The second half of my double feature
was a James Wan production, which means solid jump scares and solid characters
to latch onto. In this second installment of the series, so to speak (as
Annabelle was part of this series too, just without the Warrens), the story
follows Ed and Lorraine Warren as they start to embark on far more notoriety than
anticipated after their investigation into the Amityville deaths. Not long into
the movie, the scene shifts to London to what is purported to be one of the
most investigated hauntings. To me, the best part of this movie was that there
was some credence given to the events perhaps being faked. In most horror
movies, the sceptic is the first to die, but not in this case.
Back in America, in the beginning
of the movie, Lorraine is haunted by what looks like a nun, purporting Ed’s
imminent death, after which, she begs Ed to no longer take any news cases. Not
long after, the couple are confronted with a tape from the Enfield haunting and
go, on behalf of the church, just to see what is going on. The couple arrive
and are pretty quickly confronted by things they can’t explain. Lorraine, the psychic,
doesn’t feel anything at all, making her more skeptical than Ed. They witness
quite a few events, but once a news crew captures one of the children in the
house throwing things, and not an entity, the entire incident seems to be
debunked. The Warrens realise their mistake and hurry back to the house in time
to save the girl and her family.
What this new edition lacks in believability,
it makes up for with plenty of jump scares and terrifying sequences. When the
hauntings first begin, things are downright eerie. The girl who is being
haunted seems to transport around the house, waking up in a room that isn’t her
bedroom more than once. The idea of this haunting might be just as terrifying as
the others mentioned, but it didn’t come off nearly as scary. Also, if you’re a
fan of Orphan Black, Mrs. S, Siobhan, is the neighbor to the haunted family.
For a horror movie helmed by
James Wan, this was about the median production. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t
terrible either. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are great together. Some may
forget, but Patrick Wilson was in the film adaptation of Phantom of the Opera
and we get to hear him sing an Elvis song in this movie, well worth the $6
right there. The effects were not overbearing, but just enough to make
everything just a touch scarier. I did wonder if there would be more to the
debunking when the movie ended, but there wasn’t. I do hope Wan picks a less
well known haunting should there be a Conjuring 3.
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