The Conjuring is getting some great word of mouth and the cinema was packed when i went to see it but I thought it was a disappointing, tepid affair. It’s ‘based on a true story’ and set in the early seventies and so immediately puts you in mind of The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror. It’s a trick that seems to have fooled lots of people into thinking this is a modern classic with some authenticity and class. I was hoping the settings and fashions would invoke the feel of something like ‘The Stone Tape’ or The Legend of Hell House but actually everything just looks muddy and beige and dull. It’s more in tune with made-for-tv horrors and rolls through a repetitive set of cliches: there’s the creepy doll that turns it’s head towards us, the creepy music box, the creepy face in the mirror etc, etc etc. It’s fine if you like mild jolts but not unnerving at all. In fact, that’s the problem, it’s a very conservative horror in every sense - comforting in it’s tired set of thrills and then just a soapbox for Christian right propaganda. Once we get into the final act we discover that demonic possession means you become a bad mother for a while and therefore basically a conduit for evil. Only the church, the law and family love can restore order. Oh, and the persecuted women of Salem really were satanists, so there. Maybe it’s just me, but I just don’t find the possession/exorcism type of film to be all that scary and if anything they’re a little bit funny. Nothing more than hide and clap parlour games.
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