Movie Review: The Conjuring 2 (2016)

Newest Review is LIVE!!! Is the sequel going to be scary, or scary bad?

Hello All,

    If you read movie news as obsessively as I do, you might have read that a vast majority of this year's sequels are suffering from massive cases of ‘Sequelitis.’ What that means is that they are basically sequels that do nothing to improve upon their predecessor, and mostly show themselves to be an unneeded piece of cinema. By my own count (at the time of writing this) I have personally seen 7 sequels that scored no higher than a 5. That’s not to say all the sequels have been terrible, 3 on my list are in fact perfect 10’s. When you’re batting 30% however, I think most people can agree that’s well below good. So imagine my surprise when I saw that The Conjuring was getting a sequel. Now, a lot of people don’t know this, but it was me watching the first Conjuring on DVD that actually got me back into modern horror movies on the regular again. While I haven’t regretted that decision (mostly, f*ck you unfriended,) I am always apprehensive about horror sequels. We all know that the spin off film Annabelle was considered pretty bad, but what about a sequel, based on another true story of Ed and Lorraine Warren? Let’s find out together shall we?

Plot Summary - One year after their investigation of the Amityville horror launches them into the public spotlight, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are called to England, to investigate The Enfield poltergeist.

Pros - The cast is solid, especially Madison Wolfe as the young Janet Hodgson, who manages to capture the dread and terror of each situation excellently. The cinematography is really great too, especially as how they manage to keep creepy vibes even in the daytime scenes. The story is well written, and the scares are still quite effective. One scene in particular managing to get me to yell ‘Oh Fuck!’ quite loudly.

Cons - It takes quite a long time for the movie to get started, considering it’s 2h 15m. It’s also got a few jump scares and fake outs, the fake outs in particular getting a bit grating. The ending is also a little corny as well.

Final Score - 8/10

Since I didn’t do a review of the first Conjuring, let’s give that one a 9/10 while I’m here. Overall, this is a pretty scary film that, while not quite as good as it’s predecessor, does manage to be a pretty solid follow up.

Next - Central Intelligence. Mostly because I won't make it in time for Dory's opening night.

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Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.