The Conjuring (2013) - A Failure More Or Less!

★★☆☆☆

Director James Wan’s ‘Insidious’ has a pretty chilling beginning but a very lousy, nauseous ending. Unlike other horror films that prefer a dark bleak close, the ending of ‘The Conjuring’, Jame’s latest, is fairly bright and warm that’s indeed quite a surprise and comfort to me, but the story makes an awkward turn in the middle from a haunted house phenomenon to simply an act of exorcism which seems so old-school and preposterous. From there on, it starts to feel like a turnoff and lose its touch to scare!

For those fond of horror films, ‘The Conjuring’ is not so bad after all for its sound effect and setup are certainly decent. A big house, many doors and windows, long corridors and stairs, dim lights, old pieces of furniture, mirrors and reflections, girls with long hair wearing long gowns and a spooky cellar… all things appear to be typical but still scary before the director decides to let the demons show their faces. Like I always said, a great horror film ought to be able to hold the demonic till the very last moment. It can’t be too rash and revealing or it’ll become a letdown. You know it if you see how James handles ‘Saw’.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, there are ghosts. Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Truth is, there’re lots of things we can’t see with our naked eyes. There’s no reason to be scared of ghosts however. I guess they don’t want to see us just like we don’t want to see them. Yet judging what we humans often do to each other and other living things on Earth, ghosts are probably far more scared of us than we’re of them. This film tells us one thing: there’re always good and evil forces around. It’s all up to us to side with which. The demons don’t come from outside. They come from within!