It's hard to make a truly scary film.
It's even harder to make a great sequel.
THE CONJURING 2 scares up so many tense moments it makes both these challenges look easy.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are back as husband and wife supernatural investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
After a chilling prologue set in the Amityville house of legend and the most chill inducing main title music in memory, the film moves to the suburbs of London.
Working class single mom Peggy Hodgson (a terrific Frances O'Connor) is raising four children in a large flat, with barely enough money to scrape by and an absent husband.
Her two daughters and two sons are good kids, and the young actors playing them are terrific across the board.
Youngest daughter Janet (Madison Wolfe) suddenly begins talking to unseen entities, then channeling the voice of an old man who declares the flat "HIS home" and wants them out.
The film very cleverly sets up supernatural scene after scene that feels familiar, but each one takes a different path than the predictable.
The scene where police investigators come to the house is a fine example. You assume that when they are there, nothing will happen and the family will appear to be loony. Not so much.....
As events around Janet and the home escalate, the Warrens are asked by the church to investigate.
They find themselves up against not only some of the most blatant evidence of possession they've ever faced, but also an underlying threat of a horrifying demon in the form of an evil nun that reemerges from the Amityville home in the terror-filled London flat.
I rarely find "scary" movies scary.
From it's beginning to its final frames, THE CONJURING 2 kept me on edge, fascinated me and provided almost unbearable tension.
There are some stand out scenes.
Lorraine's encounter with the nun's portrait is horrifying. The taped interviews with Bill are creepy. Janet's little brother's adventures with his invisible playmate and the cross filled room's powers scream with suspense.
Director James Wan (The Conjuring, Insidious and just announced as Aquaman's director) knows how to craft a horror story. You'll care about these characters and what happens to them.
Farmiga is excellent as Lorraine and Wilson matches her as Ed.
Simon McBurney is perfect as Maurice Gross and Maria Doyle Kennedy (Orphan Black) shines as the Hodgson's neighbor.
Composer Joseph Bishara gets special credit for his music that gets deep under your skin and Bonnie Aarons will haunt my dreams forever as the Demon Nun.
If you can turn the lights out after watching this and NOT be creeped out thinking about that horrifying white face in the darkness, you're ahead of me.
Truly scary, really well executed in front of and behind the camera, this Exorcist style horror thriller gets an A.
Stay tuned during the credits to hear the real life tapes of the Wilson's interview with Janet/Bill.
Yep, this is based on true events that took place in London in 1977 in one of the most documented cases of all time. Creepy........ENJOY!
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