My StageBuddy colleague wrote an excellent article yesterday about four things modern horror movies get wrong: they're all about the kills, the villains are boring, they feature bland "actors," and, most significantly, they're just not scary. Fortunately 'The Conjuring,' out today and directed by James Wan ('Saw,' 'Insidious'), is a splendid return to form for the genre that manages to avoid those pitfalls of modern horror.
James Wan is perhaps the biggest up-and-coming horror director, with several effectively scary films already under his belt. (See my article ranking his previous movies here.) That's not to say he hasn't had his missteps: even one of his best movies, 2010's 'Insidious,' suffers from a faltering tone in its third act. Luckily, there's no such stumbling here, with the entire film being directed with a confident, level hand from start to finish. It's clear that Wan is a fan of the genre himself: he knows how to genuinely frighten an audience rather than use cheap tactics to startle them. Instead of populating his film with so-called "jump scares," Wan steadily ratchets up the tension and builds a suffocating atmosphere of terror so that when the scares do come, they feel earned and not random. He remembers that what's scariest is what you can't see: the creaks and whispers just off screen feel like a chilling breath down the back of your neck.
Unlike Wan's first film, the genre-changing 'Saw,' 'The Conjuring' features zero gore. And unlike other modern horror films like the reboots of 'Friday The 13th,' 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' and 'Halloween,' the focus of 'The Conjuring' is not on elaborate kills. And yet it manages to be twice as scary as all those gore-filled booby-trapped death orgies. Watching this film is like stepping into a time machine and being ushered into an earlier, better era for horror: it calls to mind such classics as 'Poltergeist' and 'The Exorcist.'
The biggest asset Wan has at his disposal here is definitely his cast. Unlike the baby-faced twenty-somethings that populate other franchises, Wan has filled his movie with actual talent. Vera Farmiga, who stars as the clairvoyant ghosthunter Lorraine Warren, is particularly excellent. (Farmiga is making quite a name for herself in the horror genre between this and the brilliant A&E 'Psycho' reboot/prequel 'Bates Motel'). Here she's playing a character who could easily be dismissed as a delusional kook, but she manages to imbue Lorraine with an grounded sense of purpose that is impossible to scoff at. She's joined by Patrick Wilson (who also starred in Wan's 'Insidious') as Lorraine's husband Ed. Wilson and Farmiga make a great team, him being the rational, cautious one and her the determined, emotional one. Part of what makes this film so effective is that you can feel the toll the haunting is taking on them as a couple, having left their daughter behind to help a group of strangers. Lili Taylor ('The Haunting') also excels as Carolyn Perron, the terrified matriarch of the family, who is most affected by the hauntings.
To be fair, if there's a flaw of modern horror that 'The Conjuring' does fall into, it would be the forgettable villain. The entity that is plaguing the Perrons is just another in a long line of evil spirits with a forgettable back story. But it would be disingenuous to claim that the spirit was the focus of the story. The focus here is on the people rather than the supernatural, and not just the people being terrorized (which is a given in any haunted house movie), but also the people called in to expel the malevolent spirit. And that's where 'The Conjuring' most clearly distinguishes itself from other horror fare: in its depiction of the Warrens as humans who are just as real and just as scared as those they're trying to help. Wan himself said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he was drawn to 'The Conjuring' not just because he wanted to direct another horror movie, but because it was based on a supposedly true story of real people. You can tell how fascinated he was by the Warrens' life, and it's that attention to the human element that puts this film on a level rarely reached in the genre.
If you're a fan of old-school horror and have felt let down time and again by the relentless slate of scare-free remakes and torture-fests, then rest assured that there is still hope for the genre. I can't wait to see what Wan does with 'Insidious Chapter 2' (out later this year). Unfortunately, after that film's release he's taking a break from horror to direct 'Fast & Furious 7" -- I applaud Wan for branching out and trying other genres, but I hope no matter how far afield he goes, he returns every now and then to the genre he helped revive. A few decades from now, I wouldn't be surprised if James Wan was a name people remember right next to Wes Craven and John Carpenter.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k10ETZ41q5o[/youtube]
