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I thought I'd kick the new year off with another movie marathon. I thought it was time to check out a few old school mystery flicks. Som...

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The Conjuring 2 (2016)


I watched the first one and enjoyed it, so I figured I needed to check more of these Conjuring movies out. This first sequel has Ed and Loraine investigating the Amityville house, which I’m guessing most of us are familiar with. She is doing a séance and is trying to figure out if DeFeo was under the influence of a demon when he killed his family. Here we get to see that creepy Nun for what I think is the first time in the series. After some spooky stuff they leave, and Loraine asks that they take a break from investigating for a while. This is because she was given a vision of Ed impaled by a tree branch in what she thinks is a glimpse of a future she wants to avoid. 

Then we get to the meat of the story. There is a family in England where a single mom is trying to raise her four children. One of them starts messing around with a Ouija board and before you know it, they have ghost issues. Things get very bad and eventually the church asks Ed and Loraine to check it out. There are concerns that it is all fake and the church wants nothing to do with a hoax. So, the pair head to London and move in with the family. For a big chunk of the movie there are legitimate questions as to the validity of the events. But eventually they figure out that the ghost is a red herring and that the supposed haunting is being manipulated by a demon. The same creepy demonic nun that Loraine saw in the Amityville house. 

I don’t want to go any further and give away spoilers. Much like my first review I need to point out that I understand the Warrens, Ed and Loraine, have people who believe them and those who thing they were fakers. I’m not here to debate that, I’m here to review a movie. Additionally, there are pretty good sources that say the events in this movie make them seem a lot more involved in this real life haunting than they were. I don’t really care as I’m watching the Conjuring 2 as if it were just fiction. With that out of the way let’s get to my review. 

Like the first Conjuring this movie keeps a lot of action coming at the audience. It creates and maintains a creepy vibe that it sustains for most of the runtime. I did think that it drags a bit while getting the two storylines of the tormented family and the Warrens together. But there is enough good stuff that even when it meanders a bit, they manage to grab your attention again. There is a lot of frightening events in the movie including a swing moving by itself, pounding on the door, a gag with a firetruck that was very good, the reflection of an old man in a television screen, as well as the demonic nun popping in here and there. 

When the Conjuring 2 is subtle like the gags listed above it is great. Unfortunately, it has a reoccurring scare with the crooked man. This is a character that comes to life out of a child’s toy and stomps around the house. It looks very much like a movie monster and reminded me I was watching a movie. When this and the original film are at their best, they make you feel like the events were close enough to reality to have actually occurred. That is very creepy, but this monster ruins that every time it shows up on screen. I found this to be a bummer. 

I have to say I liked this movie. There are a few jump scares and that old man yelling “This is my House” is enough to stick in my brain. In the end the Conjuring 2 is a good sequel that while not as fun or scary as the original still makes me want to watch more. Again, I’m very late to the Conjuring series but so far I dig it. 


© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer


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