[two-star-rating]Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe[/two-star-rating]
The Conjuring 2 continues its commercial for the old-school Catholic Church and some of its dustier beliefs – beliefs that have faded in popularity since the 17th century.
Our married heroes still save families from the boogieman known as demon possession. (They did the same in the first film, like their tie-in work to Annabelle and The Amityville Horror). This sequel is about as good as the first Conjuring. The prior film had lots of stupid moments where people split up so the demon to get to them easily. This one offers quite a few corny scares.
Director James Wan (Insidious, Furious 7, the first Conjuring film) still works well within the late-’70s, early-’80s setting. The acting is strong. Quieter visuals can be arresting. Also, there are some effective “gotcha” moments. Perhaps Wan has run out of unique or unusual ways to really scare us, though.
Supposedly, this is based on a true story… It still feel like propaganda.
Wilson and Farmiga again represent the famous demon-hunting couple Ed and Lorraine Warren. These devout Catholics are still haunted by horrible visions. Hers emerge in physically-violent blackouts; his come through his paintings. After he paints a demon that looks like a Prometheus alien in nun garb, she starts having terrible visions and cutting up Bibles.
But never mind that. There’s a family in England – particularly a prepubescent girl (Wolfe) – tortured by the ghost of a crotchety old man. Off the couple flies to the UK to save the day, hoping they can leave their own demon behind.
Wilson and Farmiga really commit to these super-Catholics. Their job is to intercede for the priests of the High Holy Church, sorting out the scams from the real minions of Satan.
(I would assume that the clergy is too busy with other things than to reach out and help someone who feels possessed by evil, supernatural forces. Since it’s the early 80s, I’m going to guess the priests’ busyness resulted in another film – last year’s Academy Award winner Spotlight.)
In The Conjuring 2, Wan uses lots of shadow and too many out-of-focus shots. I started to feel seriously manipulated. Horror films are supposed to mess with audiences, I know, but this got out of hand…almost like being manipulated by the Catholic Church. Yes, there is something terrifying about being controlled by a powerful being. But when the only things that can save you are rosaries and crucifixes, one senses that these clichés are merely the marketing tools of a specific ideology.
[rating-key]
Or, instead of picking on the Catholic Church, I might just say that not much new and innovative has happened in recent demon-possession films. Certainly there’s nothing fresh in The Conjuring 2.
It’s all about as stale as those wafers I ate every Sunday in my childhood.
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