Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Conjuring (2013) - Wan and Co. triumph with spectacular horror

9/08/2013

The Conjuring (2013) - Wan and Co. triumph with spectacular horror

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Horror Movie of the Year

A noose from an old crooked tree and an eerie supernatural reflection in the foliage defines this effective poster for James Wan's The Conjuring

I started being a little interested in seeing The Conjuring, when the story of its MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) trial was reported: A PG-13 rating was denied the film, which prompted the creators, as is common, to ask what they could remove to get the sought after rating that allows the lucrative young teen crowds in to see it in cinemas. The answer they got was that there were no particular scenes that they could cut, because the film over-all was simply 'too scary.'
When the film came out to loud critical and audience thrills everywhere, I knew I had to see it.
And The Conjuring doesn't disappoint: It really is scary. The scariest horror to come out in years.

Paranormal investigators marrieds Ed and Lorraine Warren come to the Perron family's new home on Rhode Island in 1971, when several supernatural disturbances indicate that the house is haunted.

The film is a haunted house story as most of us have seen more than a few times before, but ghosts and demons never grow old, just as love or sex, and the packaging here is so tempting and well-made that most will find themselves inescapably falling into old traps, getting goose bumps and tightened muscles, and probably even jumping out of their seats a few times.
Great Malaysian-born Australian director James Wan (Stygian (2000)) already has an ardent horror following due to his preceding great horror Saw (2004) and frightening haunted house horror Insidious (2010), both spectacular and cheaply produced awe-inspiring, exceptional money-makers. The Conjuring is written by twin brothers Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes (Jumping Ship (2001, TV movie, both)).
The Conjuring relies on old gimmicks such as banging doors, winds, darkness etc. to a great degree, but it also mixes in other great horror devices such as the possessed doll, the witch, Satan, a demon, animals dying etc. And this in a story that actually works. This is not least due to great actors: Vera Farmiga (Mind the Gap (2004)), Patrick Wilson (Aquaman (2018)), Lili Taylor (Factotum (2005)) and Ron Livingston (Standoff (2006-07)). Taylor I had never thought I would see in a role or a film like this, but she does great, and they all elevate the film with their sound performances. The child actors, - the family have 5 daughters, - are good but do 'squeak' towards the less than natural once of twice. Nothing glaring but assessing The Conjuring comes to looking for very minor issues, because it is so greeat.
The camera work (cinematographer John R. Leonetti (The Scorpion King (2002))) is often intricate, elegant in a classical sense and impressively achieved, mostly following characters' movements soaring-like through the house. The sound department makes use of sudden, very loud noises and complete silence at other times. - All effectively. And the house, tree and the doll are also all designed with enjoyable special care and thought behind them. - They are all very scary. And The Conjuring's true-story claims naturally don't diminish its effect. (Farmiga and Wilson worked with the actual Lorraine Warren as preparation for the film, (Ed Warren had passed away.))
The Conjuring is a wicked good time.

If you trust my review, you really don't have to see the trailer, which just might spoil some great moments in the film for you, but here it is

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 319.4 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 15.97 times its cost)
[The Conjuring premiered 8 June (Nocturna, Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival, Spain) and runs 112 minutes. The Warrens experiences was also the foundation of The Amityville Horror (1977, novel) and the resulting film franchise (21 films 1979-2018). Filming took 38 days from February - April 2012 in North Carolina. It was done chronologically, and Lorraine Warren visited the set. The film opened #1 to a 41.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#4) and grossed 137.4 mil. $ (43 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 18.9 mil. $ (5.9 %) and the UK with 16.2 mil. $ (5 %). Lawsuits concerning the house that is the basis of the film's current owners concerning satanic vandalism and invasions stemming from the film as well as a copyrights lawsuit has been quieted down by Warner Bros.. The film was ignored for all major awards. It has so far spurred one good sequel The Conjuring 2 (2016), with returning Wan, Wilson and Farmiga, as well as successful spin-offs Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017) and The Nun (2018). Wan returned with Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013). Farmiga returned in Closer to the Moon (2014), Wilson in Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), Taylor in 4 TV-series before theatrically in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015), and Livingston in The Sidekick (2013, short) and theatrically in Parkland (2013). The Conjuring is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Conjuring?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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9/08/2013

The Conjuring (2013) - Wan and Co. triumph with spectacular horror

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