Review of The Conjuring 2 (2016) by Jesse O — 11 Oct 2016

If you've followed my reviews, and goodness knows why would you, there goes more of that self-deprecating "wit", you'd know that I was a big fan of The Conjuring. It was a really strong haunted house film.

I wouldn't say I thought that it was the best horror movie in years, as many had claimed at the time, but part of me could also see why they would think that. It was just a really well-paced movie with some great atmosphere and tension.

When I heard about the sequel, I thought that it would have been difficult to recreate what they captured with the first movie, so I was a bit hesitant to get excited about this film. And, given the rating I gave this, which is still positive, I was right to be hesitant.

Not gonna say this is a bad movie, not in the slightest, but I was a little bit let down by the film. This is still a good horror movie, it's well-made and it has some strong acting, but some of that spark that made the first movie so memorable is gone.

And that's really inevitable given the nature of sequels, but I still felt there was something missing. Another thing that really bothered me is the fact that the basis of this movie is one of the more obvious hoaxes in paranormal history, the Enfield poltergeist case.

And while I'm on the subject, I don't believe that any of these cases that Ed and Lorraine tackled were actually legitimate since they would be going in with their minds made up that it was either a supernatural or demonic possession case.

Janet and Margaret admitted to faking some of the events and Janet legitimately was caught bending spoons in the kitchen to make it look as if it was the 'spirit'. When you look at it from an objective perspective, it's obvious that it was a prank pulled off by two very clever kids.

And yet the film legitimately tries to paint this as one of the most famous paranormal cases in history, which it is, but it's also the one that's most obviously fake. And, of course, the skeptics in this film are made out to be assholes because they like to think about this logically instead of just assuming that it's exactly what the Hodgson family says it is.

Though, with that said, at least they take this subject and make a good horror movie out of it. And, you know what, there were parts of this film that I thought were better than the first movie. Like the first 30 or so minutes of the movie are really strong.

Just like great horror and then the movie just sort of lets up. It doesn't, really, but each attempt is less effective than whatever came before it. That's not fair to say, though, it's more like peaks and valleys.

Some bits are really good, other bits aren't as strong. One of my favorite scenes in the entire movie is the scene where Janet, who has taken a sip of water to prove that she's not doing some sort of ventriloquist trick when Bill, the spirit, speaks through her.

So, basically, everyone has turned their back to Janet, she's in this chair where this old man died, and you can see Janet, but she's blurred out. As Ed interrogates the demon/spirit, you can see Janet sort of morphing into this old man.

You don't actually get to see it clearly, like I said, it's all blurred, but it was actually a really cool effect for a really cool scene. The Demon Nun is also a pretty cool monster, though I think Marilyn Manson has a case for gimmick infringement.

That's obviously a joke, but the character really did look very much like Mr. Marilyn. One of the other things I liked about the movie was how they explored Ed and Lorraine's relationship, what with Lorraine wanting to give up taking cases after seeing a vision of Ed's death from the Demon Nun.

It's not super complex or anything, but they do Ed and Lorraine's relationship stronger in this film. It helps when you have some talented actors like Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson. The film does have its sentimental moments, which really aren't earned, but I get why they're there.

So, yea, can't say much else about this. This is a good horror movie, might be a little too long for its own good and its obviously not as good as the movie that preceded it, but I would still recommend it, particularly for this Halloween season.

It's a good movie to watch on Halloween night with a group of friends who haven't seen it before.