The Conjuring 2 was a significant step down for me from the first one, which I just re-watched and the tension and suspense still held up today.
But with James Wan at the helm, and a script he wrote once again with Carey Hayes and Chad Hayes; you can count on the quality and the type of scares through his creation of suspense.
Every scene was crafted with care and purpose, with his signature style and that one continuous shot taking the audience through the house in the introduction. Once again it involved a family with many children, and a new demon which wasn't a poltergeist. So maybe that's why that subtitle has been dropped earlier this year.
My one big problem with it was the length and setup. And I believe it's the studios decision in wanting to make this movie bigger than the first one. But longer doesn't mean bigger at all. I can easily shave off 20 minutes and this would have been a much tighter movie.
If you compared to the first movie, from the time the haunting started to when the Warrens had to collect proof, it was very linear, straightforward and tight.
Whereas this one, it took so many more incidents in the house before the Warrens arrived, and even after that, a few more incidents before they started collecting proof on video.
My other smaller problem, but no less insignificant, was the "hoax". It was all too conveniently setup and unrealistic for what was presented to us onscreen.
The demon also reminded me of Insidious a little, but that's also a James Wan creation so I won't hold him to this issue of originality.
But other than that, the movie was a great watch, with another huge scene in the end as payoff. There was also a fantastic scene that was quiet, just Ed Warren interviewing the demon.
It's good to see Patrick Wilson and Vera Famiga as the Warrens once again, plus a bit more focus on their love story in this installment. Wan is still a master of horror and suspense. (Notice my repetitive use of suspense, which is the kind of scares I appreciate.)
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