This, in a
sense, is a specialist movie. Horror is a genre you either love or hate and
James Wan is a director who works particularly well within this genre. So the
same goes for him, you either love him or hate him. And in this particular
film, Wan takes on what is actually quite a “specialist” subject. It is the
true story of – for those who follow these circles for whatever reason – two of
the greatest and certainly most famous paranormal investigators of our time, Ed
and Lorraine Warren.
The story
is, purportedly, one of the most frightening cases the couple has been asked to
assist on. They are invited into the house of the Perron family who have just
moved to an isolated property out in the country with their young family
consisting of five young girls. As is usual with these things, the events start
small, the family dismisses them as fruits of over-active imaginations or just
the difficulties of settling into a new house… But it soon becomes patently
obvious that these are a lot more than the creeks of an old house. Ed and
Lorraine desperately try to help – but it may well be too little too late…
Now, this
does rather seem to go without saying but this film largely relies on fantasy.
If you do not actually believe in the supernatural (the events depicted do
after all claim they are based on reality) you must be fully able to suspend
disbelief and enjoy being scared by the monsters Wan creates on the screen. If
you’re going to eye-roll and go “oh that doesn’t make sense”, really, don’t
bother. It will continue to not make sense throughout unless you can immerse
yourself in the film’s universe and fully believe in it.
That said,
Wan makes it incredibly easy for the discerning viewer to leave the comfort of
their armchairs and enter into the once home, now hell hole of the Perron
family. Every single film I have watched by this director very artfully
combines suspense and pace to quickly create an overwhelming sense of dread and
then quickly – and almost without us noticing – drag us into the film’s
universe. And our sense of overwhelming dread is such that even when staples of
the horror genre turn out on our screens, even if you are quite sure what is
going to happen, you are still concerned with how it is going to happen. Of
course with a director like Wan at the helm there is always a good chance that
it is not going to happen at all, but the point is that when / if it does
happen, you are not disappointed. And you jump. I mean for example – and for
those who have seen it, think of the scenes with the family dog. You know what
the little girl is going to encounter as she runs out of the house. You’re
still on tender hooks.
I think
this has a lot to do with inspiration taken from a more oriental way of
filmmaking. In popular Eastern cinema themes and stories are often classics,
clichés even, the audience knows full well what is going to happen. They’re
there because they already like that particular story. What they are interested
is the “how”. This leads to a great attention to detail and imagination used in
the endless variations of details that change the whole atmosphere of the
story… This attitude combined with just the right amount of imagination, that
magic combination of a well-executed classic and just the right amount of
innovation means that James Wan’s films are works you simply cannot take your
eyes off.
And a
couple of words of admiration for the cast – a lot of screen time goes to the
five young actresses portraying the perron girls and it has to be said they do
not miss a beat. Lili Taylor has always been an actress I have admired through
her various television shows and she was an absolute pleasure to watch here
too.
This film
will not change your world. It is not, say a George Romero film with undertones
of political message and a good dose of dark comedy. It is quite an expendable
film, to watch for two hours, be scared of and then forget (or have a few
nightmares about and then forget depending on how sensitive you are about these
things). But if you are a fan of horror or you just feel like checking out a
rather superb example of the genre executed by a master go ahead and get stuck
right in. I’d leave the lights on though if I were you… You know, just in case…
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