The Conjuring 2 is one of those rare things where the sequel does not suck ass, which honestly surprised the hell out because most horror sequels just fall flat and become cash grabs. After that Annabelle disaster I was not expecting much from this whole universe thing but James Wan came back and reminded everyone how to actually do a proper scary movie, the man knows what he is doing behind the camera and it shows in every single scene, yesterday I put out the review for "The Devil Made Me Do It" that is not directed by Wan and you can notice the difference. This time Ed and Lorraine Warren head to England to deal with the Enfield case which involves a family getting terrorized by some spirit that latches onto this little girl Janet, just as the first one its a similar concept and even though it still works great, it goes straight into building tension from the start, just nonstop anxiety, one creepy moment after another without giving you much time to breathe. The scares here are not just cheap jump scares where something pops out of nowhere, the movie shows the ghost face right in front giving it body and character from the start not just an invisible entity opening doors, this gives the brain a second to process what is happening before it actually hits, that is what makes it feel organic and way more effective. The young actress playing Janet did a damn good job carrying a lot of the weight, if she had been bad the whole thing would have fallen apart but she nailed it, the second part gets into the investigation stuff where the movie plays with the idea of whether this is all a show or not, kids lie all the time so that doubt adds another layer to it. James Wan uses sounds from the time where the movie develops like the TV or the squeaky couch, its so immersive that even familiar situations scary again, he makes the whole thing work when it could have easily been another forgettable horror movie because again its the same concept as the first one just told different under different conditions, work out better than I expected, many sequels just sux because they cant do better than the first one.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3065204/
- Platform: HULU
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The Hodgson family situation is what makes this work way better than most possession movies, because you actually give a shit about these people, Peggy is a single mom who hasnt received child support in three months and she is barely holding things together with four kids in a house that is literally falling apart around them. The movie does such a good job showing how broke they are without making it feel preachy or over done, Billy always asking for cookies but mom cant afford them and you can see how much that eats at her, she wants to spoil her kids but she cant even keep the lights on half the time. This isnt some perfect happy family getting torn apart by evil like in the first movie, these people are already struggling before any of this supernatural crap even starts happening, which makes it feel so much worse when things go sideways and when that old man spirit Bill Wilkins starts possessing Janet and throwing furniture around the family cant just pack up and leave because they got nowhere else to go. The neighbors see whats happening, the cops show up and actually witness the paranormal activity which never happens in these movies, usually the ghost hides when authority figures arrive but not this time, Bill Wilkins does not give a damn who shows up, he is making his presence known to everybody. Peggy is doing her best to protect her kids while also dealing with people thinking she is crazy or that her daughter is faking everything for attention, Madison Wolfe who plays Janet really sells the exhaustion, the pain and fear of being terrorized night after night by the end of the movie she looks like she has aged many years from all the stress and trauma, and its one of the best child performances I have seen in the franchise.
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On this sequel you can tell James Wan had access to way more money to work with compared to the first movie, I would assume this based on the camera work that is insane with all these long takes that glide through rooms and hallways building up tension without needing to cut away every two seconds. The way he uses shadows and lighting to hide things in plain sight is brilliant, just like when Bill appears on the couch in plain day light, there are moments where you swear you see something in the background but when you look closer its just a shadow, then other times its actually the demon and it messes with your head. The opening sequence with the Amityville case is intense as hell even though it has nothing to do with the main story, Lorraine gets pulled into a vision where she experiences the murders, and sees this demonic nun Valak who threatens to kill Ed if they dont stop investigating paranormal cases and finding out that was the vision that messed Lorraine up so bad in the first movie was a nice touch. The chemistry between Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga is still incredible, you believe they are a couple who love each other and the scene where ed plays guitar and sings an Elvis song for the Hodgson family is probably the most emotional moment in any of these movies, its such a small quiet moment but it shows who Ed really is as a person and why Lorraine needs him so much. They could have easily just made the Warrens these ghost hunting badasses without any real meaning but instead they feel like real people with real emotions and real fears about losing each other, although I have also complain in the past how this turns into a weakness for the franchise as most cases get solve by the love they have for each other or their families, then transfers to the victims in their cases too, which is what separates these movies from all the other generic horror movies but then again this is entertainment, everybody has a different taste.
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The demon nun Valak is creepy as hell even if I wish they had stuck with the original demon design that looked way cooler but I get why they went with the nun, because it works as a mockery of Lorraines faith and religion which makes the scares more complex at the same as it ties together with the Nun movies within the Conjuring Universe. Valak knows exactly how to mess with Lorraine by taking the form of something holy and twisting it into something evil, the painting scene where ed unknowingly paints the nuns face is very creepy because it shows the demon can get inside his head too without even letting him realize it and the name reveal thing where Valak hides its name throughout their house in random places is clever. Bill Wilkins himself is an interesting character because for most of the movie you think he is the main threat, he is the one possessing Janet and scaring the family, but then you find out he is just a pawn being used by Valak to keep the Warrens away and the old man just wants to see his family but he is trapped and cant move on. When Janet starts speaking in that deep voice as Bill it sounds nothing like an eleven year old girl could produce, even the skeptics in the movie cant explain how she is pulling that off without some kind of supernatural force being involved and the movie does a great job keeping that doubt alive, there are moments where it looks like Janet might be faking, but they keep questioning how it can be proof she is faking it because if they cant prove its real then the church wont help them.
The scares in this movie work because James Wan understands timing and atmosphere better than most horror directors that have work on the franchise, he doesnt rely on loud noises and things jumping at the camera every five minutes, the buildup is where the real fear comes from, getting to now better the characters specially those affected and tormented by the demon, there is something really special this time and is that you end up caring for Bill too even though the old man is a bastard when ever he wants to. That scene where Janet is home sick and the tv keeps changing channels by itself feels heaving within the atmosphere with rain outside and the house feeling empty and isolating, you know something bad is about to happen, but Wan takes his time letting the tension build until Bill Wilkins finally shows himself in the reflection of the tv screen. The crooked man stuff is the only part that feels unnecessary and out of place but still works so good mainly because of the lighting and the isolation of the place, it shows up twice to scare the little brother Billy, but it has nothing to do with the actual story, does feels like it was added just because they had the budget for it, that weird effect where the dog transforms into the crooked man looks cool too even though the movie is not focus on it. The climax gets a little too over the top with all the special effects, after spending two hours building this slow burn horror atmosphere it suddenly turns into this big action scene with Valak roaring and Ed almost getting him fall on a giant spike, a vision Lorraine had but its a classic cliche that the worst vision usually never end up happening, good vs evil at the end of the day. It was still intense and well done but it does feel like a downshift from the rest of the movie. Lorraine figuring out Valaks name and using it to banish the demon back to hell is satisfying even if the execution is a bit corny, the way she yells the name while Ed is dangling out a window is pure exorcist energy without having to just copy paste it, I mean we have seen almost everything about a possession from Hollywood movies so I doubt now days there is anything they can come up with that surprise anyone, as I mention its a about the build up and getting to know the characters that does the heavy lifting. The movie wraps up with everything being fine which feels a little too clean considering how brutal the haunting was, overall this is a solid 8 out of 10 for me, its not quite as tight as the first Conjuring but it does more with character development and emotional connection, which makes up for the slightly weaker pacing in the middle section and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first one or just wants to see a well made horror movie that actually tries to first make you care about the characters and then try to be scary.
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