The Haunting (1999)

Like many movies, there are some which seem like a good idea while in production but once they are completed and seen, the entire project looks and feels horrible any way you try top spin it, and the 1999 remake of "The Haunting" is a perfect example of this. This is one terrible movie! The script is horendous and boring, and the over use of CGI for every little effect numbs and belittles any possiblity of this film being an effective ghost story. The casting choices were poorly made as well; Lilly Taylor is clearly not strong enough of a performer to carry the burden as the main character, both Catherine Zeta Jones and Owen Wilson belong in either comedic or dramatic roles, and Liam Neeson does the best he can with what the script gives him. And you know something is wrong when there are so many repeated shots in between scenes showing the outside of the mansion where the story takes place in; this was done purely as a filler and to lengthen the film. Please see the original or read the book that this story is inspired by if you are moved to.


Eleanor is a meek woman who has spent the last eleven years caring for her unhealthy mother. After her mother passes away, she develops a serve case of insomnia and answers an ad in a paper for a study to find a cure. In reality, Dr. David Marrow has selected three test subjects to study the psychological effects of fear. The three test subjects and the Dr. are locked inside an old manor called Hill House. Eleanor believes that she is seeing ghosts and is learning the true nature and history of the house while the others come to believe that she's going crazy. Only when the house begins to turn on them do they realize that Eleanor is right and that she is a direct descendant of the original owners....

They're all so young!

The Conjuring (2013)

One of the surprise hits of the 2013 Summer line up was "The Conjuring", a little 20 million dollar budget film that managed to bring in over 300 million at the box office. Directed by the incredible James Wan and staring one of his regular actors, Patrick Wilson, "The Conjuring" is a clever, scary horror movie is about Ed and Lorraine Warren, real life paranormal investigators, and one of their encounters while investigating the home of the Perron Family. Along with Patrick Wilson, the movie stars Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, and Vera Farmiga. The movie has a great script, beautiful and effect scenes, and some of the best practical effects I've seen in a horror movie in a very long time. The use of digital effects is kept to a minimum which allows the other effects to feel real. This film is intense and unforgiving and is smart enough to avoid out right gore or extreme violence. I think it's great that James Wan came out with two superb horror movies in the same year and that he was able to make them almost equally as intense while having one rated be "R" and the other "PG-13".

"The Conjuring" follows Ed and Lorraine Warren as they go about their lives teaching classes about their paranormal research and investigations as well as solving two distinct cases. The first case involves a doll that was allowed to be possessed by a demonic force. The Warrens take the doll, Annabel, to their home and add it to their vast collection of demonic and haunted artifacts for safe keeping. The second and prominent case revolves around the Perrons, a large family of two parents and five daughters, who move into an old farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Strange occurrences and frightening disturbances are witnessed by the family, including unexplained bruises that appear over the mother's body. When the mother, Carolyn, reaches out to the Warren's, they agree to go to the farmhouse and take a look. Lorraine immediately sees that there is a sinister force that has already attached itself to the family. With the help of the Warrens and their assistants, the Perron family attempts to stay strong and survive the ordeal at being at the mercy of an ancient evil...

Favorite moment - I love the scene when Ed Warren is showing the artifact room to a reporter and explaining that they keep the items here, where the room is blessed weekly by a priest, because destroying the items would only release the evil trapped within.

 Annabel, the possessed doll

 Ed Warren and the vision that only his wife can see...

Lorraine Warren trying to help during the exorcism