The original film, The Conjuring, was one of my all time great scary movie experiences in the theater. It just had me utterly engrossed from beginning to end with the increasing tension and genuine scares. I had no idea where it was going and was just along for the ride. So, with the release of The Conjuring 2 I couldn't help but wonder if they would be able to so completely freak me out a second time. The short answer is no, they did not. But at the same time I think I may have liked this movie even more than the first.
The film opens with Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), along with assorted others, investigating the infamous Amityville haunting in Long Island, NY. During a seance, Lorraine has a sort of out of body experience as she goes around the house, experiencing first hand the murder of each member of the DeFeo family, ending with her coming face to face with the demon that apparently forced Ronnie DeFeo to murder his family. Along with it comes a premonition of Ed dying horribly and soon. This spurns Lorraine to ask Ed that they not take on any new cases for awhile and focus on the lectures they give instead. Ed hesitantly agrees.
Meanwhile, across the pond in London a family of four children and a single mother begin experiencing some intense paranormal activity. Much of the activity seems to be focused on the youngest daughter, Janet (played by Madison Wolfe). As the incidents increase in intensity, the mother Peggy (played by Frances O'Connor) is at a loss as to what to do and eventually consents to let a local T.V crew try and document some of the activity in an attempt to try and find some help. This attracts the attention of the Catholic Church, who reach out to Ed and Lorraine to go to London and try to confirm if this is an actual incident or a hoax. The church is hesitant to get involved after the publicity of the Amityville case left much of the public thinking it was an elaborate hoax. They hesitantly agree and fly off to London to try and assist the family plagued by the haunting.
I approached this film, much like I did with the original film, as a work of fiction loosely inspired by an allegedly true haunting. Within that context, this film is quite an effective scary movie. James Wan returned to direct the sequel and is quite good at creating an effective mood and tension throughout the story. At the same time, the film develops it's characters nicely so that you actually come to care about them. There are some light moments in the film, such as Ed trying to lighten the mood of the house and the family by playing a guitar and singing Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love". I think it was these moments more than anything that really had an effect on me as well as the scenes where Ed and Lorraine reaffirm that they are partners in their paranormal investigations because they believe in each other. I know it sounds hokey, but Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga make these scenes work beautifully and add some real emotional weight to the film.
My biggest nitpick with the movie is the fact that they broached the Amityville case at all. My reason for this is because it is so well known and so famous, but also widely presumed to be either a complete hoax or at least extremely exaggerated. It is a case I know quite well and have done a lot of reading about it. Therefore I have a healthy amount of skepticism about it as well. Even when I decided to watch it in the context of a fictional film, my brain was still nitpicking how they got the layout of the Amityville house wrong, etc. So, perhaps it's just me having an issue with it and those less familiar with it wouldn't have as much of a problem with it. The only reason I had an issue with it is it brought out my inner skeptic at the forefront and took me out of the movie at the beginning. I was able to get back into it and enjoy the movie on the basis of the direction, performances and the strength of the writing but I suspect this may be part of the reason this one didn't impact me as much as the first one.
Still, The Conjuring 2 is a worthy follow-up, continuing the adventures of The Warrens and their battling the forces of darkness. The film has a suitably creepy atmosphere with some really strong performances behind it and some strong direction from James Wan. If you're looking for a good scare, this would be a good place to find it.
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