Movieman Madness: Cinema Spotlight IV - James Wan (Part 8): 'The Conjuring 2'

Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga).

Horror sequels are notorious for not being good as the first movie, but because the genre doesn't require that big of a budget, they are quick to make and still make enough money at the box-office. It doesn't help when most of the time, its not the same people who stay on board after the first installment. Perhaps the Saw movies would have benefited if James Wan stuck around as a director. It certainly helped the Insidious movies as he returned for the sequel with good results; even after passing the torch with the later chapters. Returning back to The Conjuring universe, Wan does it again.

Janet Hodgson (Madison Wolfe)

Loosely inspired by the Enfield case, the movie begins in New York with Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) investigating the Amityville murders where Lorraine gets a horrific premonition. It scares her so much that she begs Ed for them to take a break from their paranormal investigations. Miles away at the Hodgson's house in Enfield, London, young Janet (Madison Wolfe) begins to see an uninvited guest in her household. It isn't long before the rest of the family, including her mother Peggy (Frances O'Connor) begin to notice as the tiny town becomes a media circus filled with reporters, and various investigators both paranormal and skeptics. Word reaches the Warrens who arrive just to observe with fellow paranormal associate Maurice Grosse (Simon McBurney) and discover that something indeed wants everyone out.

Lorraine talking with Janet.

Being sick with the flu the first time I saw it, I gave The Conjuring 2 a second watch and found it better than I initially thought. It may follow the conventional haunted house arc from both Insidious and the first Conjuring movie, but its the execution and story that help it not be generic or repetitive. Wan knows how to do scares and still keep us invested, once again relying on perfectly timed jump scares, keeping the spooky spectral unseen until the right moment, crafting the look of these entities, and fearing the safety of the characters.

The Warrens, Maurice Grosse (Simon McBurney), Harry Whitmark (Abhi Sinha)
and Peggy Hodgson (Francis O'Connor) encountering an apparition of some sort.

The Warrens continue on being my favorite on-screen couple thanks to Wilson and Varmiga who work beautifully off each other. Their Catholic upbringing is brought up again from the first movie and we see how it played a major part in their lives and usefulness against the demonic as it takes a blasphemous form as a means to break the Warrens on a spiritual, mental and literal level. It brings in other points of what can attract the demonic as seen with the Hodgsons who were already a broken family before the ghostly affair and use of a homemade Ouija board. The movie even makes room for skepticism as we see it with parapsychologist Anita Gregory (Franka Potente) who isn't convinced of the whole ordeal and see's it as farce.

The Warrens, Grosse and Anita Gregory (Franka Potente) discussing the Enfield case.

The Conjuring 2 proves that Horror sequels can be done right, can continue succeeding on being scary without sex or over-the-top gore, and the topic of Christianity and doubt can be handled in a respective manner.