The Conjuring follows the Perron family as they move into a Rhode Island farm house. Clocks stop in the middle of the night and the family dog dies almost as soon as they get there. The family has an unfortunate "clapping game" that is a cross between hide and go seek and marco polo. Something uses the game to lure one of the daughters in the family down to the basement. Enter Ed and Lorraine Warren, two real-life demonologists (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) who learn that the house was the cursed property of a self-professed witch. She said death would come to any who tried to own her land. This leads to all sorts of wacky shenanigans as Ed and Lorraine draw the ire of the witch ghost themselves. Will the Perrons get to stay in their house? Will Ed and Lorraine defeat the witch ghost?
Besides the original Saw, this is probably my favorite movie from James Wan (damning with faint praise here). Besides Ron Livingston as the put upon dad of the Perron house (who is gone a good chunk of the movie), I had no particular love for any of the cast coming into this. However, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga and Lili Taylor (as the mother) do a pretty top notch job here. Sometimes the editorial and directorial choices get in the way of the acting but when Wan lets them go, they do they solid work. As with all of Wan's movies, there are some jump scares but they are mostly effective and not cheap (no instances of the cat jumping out of garbage cans). That this was all based on a true story adds an Amityville Horror feel to the whole thing (the 70s setting helps with that, too). And Wan found a way to franchise another horror movie by making the demonologists the stars of the show.
I would recommend The Conjuring. It doesn't break down any new barriers in horror but it is a solid haunted house movie.
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