TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion
…because
film is largely subjective
by Frederick William Springer
III
The Conjuring
Release Date: 19
July 2013 Runtime: 112 Minutes Review Date: 15 September 2013 Rating: 4 (of 6)
Alright, it
wasn't that bad but my advice is to
watch the extended trailer--it provides some tense, creepy moments which may
lead you to believe it's "conjuring" something new in the realm of
ghost stories and horror movies. But
step away after that because, as a full-length movie, the magic is lost.
The only thing The Conjuring really has going for it is
that it's another of the so-called "based on a true story" movies
where the real horror is contemplating that something like this supposedly actually
happened and therefore, theoretically, may happen again and can happen to
anyone, including you.
However, this
concept also works against it because we all know most films that claim to be
"based on a true story" are usually pretty liberal with the facts,
one or two sprinkled sparingly into a complete fantasy--suddenly your mom is a
man named Bob who grew up on a base on the moon and you were never born, but she/he
still bakes an award-winning apple
pie that's popular with the other housewives.
