The Conjuring

Directed by James Wan

(R)

***

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If The Conjuring “isn’t quite up there” with the very best haunted-house movies of all time, “it isn’t far behind,” said Michael O’Sullivan in The Washington Post. Set in 1971 and supposedly based on true events, it re-creates the experiences of a Rhode Island family who call in expert help when disturbing phenomena begin occurring in their 150-year-old farmhouse. The husband-and-wife investigators, played with a deadpan professionalism by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, “keep the film grounded even when it threatens to lose its balance.” Director James Wan knowingly employs common genre tricks throughout, “making you jump with hard edits and doors being squeaked open by unseen hands,” said Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. “But he also makes intelligent use of narrative delay and ellipses that help build suspense.” Still, this “miracle” of a movie “belongs to the women,” said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. As good as Farmiga is, your heart will be one with Lili Taylor’s stay-at-home housewife when she plays a blindfold game with her daughters and gets the scare of her life.