Haunting. Evil spirits. Possession. Who doesn’t love a good edge-of-your-seat horror movie? If you like creative horror films that keep you guessing about what is going to happen next, prepare to be disappointed. The Conjuring, which arrived in theaters July 19, is a film supposedly based off the true haunting of the Perron family and the supernatural detectives Ed and Lorraine Warren who investigated this disturbance.
Set in Harrisville, R.I. during 1971, The Conjuring focuses on the Perrons moving into an eerie farmhouse that was haunted by some pretty aggressive spirits. Several strange events leave the family desperate for help: its dog dies, bruises mysteriously appear on the wife and the five daughters come in contact with the spirits that haunt the house.
Ed and Lorraine, the investigators that are also in Amityville Horror, come to the Perrons’ aid, announcing that the house is so full of evil that it requires an exorcism. The Catholic Church, however, has to give its permission for this to happen. Meanwhile, the paranormal activity at the farmhouse only gets worse.
To add to the horror, Ed and Lorraine discover that the Perrons’ house once belonged to a witch named Bathsheba during the 1800s. This witch attempted to sacrifice her own children in the name of Satan and later hung herself in a tree outside the house, but not before cursing anyone who would later own her land.
I won’t totally spoil the movie by giving away the end, but you probably can already predict it.
Unfortunately, there are no new horror elements that have not already been previously employed in this film. Person getting pulled out of bed by unseen force, chair levitating as exorcism is performed, doors slamming, creepy basement—it is all too predictable and copycat of the original horror films like the 1973 original version of The Exorcist.
If you are 12 years old and this is the first horror movie you see, then perhaps you will find it somewhat terrifying; if you are an average adult, however, you will quickly grow bored of the same old patterns and cliché plot devices used in The Conjuring.
If you want a movie that is unpredictable and utilizes unique and creative plot devices, I recommend checking out films inspired by Stephen King or Alfred Hitchcock instead.