SEQUEL HAS ITS DEMONS
Conjuring 2 lacks original’s flair, scare
In 2004, the film Saw showcased one of horror’s best mysteries, carefully assembling a series of puzzle pieces that set up the film’s brilliant ending. The movie unexpectedly launched a franchise — currently seven films deep — through a logical, yet shocking, twist ending that was perfectly hidden in plain sight, and executed absolutely brilliantly. The ending of Saw set a benchmark that the sequels were never quite able to attain.
Though the director behind the original Saw is at the helm of The Conjuring 2, James Wan (who has also taken on the challenge of another film franchise with The Fast and the Furious) isn’t able to handle a similar culmination of established concepts and plot points nearly as delicately in his latest. While Saw toys with your mind, The Conjuring 2 is all about provoking a visceral, gut reaction — which, sadly, the film only occasionally achieves.
The Conjuring 2 brings back stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as paranormal protagonists Ed and Lorraine Warren. The couple investigates yet another ghostly happening. As with the first Conjuring film, the events are based on the true story of the Warrens, real-life investigators with an eye for the supernatural.
This time around, the Warrens travel across the pond to the jolly old England of the 1970s, where they’ve been hired to verify that a single mother and her four children are actually being haunted, and not just using it as an excuse for better housing.
The Warrens’ investigation is compromised by Lorraine’s premonition of Ed’s death, amping up the tension and forcing an emotional investment in the Warrens, which also leads to some (but very few), touching character moments.
But this is a horror movie first and foremost, and as such, the film seems contractually obligated to bring about a certain number of scares. Unfortunately, attempts at “jump scares” are frequently telegraphed by cues from the score. The awful lack of subtlety completely quashes any tension that might have led to a shock because your expectation is immediately altered by the same notes preparing you for another upcoming scare — over, and over again.
The film is stylistically bolstered by a dim colour palette and complex camera movements, but these explorations in style quickly become par for the course. Clocking in at over two hours, the film’s horrific moments aren’t really that scary, especially once the film establishes a formula that’s simply too predictable. All this comes at the expense of the characters, who are often just stand-ins for bodies we’re given little reason to care about.
There is something positive to be said for the backstory that Wan sets up: a larger force at play, a positive byproduct of the Warrens’ personal haunting that intersects with the main haunting in England. This should have set up a gripping climax, but ultimately the movie’s tameness robs it of impact. The stakes are set up, but by the time the credits roll, they have already been rendered meaningless.
Overall, it makes for an unsatisfying, uneven and rarely scary romp.
The Conjuring 2 is all about provoking a visceral, gut reaction — which, sadly, the film only occasionally achieves.