MOVIE REVIEW | The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist (2016)

The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist (2016)

Quick Notes: Highly recommended for thrill seekers, but not for the faint of heart. Do not watch the film alone or when in the dark. The movie is going to give you some serious mental nightmares for a week. You won't be able to turn off the lights at night.

And watch this movie at the cinema. Promise, it's worth the money!

Conjuring 2: An Emotional Roller Coaster

The first few minutes of the film started off on point by setting the mood with the Amityville haunting and of course the terrifying vision of Lorraine of that entity dressed as a nun (who the hell is not scared of nuns, especially floating nuns!). However, the middle part where the characters had to be established were a little too slow and anti-climax. As you progress with the movie, you get some dose of the startle factor but you easily revive from it. For some time, you'd wonder how the two plots of the Warrens and Enfield would be resolved without making the narrative too dragged. 

And then you reach the denouement at the final scenes and here's where your heart will rush. You will have to connect all the clues you have gathered from the earlier scenes in order to make out what's going to happen at the end. And while you know what's inevitable to happen, you still hope that the ending would be a happy one.


Why the Movie Works?

The director James Wan has directed previous horror movies like Insidious 1, 2, & 3 Conjuring 1, Anabelle, etc. He knew the trick how to scare the human mind. He knew that horror is more than blood and gore. The viewers have become smarter and they needed something that will challenge their psyche. After all, getting scared is all about the mind believing what it processes. And James Wan knew this. He knew that to trick the mind, he had to give realistic scenarios. Scenes that can be as close to anybody's experience.

For instance, the darkness elements that he is so fond using in his films is always effective. In his Conjuring 1 movie, where a clap can be heard out of nowhere; and then in the darkness, a pair of hands just came out. Oh my dear, that scared the hell out of everyone. Now in the Conjuring 2, a voice spoke from the dark and then wham, there were some fast paced scenes with matching sound effects. 

And of course, the element of surprise. James Wan knew when to to pan the cameras and deliver a scary scene the least you expect it. He knew that the audience was already expecting something to happen when the camera pans in and out. So what he does is, he gives a total opposite result. He doesn't make you jump when you expect it. He makes you scream when you have already let your guards loose. For instance, the scene where the old man's spirit showed up for the first time in the living room. 

So in essence, James Wan manipulated the audience reaction by being unpredictable. Because when an audience doesn't know what's coming, then that's the time the audience will be scared. 


Some quick facts on Conjuring 2:

• The movie was based on the lives of the Enfield Family in North London home Green Street in 1977 and the poltergeist had a special liking to the daughter named Janet. 

• Ed and Lorraine Warren were real life demonologists who did not have significant role in the Enfield investigations. Ed Warren was quoted saying that demonic activity was strong in the Enfield house.. Reports say that they arrived uninvited, and only stayed for a day. Thus, their portrayal in the movie was excessively dramatized. 

• Bill Wilkins, the old man who died of hemorrhage, was believed to be inspired by the audio recordings of Janet while she spoke in her eerie voice. However, it was thought that the name "Bill Wilkins" was planted to the mind of Janet by paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse.

• It was a priest who visited the Enfield house in 1978 that caused the haunting to calm down, and the not the Warrens.

For more quick facts, you may check this out:
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/conjuring-2-enfield-poltergeist