The Conjuring 2

Reno 5/16/2024 3:18:32PM 8.4

**This time a London family struggle in their haunted house.** First of all, I am not a big fan of the first film, but I liked that. Now this sequel was not bad either. This time it takes us to the London. But the film reminded me the 80s film 'Poltergeist', particularly the second part. So don't assume it is exactly the same, only the scenes involving house seems similar, but the story was different. It is another true story based film, that's what they said in the opening statement. You're not forced to believe that, if you're here for an entertainment, you will get that if you put your logics away for the two hours. A family of four young children and their mother living in a house in the London witness some serious paranormal activities lately. Particularly the eleven year old girl affected the most with the spirit the house possessed. So the American couple from the first film are brought in to do their best to help the family. When they try to contact the spirit, they won't get what they were looking for. Instead, an unexpected blame goes for the girl and soon the family loses confidence in them. The overcoming those misunderstanding, particularly realising the truth brings a twist before concluding the tale. The one twenty minute never looked too long. Because there's always something keeps happening, so the audience to keep engaged with. Probably this is won't be your best horror film of the years, but being a horror themed film, it had good form of those contents. Not too scary, at a time those clichés were used in a good way to bring freshness in the scenes. I will credit the writers for that. Besides, the actors were undoubtedly good, including those little ones. For me this is a better horror film and I definitely look for another sequel. I hope this one would stand up to your expectations. _7.5/10_

JPV852 6/23/2021 3:58:56PM 8.4

Really solid sequel, and a re-watch before seeing the third film, in fact probably liked this one slightly better, with some good scares but better, a nice heart at the center with the relationship between Ed and Lorraine, played wonderfully by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Once again, craft-fully directed by James Wan, a style missing from the others in the 'Conjuring Universe', though the plots didn't help matters. **4.0/5**

CinemaSerf 9/4/2025 2:24:43PM 8.4

This second cinema outing for the ghost-busting Warren’s takes them to London’s northern district of Enfield where the Hodgson family are having a fairly torrid time. Younger daughter Janet (Madison Wolfe) and her elder sister Margaret (Lauren Esposito) have been pining for their absent father and so rather optimistically consult a home-made ouija board to find out if he is ever going to return home again! Their mum Peggy (Frances O’Connor) and the audience know that he’s shacked up with a woman round the corner with their new set of twins. Anyway, Janet goes to sleep and that’s the beginning of their nightmare as an old gent (Bill) who reputedly died in an armchair in the house decides to revisit the family, rearrange the furniture, change the television channels and generally cause mayhem for this cash-strapped family. Meantime, Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) has been painting a fetching portrait of a nun (think the art-loving Sister Wendy Beckett from the mid-1990s) who seems to be the source of some discomfort for wife Lorraine (Vera Farmiga). Might these two mysteries be connected? Well the church asks the pair to do some surreptitious investigations in the UK and so off they go. Of course they are sceptical, but when a bit of levitation creeps in, the doors start to slam of their own accord and the water supply seems intent on building them an indoor swimming pool in the basement, they begin to wonder if Janet et al are really hoaxers, or might there actually be something altogether more malevolent at work here. According to local sources here, the Warren’s spent hardly any time at all at the house and so much of the substance to this story is unsubstantiated conjecture, but James Wan still manages to create something plausibly scary as these children and their mother - at her wits end - try to deal with this unwelcome phenomena. It’s end-to-end stuff with the girls also delivering spookily (and shriekingly) as the shadows come alive with well-mixed audio effects and some false teeth with a mind of their own. Wilson and Farmiga over-egg their earnestness a bit at times, but as the “McMillan and Wife” of the occult, they do well enough to send the odd tingle up and down your spine. It’s probably half an hour longer than it needs to be - there’s a wee bit too much preamble, but it’s certainly at the better end of the genre for my money.