This was a good one. A quality ghost story with characters we care about.

It was tense. But not too many sightings of the ghosts. So when they do show up, it's good. The movie really messes with our expectations. A good example is the last shot. We're expecting to see something, but don't. We're there with the characters, wondering if something is going to happen.

The climax wasn't loud and obnoxious. It was exciting and moving. The gore never ratcheted up. This is a haunted house ghost story. Not more violent torture porn.

Probably the best part... The characters and story is unpretentious. Everyone in the movie acts logically. This isn't a bullshit slasher where people make bad decisions. Everyone communicates and and it doesn't rely on those conventions to move it forward.

Yeah I like how it didn't take like 200 tries or missed attempts to get the couple to come over, maybe a half minute of convincing and then they're there. Same thing with the bureaucracy of the exorcism.

I thought that scene where they go to the priest to have him approve of an exorcism to be poorly written (and acted). The priest says it's very difficult to get an exorcism and he needs to get approval from the Vatican, but then he just says after 10 seconds, "I'll get it through". Wow, that was easy! Just go to your local church, show the priest a film, and you can have the Vatican send out an exorcist by the weekend. Just a clunky scene. Probably would have been better just to not have that scene at all as it really has no impact on the story either way. But other than that, I agree - all the characters act logically and do the smart thing throughout.

Terrific little thriller. Top notch writing, acting and directing. The one timeline I question (and yes, this is petty) was when the Warren's showed up at Perron's house. And "The Brady Bunch" was playing. Did they arrive in the evening to do their first walk through? It was still light outside. And the Perron's clearly had Fall clothes on. "The Brady Bunch" was only on prime time during that time.

Heh, yeah that was in the back of my mind as well. Also it seemed like they went out of their way to include the word 'groovy', since it induced a laugh, but that might have been the point.

just got back from a matinee. this is probably the best horror film of the last 5 years. wan knocked this out of the park. i don't even know what to say except everything clicked for me. atmosphere, acting, sound design, cinematography...you name it, it worked. like others have mentioned, it's not breaking any new ground in regards to the story or the scares but it's doing them better than anyone else has in a long time. 4.5/5

I still use the word.

Round 2 tonight, from Letterboxd:

Wait a minute, I thought this was good but not great. But if so many sources are saying this is among the best, does this mean that other horror movies (of this nature) of this nature suck ass? I haven't seen a ton of possession flicks, but for example I thought Emily Rose was terrible.

Last horror movie I remember liking this much was The Others. That was what, ten years ago?

Hmm. I actually think "Emily Rose" was amongst the better horror films. I still think "Insidious" was the scariest film I've seen in years though.

I agree. The Conjuring was a better overall film, but I recall being more freaked out by Insidious (not to take anything away from The Conjuring of course).

Yeah, Conjuring has more in common with Emily Rose. Emily Rose freaked me out so much when it came out that I, on occasion, still wake up right at 3am, the witching hour. My sub conscious really fucked me over on that one, but I love that film.

this certainly has the crossover potential that THE OTHERS, SIXTH SENSE and THE RING had. i can see all types of movie goers (horror fans or not) really enjoying this film.

Agree! "Insidious" freaked me out too. Another one that freaked me out? "1408". "The Others" was also a very effective thriller. One of my favorites.

Re: "Emily Rose". My buddy said that after he got out of the theater seeing that, he wanted to go straight to church. HA!

There was a pack of teenage girl behind me at this screening. Every time something vaguely scary happened, they would scream "Oh, no fucking way, this isn't fucking happening," or say to the other "give me your fucking hand." Or, like a descriptive audio track, they would narrate the entire film saying "Don't get in the car!" "Oh, he's going to die!" All of my years in Catholic school began to melt away as a felt a burning desire to turn around and scream "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!" But I did not. Dear Lord, was it annoying.

I enjoyed this one a whole lot--it's easily my favorite of Wan's films (although I'm still fairly in awe of SAW due to its essentially being a three-character film set in one room). Vera Farmiga's performance is perhaps the best I've ever seen in a horror film (yes, better than any in THE EXORCIST, even)--it, probably more than any other aspect, helped ground the film in reality so that the scares really worked. I also thought that, among the kids in the film, Joey King was the standout. I'd never heard of her until I watched OZ, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL early last week, but she's an actress that I'm sure we'll be hearing more from.

The Annabelle doll looked as if it came straight out of DEAD SILENCE, and I thought that it was brilliant that the movie began with the doll story and segued into the main plot. The Annabelle doll story has perturbed me ever since I first heard about it some 25 years ago, so I had goosebumps within the first five minutes of THE CONJURING (even though the real Annabelle doll was supposedly a Raggedy Ann doll). And that's how I know if a horror movie's working for me--goosebumps don't lie.

All in all, THE CONJURING is the best horror film that I've gone to the theater to see in several years, and it certainly fulfilled the promise that James Wan showed in the first half of INSIDIOUS. I was afraid that when the youngest daughter went missing in THE CONJURING she had somehow gotten sucked into the Further (which would have completely blown any good will that the film had engendered, just as happened to me with INSIDIOUS), but luckily that didn't happen. I'll definitely be picking this one up when it's released on disc.

Funny that you should mention this, as a herd of teenage girls was two rows behind me. I was afraid that they were going to be obnoxious, but apparently the film was so scary to them that pretty much the only thing I heard from back there was an occasional whimper. As for your near response to them, I had to shush several kids who were directly behind me when I went to see THE WOMAN IN BLACK. I asked them to be quiet fairly nicely, and they were decent enough to oblige. There's hope, yet.

The guy next to me, and at one point almost the whole row went "sssshhhhhhhhh!" Repeatedly. It was lost on them, however. To say nothing of the person in front me with the glowing iPhone who keep taking picture of herself with the flash for some reason.

Even after sitting back and letting the film go through my mind, I still stand by my initial thoughts that this may be my new favorite horror film of all time. I so much more enjoy things like this than I do slashers. Don't get me wrong, I love slashers and Halloween is still my number two after this one, but this one totally connected with me. I need to go back and watch a few things again now such as Halloween for the millionth time, The Exorcist, etc... and then see where I stand.

They are already working on a sequel to this one and I'm perfectly fine with that. The same screenwriters are on board as well, so that is good. They set up the potential to have a line of horror films of all sorts, and a series that doesn't necessarily have to have much to do with one another other than what I assume will be the one constant -

Then again, maybe it will be more of a direct sequel having to do with the same family and house. Either way, I'm more than up for it. Even if it ends up sucking it wont change how much I love The Conjuring.

I also agree that it can suck watching a horror film in a theater with a packed crowd. If you get stuck with an awful bunch of morons who try to become part of the show instead of just watching it, it is the worse. However, that said, there is nothing like ending up with a crowd full of like minded horror fans who are there for the film and the overall experience of watching it together. I love when I get a great horror crowd in a packed theater and you can just experience the genuine reactions of everyone. It makes me smile a bit just for the whole romanticized aspect of the entire thing. I feel the same way when it's a really funny flick, a sad tearjerker, and whatever else. It's awesome when you get a proper crowd for the genre.

More often than not I take the risk and hope for the best. Sometimes I get screwed by idiots, it happens, but there is nothing like a packed house with the right crowd. It's one of my favorite things in life, as stupid as that may sound.

True. Then again,

Yay, a series of films based on "Friday the 13th - The Series"!

4 1/2 stars. So far, I'd have to say this is the best film I've seen in theaters this year.

I loved the '70s setting. They really managed to keep everything looking authentic for the most part.

Solid roster of actors - Wilson plays a great straight man, Farmiga continues to impress me, Taylor was excellent, and I dug Livingston's role as a do-the-best-he-can father.

Early on I was worried jump scares would dominate the tension, but there were only a few. Most scares were well earned and built upon increasing tension. The final act in particular was just one insane moment after another.

I liked the parallel story with their daughter, which seemed to subtly set up a good angle for the inevitable sequel.

Score was unsettling and had power. Bishara did an equally good job on Insidious.

Underwood?

Livingston.

I don't know why I was calling him Ron Underwood.