Matt's Movie Reviews logo
Custom Search
AWFUL
POOR
GOOD
EXCELLENT
MASTERPIECE
*
**
***
****
*****
iTunes subscribes
Youtube image
The Conjuring 2 poster

CAST
VERA FARMIGA
PATRICK WILSON
SIMON DELANEY
LAUREN ESPOSITO
BENJAMIN HAIGH
MARIA DOYLE KENNEDY
PATRICK McAULEY
SIMON McBURNEY
FRANCES O’CONNOR
FRANKA POTENTE
MADISON WOLFE

STORY BY
CAREY HAYES
CHRIS HAYES
JAMES WAN

SCREENPLAY BY
CAREY HAYES
CHRIS HAYES
DAVID LESLIE JOHNSON
JAMES WAN

PRODUCED BY
ROB COWAN
PETER SAFRAN
JAMES WAN

DIRECTED BY
JAMES WAN

GENRE
HORROR

RATED
AUS:MA
UK:15
USA:R

RUNNING TIME
134 MIN

THE CONJURING 2 (2016)

While the continued ghostbusting adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren does not raise pulses as consistently, The Conjuring 2 never the less delivers on its promise as an old school horror sure to inspire nightmares aplenty.

Ahhhh, the horror movie sequel. Rare has its kind delivered upon the expectations of the first. Hell, rare has the same director decided to come back and continue with his/her ghost story!

James Wan is an exception to that unwritten rule. With two highly successful horror franchises already underneath his belt (Saw, Insidious), Wan now focuses on his third with The Conjuring 2, or unofficially known as “The Chronicles of Paranormal Investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren” (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga).

The Conjuring 2 opens (surprisingly, brilliantly) on the case that made then Warrens world famous: the Amityville Horror. It is there a frightening experience forces the loving Catholic paranormal investigators to close shop… until another legendary haunting comes calling all the way from merry ol’ England in the form of the Enfield Poltergeist, where a not so friendly spectre terrorises the family of single mother Peggy Hodgson (Frances O’Connor, bring on the shrill Bri’ish accent), with tis sight especially set on buck-toothed 11 year old Janet (newcomer Madison Wolfe, very impressive).

Wan continues to live up to his reputation as the best mainstream horror filmmaker working today. Much like a great rock guitarist, the man simply knows his instrument, especially in those incredibly tense moments when a pitch perfect sustained note holds attention… until the slam of a power-chord-jump-scare rattles all in a display of masterful puppeteering.

Yet just like AC/DC switching to a pop ballad, Wan loses his way when The Conjuring 2 reverts to sappy sentimentality. Sure, having the likes of Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as your leads allows some dramatic juice to be injected into the creepy proceedings (unlike the wooden clogs that starred in prequel Annabelle), but the segues into the sappy do not work, with one particularly excruciating scene of Wilson crooning to an Elvis Presley classic a misplaced and humiliating horror in its own right.

Never the less, The Conjuring 2 is effectively creepy during the moments that matter. While it takes its “based on a true story” premise to extremes, it does so with the purest of intentions: to scare the living hell out of its audience. Once again, Wan succeeds in doing just that.

 

***

 

  RELATED CONTENT  
Annabelle poster
Annabelle
film review
The Conjuring poster
The Conjuring
film review
Inisidious poster
Insidious
film review

 

 

Created and Edited by Matthew Pejkovic / Contact: mattsm@mattsmoviereviews.net
Logo created by Colony Graphic Design / Copyright © Matthew Pejkovic

Twitter logo
Facebook logo
    Youtube
Matthew Pejkovic is a member of the following organizations:
AFCA logo