The Conjuring 2

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

74% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 120 reviews)

Runtime: 134 minutes

Directed by: James Wan

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Frances O'Connor, Lauren Esposito

From: Warner Bros./New Line Cinema

Last night I went and saw the first screening of this I could. The drive there and back was filled with really bad traffic, but at least I can't complain about the movie itself. I explain it all in non-spoiler form in my Letterboxd review copied and pasted below: 

I went and saw this movie last night; while it was a sparsely attended screening I was OK with that; the most important thing was... it was an idiot-free screening so I had no problems there. I was hoping that it'd be comparable to the original film; as Wan was directing again I did not expect another debacle like Annabelle was. While this wasn't as great as the first Conjuring, I can still give it a high rating.

This time the movie is about the Enfield Poltergeist case, from 1977 in the northern part of London. The story told here, I have to LOL at trying to believe that's how it realistically could have gone down. It's far away from reality. Then again, after seeing the movie I looked up what supposedly happened, and a lot of people believe it's hogwash... or as you Brits would call it, rubbish and bollocks. Interestingly enough, the idea of it being a hoax is brought up in the film. While watching the movie, you have to ignore the idea that this is likely very different from what actually happened and enjoy it for what it is.

At times, I felt like I was watching The Babadook again with some of the things that were shown. Otherwise, though, this was almost as good as the first. It has more of what you expect, whether it's the story, scares, cinematography, music, or direction, and it is similar to a point but it's still different enough to where it is not just a Xerox copy of the original. The setting of late 70's England certainly made things different, and do I need to say that there are scenes where it's raining? It is thrilling to watch and it is a worthy sequel.

What is a big asset is the performances. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson once again do a swell job as Lorraine and Ed Warren. The rest of the nice are nice as a whole but special acknowledgment has to be directed at Madison Wolfe, who played poor possessed Janet; she was outstanding in what was a difficult role. Overall, I wasn't sure how I would enjoy this; the 134 minute runtime did give me pause. Now, I can say it's a horror film worthy of being watched and enjoyed by most of the genre's fans.