THE CONJURING

I have said it before and I will say it again - I have been watching horror films for as long as I can remember and they simply do not scare me. Every time a new horror film comes out I get really excited and think to myself 'this is the one, this is the one that will terrify me!' And each time I am left disappointed. Even if a horror film is jumpy and creepy it is usually let down by an awful storyline, ridden with plotholes. If a horror film has a great storyline then it usually isn't very creepy - in fact, I had just ended up accepting the seemingly obvious fact that horror films can't be both really good and really, truly scary.... But then The Conjuring came along and showed me otherwise!

The real Perron family

Based on the true story of the 1970s, the Perron family move into an old farmhouse, only for a dark presence to start terrorizing them. Out of options and scared witless, the Perrons call on paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren for help.

I was wary of this film from the get-go purely because paranormal, ghost stories don't usually interest me. I have very little time for the whole supernatural aspect of horror and the way Hollywood had jazzed up classic horror with over the top CGI and ghastly glossy graphics makes my skin crawl. I was therefore relieved to find that director James Wan hadn't pandered to Hollywood's expectations of horror and had instead reverted back to old school techniques that gave the film an authentic essence, reminiscent of the 1970s era of which it is set.

Another issue I  find with horror films is that I very rarely care for the characters. Too often the characters put themselves in stupid and unrealistic situations that make it difficult for the audience to relate too. For example - why are you heading towards the danger? Why are you still in the house?? Wan made a point of avoiding all typical horror cliches in his last film Insidious and was clearly keen to address them again here. First of all, once the Perrons establish that something scary is happening, they seek the help of the Warrens almost immediately and are sure to mention that they would move but have no money and with a family of seven they have nowhere else to go. The fact that the characters were actively seeking out the danger of the spirits was also covered - after all Lorraine and Ed have been called in to help the family get rid of the evil presence, they're going to have to interact with them in order to do so! This avoidance of typical horror movie stupidity made the characters likeable and whilst i was watching i was definitely vouching for them, which is more than I can say for other films of this genre!

Vera Farmiga is the star of the show!

All of the performances in this film were outstanding, especially impressive when the Perron family is largely made up of young actresses, but Vera Farmiga stole the show for me as she fast becomes one of my favourite actresses. Having seen most of her previous films, Farmiga continues to bring a certain element of warmth to the screen and gives the audience an added insight into her characters with just a simple look or expression. I just find her entire presence quite calming and true to how I imagine the real Lorraine Warren would have been, Farmiga was an element of calm amongst the chaos and terror of the film and as silly as it sounds, even as just a member of the audience, I instantly felt safer whenever she was on the screen.

The general storyline was also incredible strong, the true life story was delivered in an engaging and emotive way and unlike most horror films, when it ended there were no unanswered questions or plot holes that always end up discrediting the entire film. The conclusion of the film is more or less definitive but Wan was also sure to make the final scene something that will leave the audience wondering...

Now, we have established that the general premise and the performances were strong, but this is the important bit: how were the scares?!

The scares don't stop at 'Annabelle'...

Absolutely terrifying. I am not kidding, I have genuinely never been so scared in my entire life. There was one segment in particular where I genuinely felt sick with fear and part of me wanted to leave the cinema but at the same time I needed to know what was going to happen. The scares weren't just jumps for no apparent reason; even when there was nothing actually on the screen there was a creepy atmosphere that had you on the edge of your seat and a majority of the time it wasn't as predictable to guess when something terrifying was going to happen as it is in most horror films, meaning that the audience didn't have time to cover their eyes! Wan successfully creates horror through every aspect - he flawlessly merges the visual and audio of the film with the storyline to heighten your senses and doesn't just depend on cheap jumps to shock the audience into submission. It was obvious that the entire process had been thought out in detail and the gradual build up of terror was perfectly paced whilst providing the necessary character and plot development.

From the scares to the narrative to the performances to the execution, there is not a single thing that i can fault this film for. As a huge fan of the Saw franchise I did have faith in James Wan but he exceeded my expectations and provided me with not only the thrills and terror that i was hoping for but also with a great film that made me think.

Despite not usually liking paranormal horror films, personally I do believe in ghosts and so I believe that this allegedly true story is actually  a true story. Wan had the full support and guidance of both Lorraine Warren and the entire Perron family in order to create a film that represents what happened to them as real to life as possible and i think that guidance definitely aided the film. Wan was careful to portray all of these characters in a positive light, for example the Warrens are shown early on in the film telling a couple who think that their house is haunted that the creepy noises are actually coming from the old pipes in their cellar, proving that they were not con artists, and the Perron family are also seen as just your average, every day American family - not some crazy fruit loops who hallucinated ghosts.

All in all I do thoroughly recommend this film as one of the scariest horror films of our time and I would encourage anybody to go and see it. However, having been desperate to be terrified by a horror film for my entire life now that it has happened I don't think that I like it! The night after I watched The Conjuring I was woken up at 5am by a massive bang in my room that I could not find a logical explanation for, since then I have been scared of rummaging in my wardrobe, going to sleep or even just being home alone and I have been making my cats come everywhere with me (animals can sense spirits, right?!) And this is all from somebody who has watched every big horror film that has been released and not even flinched, so I would say to go and watch it but please, watch it with caution.

I award The Conjuring with ★★★★★


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Love,

MAMA

Okay, before I start can i just get this out of my system: Am i the only person who's inner fourteen-year-old is unleashed at the sight of the word 'Mama'?! Literally, i can't read the word without hearing this gem in my head:

Right, now that is out of the way let's get back to the topic at hand!

One thing you should know about me is that i love a good horror film - i love to jump and be scared and then hide under the covers at bedtime because i don't want the scary monster to get me. However, these days finding a good horror film is pretty much impossible. They are a rare breed and this is because a good horror film has to be more than just scary. There needs to be the right amount of scares, quality acting and, most importantly, have a really great plot.

Y'know, a plot?! One of those coherent things that drive films? Something that has a clear beginning, middle and an end? No massive, gaping plot holes? No amazing twists but with no explanation? Okay, good - you guys know what that is and that already puts you one step above most horror film makers! Just last year i saw the film 'The Pact' in the cinema, which was pretty good - it was kind of creepy and the story was sort of making sense as well as scaring me but then it committed that great horror film offence of an amazing plot twist making the audience gasp but then...... The credits rolled. Seriously, they had this amazing turn of events that ended so suddenly there was pretty much no explanation, no detail given, nothing! It was very disappointing to say the least and it made all the positives of the film - like the fact it made me jump and was scary in places - just disappear. Horror film scares are nothing without a plot!

Needless to say, i am quite cautious when choosing to invest time in a horror film because i know it will probably end up being disappointing. However, when i saw Guillermo Del Toro had a new film, 'Mama', coming out i was super, super excited! I have seen a few of his other films and i know that if there is one thing that i can trust Del Toro with, it is providing the audience with a good, coherent narrative. I was quick to Orange Wednesday'd it and was scared before the film had even started - apprehensive of the terror that would soon be engrossing me and the fact that i was seeing it late at night, meaning that i would be going straight home to bed in the dark afterwards, made it all the more terrifying.

I am so happy to report that the film is captivating from beginning to end. For those who don't know, 'Mama' is the story of two young girls that have been found living feral in the woods five years after they disappeared. They go to live with their Uncle and his girlfriend but are constantly talking to and about 'mama' and ~weird things~ start to happen. Typical to Del Toro's usual style the audience is a lot more emotionally involved with the characters than your usual horror movie. Within ten minutes i was close to tears at the sight of the two young sister huddling together for warmth having been abandoned in the forest and although i didn't cry at the end i know plenty of people who did shed a few tears!

Also executive producer of films like 'Pans Labyrinth', Del Toro is definitely more inclined to go down the more fantastical horror route than traditional, sinister horror. The ending of 'Mama' has been compared by many to something straight out of a Tim Burton movie and there are lots of fantasy elements throughout the film that make me think 'horror' isn't the most accurate genre-label for it. Mama herself is very fantastical looking, she is definitely not your typical horror villain and i have to be completely honest and say that i found her appearance somewhat laughable. Her face was just so big and her hair was so far receeded that she resembled a potato and the sounds that she was making sounded more like a cow moo-ing than anything terrifying. However.... THIS IS NOT A BAD THING!!!!

I was so worried when i went in that i'll be seeing her face in the shadows when i went to bed that night, so her face not being scary at all was definitely something that worked in my favour at least! And, most importantly, just because the villain herself wasn't scary to look at it doesn't mean there aren't any scares in the film! From things lurking in the shadow and the traditional aspect of things suddenly jumping out at you... I was hiding behind my coat for a little bit of it i have to admit.

The storyline was exactly what I had expected from Del Toro – an emotive and well-explained back story that leaves no real questions unanswered; there were downsides though. There was an incredibly obvious deleted scene which disorientated the story arc a little bit and I cant for the life of me work out why it was deleted, the time scale was also a bit messed up – it would be light outside one second then pitch black the next and we would then be shown the exterior of the house in complete darkness but once inside the house you could see daylight shining in through the windows. These are more goofs than plot holes though but they seem like pretty major goofs to have been missed.

One thing that definitely CAN NOT be ignored though is the absolutely outstanding performances from the two young actresses who play such an incredibly central role in the film. Like most, I am always a bit wary of films that are focused on a child playing a main role because, whether we like it or not, a lot of children can not act. One major film from last year, whose title I wont say because I don’t want to be slagging of a kid, was utterly ruined for me because of the distractingly bad performance from the child actor. These girls were extraordinary and their performances aided the emotional connection that I had with the film rather than hinder it, as has happened in the past. Congrats to them!

All in all I did thoroughly enjoy 'Mama' and although it had a few flaws and the CGI wasn’t up to scratch it had a decent storyline and was a captivating watch. I don’t feel it fits comfortably within the horror genre but rather flits somewhere between the horror/ fantasy hybrid that Del Toro is creating. It is definitely more horror and scarier than his previous film, The Orphanage (which is also amazing and you should check it out) but it has a heavier focus on emotion and character development than most horror films. And to those who are wary of watching it because you don’t want to have nightmares and aren't a fan of horror films i'd say… give it a go. You will probably jump a few times but there is so much more to the film than horror so i don't think it will do any lasting damage :)

I award 'Mama': ★★★★☆
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Love,