So, director James Wan has done it again. He has managed to make a singularly good horror picture. I would like to see if he could break out of horror, though. I've seen 4 of his pictures now (Saw, Insidious, and the original The Conjuring) and they are all good in their own ways. But speaking from a technician's point of view, the reason his movies work is because he knows all the little secrets that scare the hell out of you and plays them like a master violinist (or, does he, as Alfred Hitchcock once famously said, play the audience?). It doesn't matter. What matters is that he is obviously well-versed on how to set a camera, pace, and stage a scene to its maximum effectiveness to scare us. If he has this much mastery of the craft, he shouldn't be wasting it anymore on horror. 12 years is enough. I want to see what he can really do with something meaty.
The Conjuring 2 starts like the original. It is another true story from the files of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprising their roles from the first movie), two of America's most gifted paranormal researchers. Ed is the only lay demonologist who was sanctioned by the Catholic Church, and Lorraine is a gifted medium. For 40 years, they investigated psychic disturbances, hauntings, and even demon possessions. This story begins with a short intro featuring their most famous case, which propelled them to celebrity status; the 1976 Massachusetts haunting in Amityville, sensationalized as The Amityville Horror. Directly after that, in 1977, England had its own Amityville case, in a north London working-class town called Enfield. In this case, a malevolent spirit possessed the body of a 12-year-old girl named Janet Hodgson, one of four children living with their single mother. What is at first thought to be the spirit of a man who died in the house years earlier, is actually an incredibly malevolent demon that had been hounding the Warrens themselves. The usual investigation and showdown with the demon unfolds among many genuine scares.
While this movie is not as good as the one preceding it (which sequel ever is?), it is still incredibly effective. First and foremost is the helmsmanship of director James Wan. He has demonstrated again and again just how good he is with this type of subject material. Many critics sort of dismissively say he is using old, but effective tropes, and that is why the movie works. I would agree with them up to a point, but I think it is unfair to dismiss Wan as a simple horror director. Like the first film, this movie does not rely on the "Boo!" factor, something that needs to jump out at you all the time. He uses it, of course, but he does something much more subtle. He relies on building dread, true horror, through its gradual crescendo to a heart-stopping climax. True horror movies like this are hard to do. Anyone can shock with slasher-style gore or torture-porn repulsiveness. True horror requires craft and diligence as it is the mind you're playing with. There are all sorts of psychological tricks a director can use, and Wan uses them all. But other elements come into play as well. Wilson and Farmiga are incredibly charismatic in their roles, but not so much that it overpowers the story. The real Warrens, in interview after interview, always stated their main motivation for their work was to help people. This purity of purpose, in addition to their chemistry together as a husband and wife who truly love and support each other, really sells the two actors as very likable people without being necessarily heroic in the classical sense. Also, like the first movie, the family being tormented are very likable and sympathetic. You want them to make it through this, and not root for their deaths like most slasher films. The script is top-notch until the demon showdown at the end that is way over the top. But then again, how else should the movie end? I was shocked in the first movie that it took a definite moral stand about the nature of good and evil, something sorely lacking in most horror pictures. While this one isn't as blatant, it emphasizes the Warrens are good people who want to help others. If only more people were like them.
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