The Conjuring 2 - movie review
The Conjuring 2
Plot: Lorraine and Ed Warren travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by a malicious spirit.
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe
Director: James Wan
Rating: 15
Runtime: 2hrs 14 mins
Release Date: Friday 17th June 2016
If there's something strange, In your neighbourhood, Who you gonna call? If the trailers are anything to judge by, not the new Ghostbusters. Your best bet would be to contact Ed and Lorraine Warren, the focus of both Conjuring films. When the first film was released in 2013, critics and audiences alike were crapping their pants as James Wan gave us a horror film that felt fresh and actually scared us rather than making us jump. I thought that the first Conjuring was brilliant. It had it's flaws but I still contend it to be one of my favourite horror films in recent years. With the sequel now set in London and it covering a paranormal case that I actually know, this time my expectations were considerably high. How did it turn out? Whilst it is a step down from its predecessor, The Conjuring 2 still freaked me out.
After the announcement that The Conjuring 2 would focus on the Hodgson family, I was very confused. The Conjuring prided itself being based on a true story but by incorporating Ed and Lorraine Warren into this story, their involvement does become fictional. To watch a more truthful account of this story, I'd suggest watching the three part drama, The Enfield Haunting. I may not have preferred it to this film, but because they are so similar, there might be a few comparisons between the two. Nevertheless, the Warren's headline this film and apart from those discrepancies, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga do an excellent job as the leads. In the first film, we get a sense of their relationship but it was never solely focused on. Instead it was just alluded to. Now, thanks to Wilson's enigmatic performance as Ed and Farmiga giving an absolutely terrifying and wrenching depiction of Lorraine as she passes in and out of her psychic links with demonic spirits, the Warren's become immensely fleshed out. We actually see this take a toll on her character and plays an important crux of the film. There was the possibility that Farmiga could have just screamed her way through this film because Lorraine does that quite a bit, but she instead uses it at the most opportune moments. The dynamic between Ed and Lorraine is even stronger than before and I began to forget that these aren't just characters but real people who had supposedly been in these situations frequently. Everyone else is serviceable in their roles. Peggy Hodgson (the mother) is fine and dandy but nowhere near the levels of Lili Taylor in the first Conjuring. The kids, with one exception, were all decent. Again, I preferred the acting talent from the children in the first film. I was never that blown away with the kids from this film. They just did what they could but nothing much more. However, going back to that one exception, and easily my favourite part of The Conjuring 2, was Madison Wolfe as Janet Hodgson. Janet was the primary focus of the haunting with her being the target from the demons. After watching The Enfield Haunting and seeing Eleanor Worthington-Cox as Janet, I was pretty adamant that Wolfe didn't stand a chance at topping her performance. I've got to say, it's a 50/50 split. They both are remarkably incredible for their age and act circles around the other cast members, even the two leads at times. Madison was charming as the distressed Janet but when the demon would possess her, it was terrified me to my core. And just when I thought she couldn't get any better, I discover that she is actually American. I couldn't believe it. Her English accent was immaculate and sounded more authentic than a legitimate British actor. To put this into perspective, I read that when the table read was taking place, Patrick Wilson thought she was English and was then shocked to discover she was American. Furthermore, he had actually worked with Madison Wolfe before but didn't recognise her with her accent.
Like I said, this story of the Hodgson's and their terrible experiences is something that I had heard of because of the short series about a year or so before. Therefore, as far as the twists and revelations are concerned, they didn't make the intended impact. I can't blame the movie for that, because how was it supposed to know that a very small selection of people seeing this film might have seen a tiny lesser known series. I'm sure that for anyone with no knowledge of these events, The Conjuring 2 will not fail to shock you with multiple twists. A main issue that I encountered with this film was it's runtime. 2013's The Conjuring lasted at a respectable one hour and fifty minutes (or thereabouts). Three years on, and The Conjuring 2 goes on for almost two and a quarter hours, and unfortunately, it felt longer. I found it clear that they were struggling to find material to last a suitable length so came up with other storylines that continued longer than necessary or just weren't needed. It isn't until almost an hour in until Ed and Lorraine arrive in England. For most of the first half of the film we do witness some creepy stuff, but it isn't constant like the second half. Instead, it's a mixture of the Hodgson's family and financial troubles as well as the Warren's dealing with their own demons (both figuratively and literally). In the first film, it deals with one main demon/possession and one side story (Anabelle). In the sequel, it may have been a good idea to tell the writers that more doesn't always equal better. We have three demons this time. Firstly, Bill Wilkins, the primary focal point and he was as creepy as I expected. In one scene where he takes over Janet's voice, it's haunting and unbelievable to think that it might have happened. I'm undecided on ghosts and spiritual things like that. Secondly was The Crooked Man, a demon that escaped from a toy based around the nursery rhyme. Now, during the film, I was taken aback as to how fake looking The Crooked Man was. Whereas everything else in the film stood out as being authentic, The Crooked Man was out of place in terms of look and story. However, whilst writing this review, my perception of this demon completely changed when I realised that not a single ounce of CGI or animation was used. In actual fact, The Crooked Man was portrayed by a real man, Javier Botet, who is able to contort and walk like a possessed man. And finally, we have The Nun. I'll speak briefly about this demon to avoid spoilers but I will just say this. The way in which James Wan directs the scenes involving the Nun is genuinely 'shit-the-bed' scary. All of those scenes are drawn-out with not a single shred of tension being wasted. I was curled up on my seat in terror because this Nun is the scariest thing to come out of both The Conjuring films. The unfortunate thing is, that apart from the Nun, nothing else in The Conjuring 2 is as scary as I would have hoped. There are times where it dips into clichéd horror tropes that we see over and over again but whilst the scares aren't wholly effective, Wan's smooth and simplistic direction still makes for a great viewing.
The Conjuring became one of my favourite horror films but above all, it was a brilliant film in general. The sequel struggles to reach the standards of its precursor as The Conjuring 2 is a great horror movie but not much else. I do still encourage you to see this if you're after a true horror movie rather than the generic trash that Hollywood is now processing. It might not have shaken me to my very core as the first one did, but bloody hell, I hate that freaky Nun.
My Verdict: 7/10
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