So yes, I am a horror author and huge horror movie fan but these were two successful movies from recent times which I had not caught up with. I had noticed just how well they had done at cinemas and the reactions from many other fans over the last few years and in the last month or so I managed to watch both movies.
Had I been avoiding them? Was it because they seemed too derivative? Too much like many other classic horror flicks I already knew? Too Hollywood?
One major reason for avoiding this successful new horror series personally could be because it did look too slick. they may have seemed to have been far too consciously produced by a team of studio producers and accountants. It could be that at the time I was focusing more on my writing or looking to see more obscure older horror movies. There certainly has been a steady resurgence in popularity of horror movies in cinemas over the last decade, but I do think a number of studios and producers have jumped onto this and possibly churned out quite a few forgettable and ‘cookie-cutter’ predictable movies where there is not really point in going to see them if you’re seen more than say ten horror movies in your life. It may also have been that they were made and directed by James Wan, whom previously had given us the successful Insidious which I was not hugely blown away by and it seemed familiar and cheap or safe.
I had a few reasons or excuses but anyway, now I have seen both. What did I think?
So I tried to come to these movies with an open mind, ready to at least be entertained if nothing more. I did not know, or had forgotten the links to the Amityville movie/events and this did make it interesting thought as the first ,movie began I was sceptical. I was impressed by the production design, the vintage detail and locations. Wan is for sure a very talented director but I perhaps felt he was weaker as a writer. It moved along and did seem very much like the Amityville story, but thanks I would say to the direction and main actors involved including Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga I still wanted to see the movie continue. For me the difficulty was the really close similarity to the Poltergeist movies which have seen many times and really know very well. The use here though of the two paranormal investigators -the Warrens- and what they may have personally encountered with their experiences really brought me into the story. While I could not block out my memories of the Poltergeist films soon enough this first Conjuring movie really shakes and surprises the viewer. The special effects and not gory, blood splattered horror but extremely inventive and captivating. You see in this movie, things you wish you would have seen in Poltergeist or the Amityville movie but which those directors just could not do at the time due to lack of CGI effects or simply they were not creative enough. Also links to the Catholic church and Vatican with the Warrens and their work was interesting, and as many would say, just even seeing those characters working together against the powerful dark forces around this troubled family and home.
Onto the sequel, The Conjuring 2. Again this movie had been out for a few years now and I had forgotten much about it. I was surprised to see that the Wan had decided to take the story across the sea to right here in the UK. Would that be a terrible mistake? Why had they chosen to do this? I started to think from a filmmaking point of view, oh this will be for tax reasons, and cheap location shooting here in my land. No, that thankfully was not the reason (or not the top of the list perhaps). This time the story focused on events which took place in the late 1970’s and which have been previously documented and used in film and fiction over the years. So why use these events if many people were already possibly very familiar with them? Well, this being a sequel to a big successful American horror movie, the U.S. audiences may have barely known much at about the Enfield case as it was known.
I myself remembered as the movie moved along that I had seen a documentary a few years back which did cause quite a stir here when it was broadcast on terrestrial television which focused on the case, and may have played up elements of the story and events and exploited the facts and people involved with it. So here, we have the same events, though slightly loosely based with those event details but the Warren married paranormal investigators come along from the U.S. after appearing on a talk-show to explain and promote their work.
So as I watched the first film with the memories of the Poltergeist movies in the back of my mind, here I viewed the sequel with another strange sense of knowing, with the familiar and interesting characters placed into a known real location and famous paranormal case. We have very detailed London sets and locations, production design-furniture, clothes, music and more and then well, the accents. Yes are up and down, at times convincing at others very Dick Vandyke. Some of the English characters may be slightly stereotypical but for this being a big Hollywood movie, that was fairly predictable and they are really as bad as they could have been. Again though like the first movie what really works in this movie, is the direction, the special effects and the Warrens. It can seem like a very familiar ‘seen it all before’ supernatural poltergeist movie but when the ghost and evil spirits begin to kick off, it is a marvel to watch. The director Wan knows how to place the slightest little thing in a dark corner and let the viewer notice, and cut and edit just right to provoke a intense fear. This sequel does have probably a much more built up, even more dramatic third act end to the film. You possibly see it all coming, but it all plays out really well with great camera work and effects.
My issue may just be in where they added in a couple of extra spirits which maybe seemed too much or out of place. You may know what I am talking about. We know that The Conjuring movies have now set up various cues and elements for a number of spin-off movies and related movies such as The Nun and the Annabelle movies.
I think I can say now that I am glad I finally did get around to watching these two successful modern horror movies. They surprised me and gave me hope that Hollywood can still offer some good quality horror when we don’t always expect it.
James Parsons is the author the horror novel Northern Souls available now in paperback/ebook from all good bookshops. He has also published two science fiction novels-Orbital Kin and Minerva Century also available now.
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