James Wan, the master of new-age horror returning with his much awaited sequel THE CONJURING 2, raised two kinds of expectations among the eager viewers or fans of this particular genre.
One – Will he be able to scare us yet again with some new eerie visuals and dark sequences? and
Two – Will he be giving us some new concept or storyline movie ahead than the already seen?
Sadly or may be luckily, Wan is able to score well as an answer to the first question but has nothing much to offer for the second since the film strictly revolves around the same theme, structure or haunting stories seen in his earlier films.
So in case you just wish to have those scary jumps from your seats looking at the ghostly figures in the dark presented in a fresh attire, then THE CONJURING 2 might offer you a decent return of your money serving the expected chills. However if you are looking for a never before kind of case history or true events moving ahead than what we have already seen before, then Wan doesn’t seem to be interested in trying anything truly fresh and keeps heavily relying on the same old formulas depicting a ‘real life incident’ which ironically was also the case with the film’s prequel too.
Travelling back to 1977, this time Wan slowly builds the tension taking his own long time saving everything for the last. Still there are enough creepy sequences coming at regular intervals like the strange things happening with the kids individually, the sudden disturbances in their rooms, the filthy looking sofa placed in the corner and above all a wall hanging picture of a nun playing some scaring bloody games with the viewers. The spine chilling background score as always helps a lot in the overall impact. But the story progression more or less remains the usual as if the director has used the same old script for his new horror film.
The predictability factor kills the suspense quite early and all strictly cliched elements really make you wonder looking at the four names credited in the film’s writing department. Running for a 133 minutes of long duration, no doubt THE CONJURING 2 has an exceptional camerawork, some good scary moments, an action-packed climax and all fine performances too turning it into a decent one time watch like a perfect date movie. But in absence of a fresh storyline, it actually needs to be rated as a plain average, not expected from an immensely talented filmmaker like James Wan.
In short, if you just want to have a good time in the theater watching a new horror film offering some powerful terrifying moments and nothing else, then the choice is all yours. But I would personally like to watch master directors like James Wan coming up with some great untold stories instead of such usual gimmicks presented in the name of an awaited sequel.
Because if truth be told, it’s just the choice of stories that actually help us differentiate between a director and a technician in this world of cinema.
Rating : 2.5 / 5
Tags :
The Conjuring 2 Review by Bobby Sing, The Conjuring 2 Film Review by Bobby Sing, English Horror Films Reviews, James Wan Movies, New English Releases Reviews at bobbytalkscinema.com
