'The Conjuring 2' Review

Image from Comicbookmovie

By Diego Coya

The Conjuring 2 is a sequel to the 2013 horror film, The Conjuring. It stars Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Madison Wolfe, and Frances O’Connor. The Conjuring 2 focuses on the Hodgson family in the United Kingdom who experience poltergeist activity. One of the daughters, Janet, starts to get possessed, haunted, and tormented by malicious spirits. This leads to paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren to assist the family into stopping the demonic possessions, and torture that the spirits are putting the family through.

There were two specific reasons why The Conjuring 2 was anticipated by many people. One of the reasons is that James Wan reprises his role as the director. In my opinion, he is the best horror movie director working today. He is an absolute master of building tension and creating suspense. Another reason why the sequel was anticipated is because the 2013 film The Conjuring was regarded as one of the best horror movies of the decade. I can honestly say that not only is The Conjuring 2 better than the first movie, but it is quite possibly James Wan’s best movie yet.

The Conjuring 2 consists of terrific performances from the entire cast. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who reprise their roles as the paranormal investigators, did a fantastic job. Their chemistry is very solid, and they are so likeable together. The standout of the entire film is the performance by Madison Wolfe, who plays Janet. She was absolutely amazing; I can honestly see a bright future ahead for her and her career moving forward. All of the other performances were excellent; not one actor gave a weak performance.

James Wan directs this film masterfully; he truly is an expert at building up suspense. The reason why horror films are not as scary and well done is because they rely too much on false jump scares. The Conjuring 2 for sure has jump scares, however they are NOT false. Every jump scare that appears on screen is genuinely frightening and serves a purpose. It was refreshing to see a great horror film because it’s rare to see a great one today.

Additionally, I thought the character moments were surprisingly really solid. There is a lot of emotional scenes in which characters face their own personal demons and I found them to be just as investing as the terror scenes. I was consistently entertained throughout the film. The only flaw I can see people having is that the plot is familiar to the first one, but I felt that the way this movie was crafted is what makes this movie standout. If you are a fan of the original film, definitely see the sequel.

Rating: 9/10