Get spooked again with The Conjuring on Blu-ray

Halloween is fast approaching and I can’t think of a better way to spend the holiday than watching some good old-fashioned haunted house movies. Slasher flicks are more modern fare for Halloween, but the season is really about ghosts and spirits and that sort of thing. The only problem is … it’s hard to find a good old-fashioned haunted house movie these days that doesn’t have to rely on cheap scare tactics — over loud music or sound effects cues, a cat jumping through a window — to give the viewer chills up and down their spine.

Most of the great haunted house movies came about between the 40s and 70s with films like The Uninvited, The Innocents, and The Haunting being among the best. The fear of possession and the Devil manifesting himself on earth took hold in films like Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen, but the early 80s saw a return to ghost stories with the excellent The Changeling, the all-star Ghost Story and, of course, Poltergeist. Where most of these haunting movies relied on atmosphere and restraint, using the “less is more” approach to spooking an audience, Poltergeist set the stage for special effects extravaganzas taking over for imagination. The most egregious offender was the horrendous remake of The Haunting which starred Lili Taylor.

Haunted house movies have come back into vogue thanks to the “found footage” craze that began with The Blair Witch Project and has continued through a series of Paranormal Activity movies, but finding a good, scripted haunted house movie — and no, The Haunted Mansion does not count — has been difficult when blood and gore are the order of the day. Director James Wan stumbled upon some success with Insidious, a haunted house movie that used physical effects and actors in makeup to provide some chills, but still relied a bit too heavily on the overly loud music to produce a jump. Many of his visuals were chilling enough without that artificial prodding and that knocked the movie down a peg in my book. So it was with some apprehension that I went into The Conjuring, worried that Wan would stick to his old tricks.

Thankfully, that was not the case. Wan was able to convey terror within the Perron home without resorting to fake scares and overblown CGI. Most of the chilling moments come from clever edits augmented with sound effects and a subtly disturbing score (the use of horns to evoke that mood is genius). I reviewed the film upon its initial release, but watching it a second time I had an even greater appreciation for what Wan accomplished by keeping things low-key. Ghosts appear and disappear within a single shot or in cleverly edited sequences. Doors opening on their own accord, balls bouncing by themselves, clocks stopping at the same time every night, hands appearing out of the darkness … these are things that can make your hair stand on end all by themselves. That’s not to say Wan completely stays away from loud sound effects — there is an obvious homage to The Haunting at one point that includes a loud pounding sound — but he uses his set and physical effects team to great advantage.

Adding to the realism of the story is Wan’s excellent cast. Patrick Wilson, fresh off of Insidious (and back for Insidious: Chapter 2), plays the stalwart Ed Warren who believes it is his mission in life to help those who are experiencing paranormal events by either proving or debunking the claims. Vera Farmiga is his wife, Lorraine, a medium who can see and feel the spirits tormenting her clients. The Warrens are a real couple and The Conjuring is based on a real case, so knowing this adds to the authenticity of the film. Ron Livingston plays Roger Perron, the home owner, and Lili Taylor returns to haunted house territory as Carolyn Perron, the wife and mother tormented most by the evil inhabiting their new home. The couple also have five daughters who become targets of the spirit tormenting their mother. While Taylor wasn’t responsible for the mess that was Jan de Bont’s The Haunting, she makes up for that choice very nicely here.

Warner Home Video’s new Blu-ray release of The Conjuring serves up the film with all of its spookiness intact. The image looks beautiful, never breaking down in many of the dark scenes (and a lot of the film takes place at night or in very dark areas of the house). The sound is also excellent. The surround speakers are used very subtly throughout the film, but when they need to kick in, they will kick in. The Blu-ray also includes a DVD that looks almost as good, especially by keeping the blacks a very solid black. The picture may not be as sharp as the Blu-ray, but if you’re watching on a standard definition monitor, it will look just fine. The audio is also comparable.

As much as I was looking forward to the Blu-ray release, I have to say that I am very let down by the extras included on the disk. There are a total of three featurettes and no audio commentary. The bonus material consists of:

• Featurette: The Conjuring: Face-To-Face with Terror (6:39) – A (too) short visit with the actual Perron family who discuss their encounters that inspired the film.
• Featurette: A Life in Demonology (15:39) – A short biography of Ed and Lorraine Warren, featuring Lorraine and several of their devotees.
• Behind the Scenes: Scaring the ‘@$*%’ Out of You (8:04) – James Wan and the production team and cast members discuss what goes into making a good haunted house movie.

Gathering the entire Perron family together just begs for a more in-depth look at the real story behind the movie. Carolyn Perron is still obviously affected by the events that transpired, so much so that she refuses to even see the movie, but it would have been great to have seen a full-length documentary about their experience, perhaps with the participation of Lorraine Warren. Including some of the data from the investigation — photos, film, recordings — would certainly help sell skeptics on the story. The profile of the Warrens could have also been beefed up a bit. They have a treasure trove of artifacts and records from their career — Lorraine is still working! — that some of those things could have been included in the shorts to beef them up. All we really get are a series of talking heads praising the Warrens. I really wanted more. The behind the scenes short also just whets your appetite for more on how the film was made, so real movie buffs will be disappointed but at least James Wan does manage to cram a lot of information into the short piece.

Overall, I can’t not recommend the home video release of The Conjuring, because as a movie it’s pretty terrific at delivering the scares. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great, so there’s no arguing with the quality of the feature presentation. For those who like to delve more into their movie viewing experience, the Blu-ray’s lack of extra features will leave you wanting more. It almost makes you wonder if there is a deluxe version coming at some point. For now, though, The Conjuring stands right up there with The Haunting as a fine example of the haunted house movie.

Warner Home Video generously provided CliqueClack with a Blu-ray/DVD combo package for reviewing purposes.