The Conjuring

If you say you like horror, you would have to know James Wan. He is a director who's only made a impact since the 2000's but it's a big mark indeed. He first created Saw in 2004 which was a clever and original torture film that later turned into six more films. Dead Silence came next for him which I've never seen but it has killer dolls in the plot that comes off as original even in pre-watch. Even though more of a physiological film, he created Death Sentence in 2007 which can be described as a crime film. He went back horror in 2010 with Insidious which felt something similar to the classic Poltergeist, with a family getting haunted by a demon and Insidious 2 came in 2013.

With Wan announcing himself directing the next Fast and Furious, it's now safe to say that horror may be done for him and he's going in another direction. Regardless of where he's going, I'm going to support him because I am a fan of his. The Conjuring as possibly his last horror movie fits solidly into his filmography though.                                                                      

Based off a true story and set in the 70's, a family of six with five daughters move into a country house looking for a new start and really a new chapter on life. After what seems like random noises that could be found throughout any house, the Perron family starts to notice that these aren't random noises and they later contact paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Fleming) Warren. This is a haunted house film with also some homage to the 70's and of course it's horror.         

If you ever seen Wan's previous work,  Insidious which we have talked about, then you know what the The Conjuring is. Like Insidious, The Conjuring has a family, investigators and Patrick Wilson was also in Insidious.  Still though, The Conjuring is a film that works though it does lack  originality.                                                            

The list of why this works without originality is granted very long. Setting this movie in the 70's is fresh and innovating. Ed and Lorraine are the type of characters that are very interesting and the movie has a very cool premise. These are the type of characters I could watch quite often in movies to come. Lili Taylor in particular delivers a performance that stands above them all. The movie provides many scares, at least it did for me, and for a person who doesn't get scared by many things, that's definitely saying something. I can also appreciate the smart ending here that just makes you appreciate how much James Wan knows horror.                                    

With a sequel set to be put out in 2015 and spin-off film coming out the first week of October in 2014, the future of this film is far from over. It is something I am surely looking forward to. The Conjuring won't go down as Wan's best work but it won't be his worst work either. I would put it in the middle of his filmography.

4/5

Children of the Corn

Of all the Stephen King books and films, I find the movie Children of the Corn to be about the most interesting. As a fan of horror movies, I think films with children as villains seem to work for me. Poltergeist and Insidious are two quality horror movies that involve children and families. Village of the Damned was another and this spawned others. Children of the Corn is one of the most interesting of these films because of it's originality, atmosphere and it involved many kids, not just one. This series had some sequels with the first one coming out in 1984 with mixed reviews. The most recent in the series was a remake on the Syfy Channel in 2009 eight years after the last one.

This remake uses most of all all the same ideas of the original including corn fields in Nebraska and kids with religious views who have killed their parents and looking to strike again. This time the victims are an argumentative couple who were on their way to a honeymoon trip in California.

As a creepy kid film, it is very important that there are good performances from the child actors. Here, I was disappointed in the child characters. Other than the Isaac character (Preston Bailey) just about every kid plays their part like extras. At the same time, these characters are not creepy and don't work well as villains.

Even though you could pick at it a little and get maybe something, there isn't much of a plot here. I do like the leads of David Anders and Kandyse McClure but they aren't given much to do and they really mope around a lot. There are some interesting sets here but the kill scenes are not particularly good. There are some beneath the surface ideas that do come into play here. and these include the idea of race, spiritual aspects of the corn and religious overtones throughout.

Of course you can't take any of this story too seriously, but obviously there is no way something like this could happen in our country with our government. A town full of killer kids and young pregnant girls would be responded to quickly by the police and military and would be a CNN headliner for weeks. A minor flaw maybe but still hard to overlook.

I found Children of the Corn to be disappointing and a movie with an hour and half plot that ran too long at two hours. This is a tv film that feels like a tornado stringing things and ideas around with no purpose and really just wasting our time.

1.5/5

Insidious

4/5

Insidious is one of those horror films that sadly I missed at the theaters and I finally picked it up for my birthday. Insidious has little originality in it but the film is still done really well and is a fun ride in many ways.

The film is about a family who move into a house and one day one of the children slips into a coma. After that, the house is different with weird noises and sometimes people just showing up. The family finds themself in utter chaos but what they don't know is that they might be doing this to themselves.

All actors put together a really good performances together especially Lin Shaye. She does a wonderful job and she can be pretty creepy at times.

The ending scene was so hard to put together but they did so well with it, making it seem so real and so realistic. Also, for a film that is only PG-13, the film can be pretty intense at times.

The ghost and the monsters in this are very cool, very well done and are very realistic. They can also be pretty creepy. I also really enjoyed the music and at times it can be pretty intense. The twist at end was really good and fine way to end this movie.

One of the main flaws is the coma scenes in the film. The characters are never with the kid that has the coma and they basically leave him alone. I've never known anyone that has been in a coma but I'm pretty sure that you always have to be around that person with the coma and that person always has to be in someone's sight. Also, one of the smaller characters in this was really annoying and cracks a lot of bad jokes.

The film does have "Poltergeist", "Exorcist" and many other horror classics in it but the film is a thumbs up because of the cool characters, the interesting story and the great twist at the end.