Film Review - The Conjuring

Film Review – The Conjuring

Director: James Wan

Year of Production: 2013

Genre: Psychological Horror

Brief Plot Outline: Ed and Lorraine Warren are paranormal investigators who help out the Perron family with the dark spirits in their new house.

Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why?

The first scene that really impressed me was the exorcism scene as the camerawork is a bit different from the rest of the film. Two examples are the ZIDO shot of the mother whilst she is possessed which instantly makes the viewer uneasy and the camera follows Lorraine through the hallway from the top of a door and flips upside down – this happens a couple of times like when the child looks under the bed and makes the viewer slightly confused and disorientated.

The second scene I was impressed by was the jump scare of the woman on top of the wardrobe is unexpected as it quickly zooms in to her face and cuts away again when the viewer expects something to happen inside the wardrobe. This is also an example of several kinds of collision cutting: quiet to loud, slow to quick, pleasant to unpleasant.

 

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of filmmaking? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?

It helped me understand that although using the same techniques repeated does make the movie predictable it also gives it more suspense as the viewer knows something is about to happen but not what it is.

-Body Horror = the mother (when possessed) bites the policeman’s cheek, when the ghost possesses her she throws up blood.

-Restricted Narration = in the cellar when the mum is trapped the lights go off but we can hear her being attacked.

-Creepy Locations = the haunted house is in a remote location. The camera has a low angle in shots of the house to show its power and zooms in/out of the house to make it seem more evil.

-Parallel Music = to add to the atmosphere e.g. the Annabelle Case scene.

-Lots of Close Ups = mainly reaction shots and extreme close ups of the Annabelle doll and ghosts to create claustrophobia and shock.

-POV Shots = e.g. through the lens of the camera when Ed investigates the cellar.

-Handheld Camera = when the parents try to find the door that’s slamming, the camera bobs up and down like the viewer is walking behind them.

-Quick Montage = when Lorraine is attacked in the cellar however the pacing is generally slow.

-Collision Cutting = quiet to loud to make the viewer jump.

-Has both themes of violence to your family and the fear of being trapped (in the cellar).

 

Which aspect of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? Why?

The director uses collision cuts and jump scares to put the viewer on edge and although the repetitiveness makes the scary moments more foreseeable James Wan scares us by using non-obvious objects. For example, when April shows her mother the music box and asks her to look in the mirror for “Rory”, we expect an extreme close up of Rory’s face in the mirror but instead the child jumps on her mother as a joke.

James Wan also makes the camera move quick and smoothly, e.g. when the Perron family first moves in the camera tracks around the house, this leads to the audience feeling dizzy and disorientated.

The camera often shows little details using reflections off windows and mirrors making the audience paranoid.

Which aspect of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? Why?

The film jumps around between the two families continuously and helps to provide structure by using a yellow, typewriter font. However, the jump to different places and years often becomes confusing.

 

What was the best aspect/more enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How?

The most enjoyable moment in the film for me was the cellar scene with Lorraine and the jewellery box as it explains important parts of the film and is full of suspense and jumpy moments.

To recreate this you would have to film slow montages in a creepy, low lit setting with plenty of collision cuts and jump scares with a plot twist to shock the audience.

How does the film show the influence of its "auteur" director? How does it show the director's filmmaking style and soul? Give examples of three scenes from the movie that show their auteur style.

Other films James Wan has directed: Saw (2004), Dead Silence (2007), Insidious (2010), Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013). With the exception of Saw, James Wan only uses a small amount of body horror and tends to favour collision cutting and jump scares to make the audience shudder. Both Insidious and The Conjuring have semi-happy endings but left open with The Conjuring focused on the music box whilst both families reunite safely.

 

Three Scenes:

1) James Wan uses a specific look in several of his films including The Conjuring and Insidious (2010) which looks kind of washed out/bleached. An example of this is when Lorraine Warren hangs out the washing and the storm clouds bleach out the colours of the film for a few minutes.

2) The director likes to focus on creating a tense atmosphere by mainly using slow montages to create suspense, an example of this tense atmosphere is the scene when the mother plays "hide and clap" with her youngest daughter April.

3) James tends to direct ghost/demon films and has a weird fascination with puppets which usually star in his films= Annabelle doll in The Conjuring, Jigsaw puppet in Saw.