The anticipation of going into this movie may be scarier than the film itself. That being said, I couldn’t help but smirk at the theatergoers saying “Well it wasn’t that scary” on their way out of the theater even as they were screaming their heads ofduring the film. It seems like unless a movie gives you a legitimate heart attack, it’s just not “that” scary.
What Works: Do I believe in the true story this film is based off of? I believe in at least part of it. I don’t know if it’s real but I believe that they think it is. I’m skeptical on the topic of ghosts, but willing to admit that if someone thinks something is real, it might as well be. And most of the movie is just subtle enough to tease out your “wow, this could have really happened” belief. The last thirty minutes grow a little far-fetched in my book, but all horror movies have to give us a climax, and this one delivers. As with other Jason Blum horror productions (like Insidious or the Paranormal Activities) the suspense grows exponentially the less we see, and there are some sequences in the first two-thirds that are genuinely unnerving. The best horror comes from those right-before-the-roller-coaster plunges moments of slow building dread where we begin questioning what’s real and what isn’t. The fact that the horror in this film seems to have very specific designs on this family of women (five daughters, plus two parents, emphasis on a mother who’s getting some very strange bruises) makes the horror fill like it’s coming from within, which is probably even scarier than some random ghost.
What Doesn’t Work: If they really had footage of the real-life woman being thrown up against walls by a demon, they should have included some pictures or something at the end. As is, the last half hour or so is very hard to swallow. It takes our suspension of disbelief and tricks it up with CGI-Tom Foolery, making a subtly creepy experience a little too obvious and, ultimately, less believable.
What I Would Have Done Differently: There is probably one too many scenes set in the Warren’s house where their daughter is in some kind of jeopardy. We don’t need to see the attractive leads (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farminga, both of whom are no strangers to this genre and play off it well) have their own kids in peril for us to know the stakes.