The Conjuring

Horror! Those that have followed this blog over the years will know that I am not good with horror so there are only a few films in that genre on the blog every year. Compared to the amount of action films that feature on this blog per year there is hardly any horror films- I don't think that we go past five a year. I know that you have waited a long time for another film like this and we apologise for it taking so long.

The Conjuring is about paranormal investigators that are brought in to look at a house that is haunted. We've seen films like this before- ;The Ring' and 'The Shining' but this film is different, this isn't about a film that you saw or a child talking to himself and hearing things, this is about a small child that haunts a house, who was hung on the tree outside the house. The child and the spirit attach themselves to the family that moved in, one child sleepwalks and another sees a friend that she calls 'Rory' when she spins her jack-in-a-box music toy around. What makes this film different is the clairvoyant. The investigators that actually believe in these things. In today's world there are people who are trained to perform exorcisms- they are quiet about this responsibility but this world very much believes in spirits, demons and other such paranormal things. Normally in these types of films it's all a rumour, often a joke started by a few friends and about a serial killer. Having people that actually believe you instantly makes a nice change and makes a better than decent film.

Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air, The Departed, Source Code) and Patrick Wilson ( Watchmen, The A- Team) are brilliant. Special credit should go to Vera Farmiga because not only does she pull off clairvoyant but she plays it so convincingly that she could actually turn every viewer in to a believer by the end of the film. It's the way that everything is so normal for her. No weird transformation or possession, she moves around the space like she is completely normal and then when she explains things you realise that she has been seeing things the whole time, it's normal for her to see shadows, spirits or other things. I can't imagine what it would be like to live as someone like that but I know from seeing this film that I am thankful that I don't live like that.

This film is completely different to any horror film that I have ever seen before. I don't think it is one that I will ever forget- it felt real- the exorcisms, the process, they had clearly done their research because it was accurate. This film is memorable and that is always good.