The Conjuring series

The Nun (2018)

ByChristian Sauvé 2019-05-112023-03-18 Movie Review

(On Cable TV, May 2019) The nice thing about having been raised Catholic is the appreciation that as a religion it’s got some excellent potential for horror worldbuilding—having the Vatican as an authority keeping tabs on demonic possession around the globe is by itself worth a few movies’ worth of material. The Nun is one of them, even if it’s not particularly good or bad at it. Efforts to tie the film to the overall Conjuring horror universe are perfunctory at best (and frankly, I think I’ve lost track of what The Nun is supposed to be: a prequel to The Conjuring 2 which was a sequel to a film based on a true story that has now spawned another series of spinoffs? Or something like that.) The setup is, as usual, much more compelling than the execution: the idea of an Eastern Europe abbey leaking evil since it was bombed during WW2 is not bad at all, but what the film does with it is far more pedestrian. There are a few nice touches—Having Taissa Farmiga play in a spinoff of a series starring her sister Vera is kind of interesting, for instance, even if the film doesn’t do anything with that. Don’t peek too closely at the details either: While it’s satisfying to hear a character defiantly growling out “I’m French-Canadian,” his accent is pure European French. Oh well… The Nun feels like so much of other 2010s horror films—high concept, by-the-number execution with a few arresting visuals made possible only through a lot of CGI substituting for clever writing. It works as your slick weekly horror movie if you’re looking for that kind of ride, but it doesn’t strike a nerve either in lasting scares or conceptual audacity.

Movie Review

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

ByChristian Sauvé 2017-02-042023-03-14 Movie Review

(On Cable TV, February 2016) The good news, I suppose, is that while The Conjuring 2 is significantly less impressive than its predecessor, the first film was so good that it makes its sequel a fair horror movie rather than a great one. Moving the action in England but keeping the first film’s focus on a family, our likable married heroes and a gradual cranking up of the tension (although the original’s lack of gore is instantly exceeded by a very violent opening dream sequence), The Conjuring 2 is more of the same, but less surprisingly so. Director James Wan is the star here, expertly moving the camera to show (or not show) elements crucial to the tension. The London-set poor-neighborhood is less inspiring than the first film’s farmhouse, and the broken family not quite as likable either, but you can see the script going back to the first film’s strengths whenever it needs a boost. The result may be far more ordinary, but at least it avoids sinking into exploitation or nihilism like so many other horror movies—there’s a core of sheer decency to the single mom trying to keep her family together and the heroic Warren couple (Both Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are likable actors, and the Elvis scenes take their screen relationship to another level of sympathy), and it’s that kind of “this is why horrors are worth fighting” spirit that is all too often missing from cheap horror. This being said, while I was a vocal proponent of The Conjuring, I don’t expect to advocate for this sequel as much—it’s less of a surprise, of course, but it also looks as if it has a built-in public. I’m sure we’ll see a third film soon enough.

Movie Review

The Conjuring (2013)

ByChristian Sauvé 2014-09-292023-03-14 Movie Review

(On Cable TV, September 2014) There’s something to be said for a well-executed horror film even when it doesn’t try to reinvent the genre or leave the viewers with permanent trauma. So it is that The Conjuring harkens back to simpler times, when ordinary people were imperilled by supernatural horrors and extraordinary people could come to help them out. Here, the Perron family (two adults, five daughters) finds itself threatened by demonic forces shortly after moving into a dilapidated farmhouse in 1971. Financially desperate and concerned by increasing signs of evil, they call upon paranormal investigators to investigate and hopefully solve the case with minimal loss of life. It’s as basic a premise for a horror film as can be, but there’s a lot to be said for director James Wan’s approach to the material and the quality of the script: from the first few moments, The Conjuring is carefully controlled, beguiling in the way it sets up its characters, creepy in showing us the setting and well-accomplished in its visuals. We’re never comfortable, especially when the characters are so sympathetic. (Lili Taylor has a substantial role as the matriarch while Ron Livingstone plays dutiful husband, but it’s Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga who are most compelling as the Warrens, carefully inhabiting roles halfway between credible people and unflappable demon-hunters.) Like an un-ironic old-school classic, The Conjuring carefully ramps up its creepiness into chills into scares into full-blown horror… and remarkably enough without showing much gore, nudity or profanity. There’s nothing really new here (nor is there much in terms of thematic depth), but in horror even more than in other genres, execution is key and this film nails down the fundamentals. It works even better as an antidote for routine horror movies that fail to even provide the basic scares. Even the comforting finale is exactly what the film (and the characters) needed. Throw The Conjuring in with films such as Sinister and its prototype Insidious, and you’ve got a good argument for an ongoing revival of good American mainstream horror.