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The Conjuring (1 Viewer)

Tino

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I thought this film was a pretty effective haunted house thriller. What elevates this film above similar themed films are the performances and characters. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play paranormal investigators helping a family deal with supernatural forces. The film looks and feels like a 70's era horror film. Very little gore but plenty of atmosphere and scares. *** 1/2 out of 4 stars for me.
 

Tino

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I forgot to mention that this film is rated R and for the life of me can't understand why. There was no profanity, nudity or gore so its baffling to me. I think it should have been PG easily.
 

TravisR

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I dug it. The cast is excellent, solid scares (not too many cheap LOUD NOISE scares) and it builds up suspense nicely. James Wan is proving to be quite a good horror movie director and his best works- this and Insidious- have done it without relying on graphic violence.

Tino said:
I forgot to mention that this film is rated R and for the life of me can't understand why. There was no profanity, nudity or gore so its baffling to me. I think it should have been PG easily.
I was thinking that the same thing. I was wondering if maybe someone said the f-word a few times and I just didn't notice.
 

Tino

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I don't recall ANY profanity. It's a head scratcher.
 

Malcolm R

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This is the advisory:
Rated R For some sequences of disturbing violence and terror.
The rating system makes little logical sense when you rate this film the same as any of the "Saw" films or "The Evil Dead" remake.

If there's no violence or gore, it seems like it should be a lesser rating.
 

TravisR

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Malcolm R said:
This is the advisory:


The rating system makes little logical sense when you rate this film the same as any of the "Saw" films or "The Evil Dead" remake.
Yeah, I just watched the Evil Dead remake again yesterday and to say that the content of that movie is comparable to The Conjuring is crazy. Apparently, you can get an R rating when you have anything from a movie with no profanity or graphic violence to a movie where it literally rains blood. And you can have hundreds of thousands of people being killed in a superhero movie and still get a PG-13. Your MPAA at work. :)
 

Robert Crawford

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I used to listen to the Warrens all of the time back in the 60s and 70s when they appeared on my local radio station in Connecticut. They lived about 15-20 minutes from me. I liked the hint at the end of this film in regard to their next case to investigate which is without a doubt the most famous one. I loved this film, but trust me, you can't get from Monroe, Connecticut to Rhode Island in a matter of minutes.
 

Robert Crawford

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Warner is going to make all kinds of money on this film since it cost about 20M to make it.
 

moviebuff75

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Loved this film. One of the scariest movies I have ever seen. A couple of scenes were probably THE scariest I have ever seen. Beautifully shot, edited, directed, and performed. I don't think I could ever watch it alone.
 

Malcolm R

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James Wan has really got the knack for directing scary films. It'll be interesting to see if he can do action just as well with the next "Fast & Furious" film next summer.
 

Tino

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From boxoffice guru:
THIS WEEKEND Following four consecutive frames of animated sequels ruling the North American box office, horror fans returned with a vengeance powering the new supernatural thriller The Conjuring to a number one opening over a crowded weekend that saw four new releases debut in wide release. The R-rated spookfest grossed a sensational $41.5M from 2,903 locations for a sizzling $14,306 average.The marketing campaign was chilling, reviews were very positive, and social media buzz was red hot going into the weekend making it a must-see for fright fans who have had almost nothing scary all summer to rally behind. Studio research showed that females led the way with 53% of the audience while 59% were over 25. The CinemaScore grade was an A- which was exceptionally good for a fright flick. The Conjuring scored the biggest opening of 2013 for a pure horror film. Most R-rated films of this genre that open to over $40M are sequels or remakes.
 

Quentin

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Clearly, Wan loves horror. He really does such a great job with every little horror detail building up sequences with tidbits of tension and paying them off every time. This was a little Amytiville combined with The Exorcist and Wan still found a way to layer in his favorite horror trope - the evil doll.

This is definitely the kind of horror film I enjoy and I'm glad Wan is building a strong horror repertoire. I don't know how FF7 will be, but I hope he returns to horror soon afterward.
 

Malcolm R

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Quentin said:
This is definitely the kind of horror film I enjoy and I'm glad Wan is building a strong horror repertoire. I don't know how FF7 will be, but I hope he returns to horror soon afterward.
Between now and then, he's also completed Insidious: Chapter 2. I think it's out in September.
 

cineMANIAC

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Is Wan actually directing Fast & Furious 7? I thought it was a typo when I first read it. Maybe people are confusing him with Justin Lin for some reason?
 

Afiger

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We were going to see this last weekend, but the line was incredibly long so we opted to RIPD instead. We will have to see this during a weekday I think because I have heard nothing but awesome things about this film.
 

Malcolm R

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cineMANIAC said:
Is Wan actually directing Fast & Furious 7? I thought it was a typo when I first read it. Maybe people are confusing him with Justin Lin for some reason?
Wan is directing FF7. Lin decided to take a break from the franchise because of the short schedule.
 

Tino

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The Conjuring held up great in its second weekend. From box office guru:
Horror smash The Conjuring followed its spectacular opening with a terrific second weekend with an estimated $22.1M boosting the ten-day total to an incredible $83.9M. Off only 47%, the Warner Bros. release enjoyed an unusually low decline for a fright film and continues to benefit from strong audience buzz. A final domestic gross of about $140M is likely - among the best in history for a scary movie. Conjuring cost only $20M to produce.
 

Scott McGillivray

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Wow! I was really surprised by this film! I have seen SO many others like this that I had pretty low expectations of it. Was I ever wrong. This is a terrific, thrilling and darn scary movie. I never get scared in movies anymore, but this one pulled me in.
Of course, my wife sitting beside me in sheer terror certainly helped the mood! Haha.

I really recommend this! I saw it in a VIP theater which had excellent sound. I think the sound really helped this film for mood and tension!
 

Michael Elliott

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I thought the film was very good but to me it fell apart during the final twenty-minutes or so. I thought the final exorcism just wasn't all that scary and I thought a few of the other scares (the girl getting dragged around by the hair) just weren't all that well done. I might be crazy but I'm really getting tired of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and feel it's getting overused here lately. I certainly didn't think it worked with this film as everything just wasn't "tight" enough.
With that said, I still thought the performances were excellent, the story was effective and the mystery held your attention as well. I also thought there were enough creepy sequences throughout to make it perfectly understandable why this thing has turned into a hit. The "hide and clap" was extremely effective.

Since this has made so much money I wonder if they'll make future films with the Warren's other "haunting" cases.

I am glad people are talking about the rating here. I really don't have a problem with it being rated "R" because of how intense many felt it was. I personally wouldn't want my young kid getting into this movie. Many films had more sex/nudity than EYES WIDE SHUT but it was the one hit with the NC-17 originally and I think a lot of it had to do with tone, which is apparently what got this film the R rating.
 

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