Why "The Conjuring 2" is the Greatest Horror Movie of 2016

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

While horror is a fantastically deep genre, it seems as though recent horror releases of 2016 haven't been living up to the possibilities of the genre. Instead, these new movies have been opting for laziness, crafting plots around cliches, jump scares, gore, and cheap scares which offer nothing new or exciting to dwell on after the first viewing. The Conjuring 2, however, goes directly against these old tropes and stereotypes and instead opts to be something deeper, it decides to build a unique and extraordinarily scary plot while carefully dodging the usual cliches that so many other horror movies continue to fall victim to. Its success and fantastic production value is particularly surprising when you consider the fact that it is not only a horror movie, but also a sequel, a combination which seems to doom the majority of films under the same umbrella for failure or a straight to DVD release.

The phenomenal nature of The Conjuring 2 is hardly surprising when you take into consideration that James Wan is behind it. James Wan is the director who launched the Saw series with the first film in the saga, a movie which was surprisingly deep, thought provoking, and fascinating despite the reputation of the series based on the graphic gore which was scattered throughout future releases in the series. James Wan is also responsible for Insidious (and its sequel), which is another beautiful example of a horror movie made by a competent director with a deep understanding of the horror genre. 

Perhaps the main reason James Wan, and The Conjuring 2, are both so effective is that every scare within his work (and this film in particular) is absolutely genuine. There is no jump scare without a reason to be frightened, no pointless sounds added in post-production in some vain effort to startle and embarrass audiences, every scare is earned and many are slow and creeping reveals of terrifying monstrosities which will have audience members squirming in their seats as opposed to the traditional frequent wave of spirits jumping out at audiences.

This film is also effective in the fact that it has an understanding of needing to slow down and give the audience a moment to breathe, provided by a beautiful rendition of the song "Can't Help Falling in Love" which also helps to build a strong emotional bond between the two leading characters. The genuine chemistry between the characters (based on real life paranormal investigators) Ed and Lorraine Warren is so heart wrenching and beautiful that audience members may even find themselves surprised at how emotionally involved they are becoming with two characters in a horror movie, a genre notorious for having terrible acting and hardly any chemistry between its characters at all.

My personal favorite aspect of The Conjuring 2 (aside from the fantastic romantic chemistry) is perhaps the fact that it comprehends the audience's desire for good to win over evil, rather than giving the traditional false ending most horror films feel obligated to give where evil triumphs over good it understands that it can be a frightening film while also leaving audiences satisfied with what they just watched. It's a frightening film, but it is also deep and moving with plenty of heart, something which is absent from most recent horror movies.