EIFF 2013: The Conjuring Movie Review 0 1150

After bursting onto the scene with franchise-starter Saw, director James Wan has continued to deliver some of the most effective old school horrors of recent years with the likes of Dead Silence and most recently Insidious, one of the best horrors of the 21st century so far. Now he returns with The Conjuring, and he has delivered another chilling and supremely atmospheric experience that feels lifted from the ’70s era in which it’s set.
Based on the real case files of husband and wife paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), the plot centres on their investigation into the disturbances plaguing a couple (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) and their 5 daughters who have just recently moved into a new house.
It’s a simple set-up that should feel familiar to fans of classic cinematic horror stories, back in a time when it was much more about what you don’t see rather than the gore you do. The key to why the film works as well as it does – why most of Wan’s films do in fact – is how it both seems part of the classic horror film aesthetic with all the tropes that go along with it while having fun playing around with our inherent expectations.
It nods its head to everything from The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror to The Innocents and The Haunting, using atmosphere and extremely well-timed jump scares to great effect. All the ingredients of a classic horror are there: the large secluded house, idyllic family being terrorised, creepy children, strange noises in the house at night – it’s all familiar territory but comes off as a loving homage to horrors of year’s past than any sort of rip-off.
Just like he did with Insidious, Wan makes just as much use of audience imagination as he does on-screen effects within the scene to get as much tension and fear out of it as possible. For instance, in a particularly frightening moment one of the daughters feels a presence in her room standing behind the door. All we can see is shadow but by strongly suggesting something is there it makes us do a lot of the work to imagine the worst.
It’s the first Wan horror film not to be written by his Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell, instead written by twin brothers Chad and Carey Hayes. They don’t necessarily have the greatest track record with the likes of Whiteout, The Reaping and the House of Wax remake on their filmography, but they’ve crafted a classy and surprisingly emotional story with characters we actually care about.
On paper some of the horror set-pieces might seem silly – a subplot involving a haunted doll for example – but through courage of conviction and commitment to mood and atmosphere the film pulls it off with great aplomb. It’s not quite as unique or imaginative as Insidious, which even in its lesser moments (namely the last 25 minutes) is at least trying for something interesting and outlandish, but as a bit of good old-fashioned horror filmmaking The Conjuring is very well made and very scary.

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I'm a freelance film reviewer and blogger with over 10 years of experience writing for various different reputable online and print publications. In addition to my running, editing and writing for Thoughts On Film, I am also the film critic for The National, the newspaper that supports an independent Scotland, covering the weekly film releases, film festivals and film-related features. I have a passion for all types of cinema, and have a particular love for foreign language film, especially South Korean and Japanese cinema. Favourite films include The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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Movie Review: Aquaman 0 1881

The rocky road of DCEU films has traversed highs and lows, from the zeitgeist-capturing Wonder Woman to the absolute mess of Justice League. It’s a Marvel-rivalling gambit that, at its worst, is morosely serious in how it goes about presenting its outlandish superhero world without the depth to back it up.

The latest instalment seems to recognise and avoid that danger by being utterly, eternally ludicrous and over-the-top. But most importantly, where it counts anyway, it’s crucially self-aware of that fact and has a fun time plunging us into the depths and carrying us to great heights of entertainingly ridiculous spectacle.

We first met Arthur Curry AKA the Aquaman (Jason Momoa) teaming up with the Justice League. But how did he come to be imbued with the powers of the ocean? The film sets up his origin story quite well as we discover in the film’s opening minutes that his mother was Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), Queen of the ancient underwater Kingdom of Atlantis, who washed up on the “surface world” and met and fell in love with lighthouse keeper Thomas (Temeura Morrison).

Together they had a child that, to her mind, bridges the divide between the underwater and surface worlds, proving they can be one. However, it’s a view not greatly shared by many of her own people; when she wilfully returns to Atlantis for the sake of her son’s survival, they carry out a swift sentence of justice that would affect her husband and son’s destiny forever.

In the present day, Aquaman is approached by Mera (Amber Heard), a warrior princess of Nereus (Dolph Lundgren), who tries to convince him that he must claim his rightful place as King of Atlantis. This is in order to thwart his ruthless and cunning half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) from seizing power as Ocean Master that would lead to a full-scale attack on the surface world, someone who considers Aquaman to be a “half-breed” not worthy of the throne.

Credit must go to director James Wan (a filmmaker who has gone from horror franchises like Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring to blockbusters like Fast & Furious 7) for really going for it by delivering an eye-popping, bonkers visual style that seems to make every effort to be the opposite of drab.

It’s fuelled by a marriage between the comic book page and Greek mythology; sometimes that gets the better of it in the shape of characters going on extended monologues that explain legends in the finest detail, though at others that feeds into the idea of stories retold through the ages.

The film is a treat to behold whenever it dives into the ocean as Wan embraces the absurdity at every turn (look out for the giant neon-lit octopus playing the drums), wearing the inherent goofiness as a badge of honour rather than anything to shy away from. And,perhaps most importantly, the cast seems completely on-board for having as much fun with those OTT concepts as they want the audience to have.

Momoa brings alight-hearted charisma, which carries the film whenever it leans too heavy into one-liner humour that doesn’t always land as hoped, while bringing a welcome sense of bruising physicality to the action scenes that are otherwise so reliant on CGI.

An impressive cast of more seasoned actors all lend as much weight to it as possible, from Kidman’s caring, strong-willed portrayal of Aquaman’s mother to Willem Dafoe as his Atlantean trainer Vulko and particularly Wilson, who lends formidable threat to the potentially bland villain Orm.

For a film that had the potential to get so tangled up in both its place within an overall comic book movie universe and the mythology that sets the foundation of its tale, it’s surprisingly streamlined and enjoyably accessible. It’s a refreshingly carefree,unchallenging romp that invites you to let the tidal wave of rambunctious comic book movie sensibilities wash over you.

6.5 out of 10

Movie Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 0 1753

After so many sequels and reboots of the Spider-Man character on the big-screen, from Sam Raimi’s trilogy to the character being integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s hard to see what else they can give us that’s going to surprise. But along comes an animated Spider-Man to do just that.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is a normal teenager living in New York with his parents; loving but fairly easy-going mother Rio (Luna Lauren) and loving but tough police officer father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) – the film has a surprising emotional through-line in how it depicts the father-son relationship.

One day while doing some secretive spray painting with his chummy uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), he is bitten by a mysterious spider that gives him special powers from web slinging to a tingling Spidey Sense.

This leads him to eventually crossing paths with Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) who, due to the villainous Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) meddling with a dimension-altering weapon, has inadvertently been sent over from a parallel universe and who eventually teaches Miles how to be Spider-Man.

But it doesn’t stop there;many other diverse versions appear, from Gwen Stacy AKA Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) to Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage). Sony’s dazzling animation is as fun because it takes that idea and just runs with it.

Anyone can wear the mask seems to be its mantra, conjuring the everyman wonder that drives much of comic book fandom. For all its eye-popping, modern visual aesthetics, it has a refreshingly old-fashioned spirit. The old and the new meet in the film’s beguiling combination of traditional hand-drawn animation and contemporary bells and whistles computer rendering. It’s about as close as a film has come to feeling like a comic book come to life.

Inventive direction by trio Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman works in lovely harmony with the eclectic, knowing style of scriptwriter Phil Lord (The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) to find quite a miraculous way of breathing new life into the overflowing comic book genre.

From its sharply-written dialogue to its very animation style itself, the film is beautifully self-aware of its own station within the overall comic book movie catalogue, cleverly lampooning yet dotingly celebrating the attributes that have become such a part of pop culture. And yet it feels like it puts its own fiercely original stamp on that most famous of heroes.

This is a visually stunning, innovative incarnation of the character; propulsive in its energetic action, engagingly voiced, tightly written as a heroic narrative arc, reverential yet forward-thinking in its ethos and with a real sense of heart and soul at its core. It’s a particular treat for fans and a welcoming,imaginative embrace for everyone.

8.8 out of 10