody atmosphere at all.

Terrible performances? Vera Farmiga and the kids were exceptional in it. One of the best scenes of the film is nothing more than the daughter looking at an empty space and her reaction to it. Indidious and Sinister use creepy kids and creaking doors and all other manner of cliches as well.
Thought this was a huge step up from the likes of Saw or any other sh1tty American horror film recently. Does it use cliches? of course, are there some scares you can see coming a mile away? yep, is it a well worm formula? yup. But I still enjoyed it.

catallus

Vera Farmiga floats around the place looking confused/frantic. The kids are hopeless because they are given nothing to do except look into empty space and scream at it!

I think the film's overuse of flashbacks, (The exorcism of the man, the memories of the mother's day at the beach) at vital moments just shows how weak the script was.

Look, I know we all will have a different opinion, but I'm kind of used to falling within the mainstream opinion on stuff like this and I just can't understand how so many people I'd usually agree with see anything of value in this tripe.

darced

This post has been deleted.

TerrorFirmer

I have to say I was disappointed in that I didn't find it as disturbing or scary as it was made out to be, but to its credit it's a much stronger film overall then most other films in the genre that have made their way to the cinema the past while. I found the movie Mama, for example, a far more unsettling film, but equally not as good a film. All in all, top form and worth a watch.

darced

This post has been deleted.

Warper

catallus wrote: »

Oh yes it is

It had the decency to build up tension and dread at least, and to pay off the viewer with some sort terrible outcome.

The Conjuring is a sad sorry excuse of a movie in any genre. I'm baffled how anyone can like this. I must do an actual review of it.

It's awful! I was sitting there wondering was it some sort of joke!

We need to talk about Kevin is not a horror

crazygeryy

catallus wrote: »

It is more of a horror film than the conjuring

we need to talk about kevin is not a horror movie in any sense of the word.Psychological thriller is the furthest id go.
and im sorry but if you think it is you havent seen enough horror movies.

going to see the conjuring tonight.i have high hopes.

Tipsy McSwagger

Warper wrote: »

We need to talk about Kevin is not a horror

The scene where he shi*ts his pants is very scary.

crazygeryy

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

The scene where he shi*ts his pants is very scary.

dont be afraid, nothing scary about ****ting your pants.just feels warm.

johnny_ultimate

Genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Yes, the script is perfunctory (although cheekily self-aware at times: I did love how many ridiculous back stories they associated with the house). Undoubtedly it does very little we haven't seen before, dozens of times. The film does stumbles during its needlessly exposition heavy middle chapters - I didn't think we need to be told the function of a crucifix in such detail. But through enthusiastic, tightly-honed direction it manages to emerge as a modest, unassuming success. Easily one of the better Hollywood offerings of the year thus far (limited competition, it must be said).

Although there are many films we could compare it to, I got more of a Raimiesque influence off it than anything. Especially when it ended up going nuts with the slapstick, moderately gross physicality, I was favourably reminded of Drag Me To Hell - not as extreme, obviously, but IMO a fun realm to be occupying. Fun is probably the key word: pleasantly lighthearted, balancing that with some memorably creepy imagery. And how rare to find a horror film where silence, not creeping strings, scores some of the most suspenseful sequences.

I'm going to perhaps over praise it here, but I was quite impressed at the direction and cinematography too. Particularly it's a rare film where the distinctively clean digital sheen is welcome. Using the ALEXA, Wan and his team make really good use out of some of the camera's quirks - crystal clear aesthetics, a sharp visual contrast between the day and night scenes (how refreshing that the daytime provides only minimal solace), even right down to the distinctly digital fluttering of match light. The camera was full of nervous energy, reluctantly peeking around corners, nervously scanning rooms or using disorientating angles with excellent effect. Again, we're not in visual masterpiece territory or anything: nitpicking, the 'equipment setup' montage felt too jittery and it would have been nice if they went more lo-fi for the

'brining camera into the basement'

bit. But it's a better crafted film than it's ever going to be credited for.

Also: best opening title crawl of 2013.

krudler

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Yes, the script is perfunctory (although cheekily self-aware at times: I did love how many ridiculous back stories they associated with the house). Undoubtedly it does very little we haven't seen before, dozens of times. The film does stumbles during its needlessly exposition heavy middle chapters - I didn't think we need to be told the function of a crucifix in such detail. But through enthusiastic, tightly-honed direction it manages to emerge as a modest, unassuming success. Easily one of the better Hollywood offerings of the year thus far (limited competition, it must be said).

Although there are many films we could compare it to, I got more of a Raimiesque influence off it than anything. Especially when it ended up going nuts with the slapstick, moderately gross physicality, I was favourably reminded of Drag Me To Hell - not as extreme, obviously, but IMO a fun realm to be occupying. Fun is probably the key word: pleasantly lighthearted, balancing that with some memorably creepy imagery. And how rare to find a horror film where silence, not creeping strings, scores some of the most suspenseful sequences.

I'm going to perhaps over praise it here, but I was quite impressed at the direction and cinematography too. Particularly it's a rare film where the distinctively clean digital sheen is welcome. Using the ALEXA, Wan and his team make really good use out of some of the camera's quirks - crystal clear aesthetics, a sharp visual contrast between the day and night scenes (how refreshing that the daytime provides only minimal solace), even right down to the distinctly digital fluttering of match light. The camera was full of nervous energy, reluctantly peeking around corners, nervously scanning rooms or using disorientating angles with excellent effect. Again, we're not in visual masterpiece territory or anything: nitpicking, the 'equipment setup' montage felt too jittery and it would have been nice if they went more lo-fi for the

'brining camera into the basement'

bit. But it's a better crafted film than it's ever going to be credited for.

Also: best opening title crawl of 2013.

Agreed, the yellow on black title and giganto letters were nicely 70's looking, reminded me of the The Exorcist opening.


Wan is getting better at what he does, there's always an empty corridor or window/doorframe off centre to distract your eye or imply something without actually implying it. That scene where Lily Taylor is just looking around the house for the source of some noise was nervewracking, and yo see nothing. Silence is the most effective way of scaring an audience, an overbearing score is just detrimental to a movie like this but it was used sparingly enough to not detract from the tension.

xzanti

I won't try to compete with some of the wordsmiths on this forum but I agree that it was a great film.. really gave me a good spook!

My favourite scene was when

the one of the girls is sitting on the bed having been woken up, early in the film, and she's terrified by something that may or may not be in the corner of the room..

no special stunts or CGI, just brilliantly done and it worked so well..

Sleeping with the light on tonight.

Loughc

xzanti wrote: »

Sleeping with the light on tonight.

That won't help!

Kiith

Saw it earlier tonight, and really enjoyed it. As others have said, not a whole lot that we haven't seen before, but it was done very well and had a very creepy vibe throughout the entire film. Definitely creeped me out more than any recent films i've seen.

snausages

I found it mostly serviceable. It's a little worrying that it's gotten so much good buzz. Kind of suggests that there isn't a whole lot else out there atm.

InchicoreDude

Thought it was ok. Wouldnt be as impressed as other posters on here.

However, the scene with the

girl describing the demon behind the door "He's standing right next to you" was brilliantly acted by that girl

krudler

InchicoreDude wrote: »

Thought it was ok. Wouldnt be as impressed as other posters on here.

However, the scene with the

girl describing the demon behind the door "He's standing right next to you" was brilliantly acted by that girl

That was one of the highlights, I loved when she

looked under the bed and the camera tracked with her point of view so we were seeing everything upside down, simple but effective shot

crazygeryy

a very good horror movie.
id say it's getting harder and harder to come up with good horror scripts these days,every thing has been done. harder to keep the masses jumping so to speak. but this does it nicely.
and no gore,it's great to see a good story that makes you jump without loads of gore.
well worth a watch.

krudler

crazygeryy wrote: »

a very good horror movie.
id say it's getting harder and harder to come up with good horror scripts these days,every thing has been done. harder to keep the masses jumping so to speak. but this does it nicely.
and no gore,it's great to see a good story that makes you jump without loads of gore.
well worth a watch.

I never find gore scary, seeing someone getting their head lopped off in a slasher flick wouldn't make me blink, subtle stuff is always way scarier, atmosphere and tension work way better than blood and guts.

meoklmrk91

crazygeryy wrote: »

a very good horror movie.
id say it's getting harder and harder to come up with good horror scripts these days,every thing has been done. harder to keep the masses jumping so to speak. but this does it nicely.
and no gore,it's great to see a good story that makes you jump without loads of gore.
well worth a watch.

I think one of the most interesting things about this film is that even though everything in it has been done before, the doll, the demon, the possession etc. it does them RIGHT.

fryup

didn't understand the scene with annabel the doll and the Warren's daughter??

how did it get out of the glass box??

what did it have to do with what was going on in the other house??

Loughc

fryup wrote: »

didn't understand the scene with annabel the doll and the Warren's daughter??

how did it get out of the glass box??

what did it have to do with what was going on in the other house??

Mu understanding of that was it was meant to show

the witch who was hauting the family had now attached herself to the Warrens, the witch was so powerful she was able to take control of Annabell and move it around the house. The witch had planned on attacking the Warren's daughter as a warning to the Warrens to stay away from the house/family.

Only getting a chance to post about this movie now after seeing it last week. Thought it was bloody brilliant. I haven't enjoyed a horror as much in a long time. I thought I was going to lose my hand by the end of it as the girlfriend was in bits . Genuinely gave me some serious frights, every time that music box was opened I was just shouting "close that ****ing thing" in my head.

I swear to god when I got home I had turned off the light in the hall before going to bed, then when I got up up for water about half an hour later the hall light was on and I hadn't heard anyone else get up! I was freaked haha . So the movie done what it says on the tin, it scared the **** out of me!

Basq

I liked it.. but didn't love it!

James Wan definitely has a real talent for all things horrors.. not just the "creepy doll thing" - but he uses things like piercing sound and screams very well also.

Cast were all decent.. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as always very good. Though not a Lili Taylor fan at all, and don't know if Ron Livingston even changed his hair for the role!

Got a little tired of Ed pleading with Lorraine not to go with him and investigate the latest case / not carry out the exorcism with it / not investigate an issue at the house.. only for him to buckle each and every time with little or no resistance. Can remember it on three seperate occasions.

Also agreed with johnny about the opening crawl titles... stunning stuff!

PS - Ending aside, I think 'Sinister' is the best haunted house horror in recent years IMO.
PPS - Good jesus, what's with that Netflix ad spoiling the most recent season of 'Breaking Bad'? Fiancee's only starting it.. thank God she took the nephew to 'Grown Ups 2' (dodged a bullet).. she would have been pissed.

SherlockWatson

Basq wrote: »

I liked it.. but didn't love it!

James Wan definitely has a real talent for all things horrors.. not just the "creepy doll thing" - but he uses things like piercing sound and screams very well also.

Cast were all decent.. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as always very good. Though not a Lili Taylor fan at all, and don't know if Ron Livingston even changed his hair for the role!

Got a little tired of Ed pleading with Lorraine not to go with him and investigate the latest case / not carry out the exorcism with it / not investigate an issue at the house.. only for him to buckle each and every time with little or no resistance. Can remember it on three seperate occasions.

Also agreed with johnny about the opening crawl titles... stunning stuff!

PS - Ending aside, I think 'Sinister' is the best haunted house horror in recent years IMO.
PPS - Good jesus, what's with that Netflix ad spoiling the most recent season of 'Breaking Bad'? Fiancee's only starting it.. thank God she took the nephew to 'Grown Ups 2' (dodged a bullet).. she would have been pissed.

Re:PPS that came up during the kick ass 2 trailers aswell, whoever decided that was a good trailer is a bloody idiot.

JosephDoyleIre

I watched it online this morning and really enjoyed it.

kryogen

JosephDoyleIre wrote: »

I watched it online this morning and really enjoyed it.

That there illegal you know

Didn't see a good copy myself online though so cant imagine you got the full experience?

JosephDoyleIre

kryogen wrote: »

That there illegal you know

Didn't see a good copy myself online though so cant imagine you got the full experience?

No, felt i was missing out a bit. Sound was good which helps and quality was good enough but the first half was subtitled in Chinese which took away from it. Could just be the way the film was but i definitely found that the second half was scarier, so maybe the lack of Chinese down the bottom of the screen helped.

Tipsy McSwagger

Watched this last night with the girlfriend. She was terrified and I was kinda bored so started doing a mental checklist of how unoriginal this film is. It wants to be so much like the brilliant horror films of the 70s it sets the story in that decade all the while blatantly stealing from them. It's not scary. The film itself looks too clean and grain free in HD, a format that is not suitable for the horror genre.

The film is completely unoriginal. If there was a drinking game to go with this film I would have been seriously drunk after half an hour.

- Old house with sinister past going cheap
- Youngest child has an imaginary ghost friend
- Things falling off walls
- Leg pulling
- Loud noises that doesn't wake everyone up
- Paranormal team show up

I admit that I enjoyed one scene,

the ghost behind the door

, but this was after the most overused scare tactic in modern horror film

the leg pull

had me groaning inside.

The dialogue is awful. There is a scene where Vera Farmiga decides she will go along with her husband to the haunted house that feels like it was written by a 13 year old Goosebumps fan.

Overall if you like unoriginal stories with cheap scares and terrible dialogue then watch this garbage. If you want to see how it should be done watch The Exorcist, The Entity, Halloween, or even Paranormal Activity for a modern 'it's what you don't see which is the most scariest' very good film.

crybaby

Perplexed by the reviews this has gotten, just your run of the mill family moves into haunted house film for me. How many times do we need to do this story in the horror genre?

5/10

drunkmonkey

Just watching this now in total darkness before the sun comes up, it's the first proper horror i've seen in a long time...genuinely terrifying and most horror movies wouldn't scare me in the slightest.
Well worth a watch with the lights off.

jaykhunter

Loved this film. Surprised to hear the hate over it. Incredibly creepy and suspenseful.

drunkmonkey

Yea I couldn't get over some of the reviews above, if that's a 5/10 I'd love to know what they reckon is a 10.
It's up there with Salems lot and the rest of them it's a great horror movie.

kryogen

Probably a 5-6/10 as a film overall, strictly judging from the horror genre Id probably push it to an 8 maybe, its the best that has been made in recent times, or was at the time anyway. Not overly scary or anything, but had a good creepy feel to it. Enjoyed it

whirlpool

I watched this again today on Sky Movies On Demand. Great film but as I said before, the ending lets it down.

kryogen

Can't even remember much about the film anymore tbh except for one part, when they go see the house the first time I think and we see what the female investigators sees psychic-ly

Thats about it

Whatsisname

The top of the wardrobe scene won't be leaving me anytime soon.