The Conjuring (2013) Review – Modern Classic Supernatural Horror

Welcome to Knockout Horror. It’s day 10 of our 31 Days of Halloween 2026 feature and with one third of the month gone, it’s clear we have a bit of a theme, here. I’ve been covering a bunch of movies that released before I actually started this website and, today, it’s time for another. We are checking out the modern classic supernatural horror film The Conjuring (2013).

Haunted House Horror Was Old News

Growing up as a horror fan in the 90s, there were a few movies that were, pretty much, a rite of passage. Titles like The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and The Amityville Horror were must watches, even if that last one was pretty damn awful.

Supernatural horror, haunted houses, and possession movies were such a deeply ingrained part of the genre, they were impossible to ignore. It’s somewhat easy to forget that, as the 80s drew to a close, the entire sub-genre had become rather fragmented.

I mean, sure, supernatural horror was still alive and well, but it took on much different forms from the traditional “the house, or someone in it, is haunted” style that had dominated the prior decades.

Japan’s influence on horror lead to wide scale changes in the format and movies like The Sixth Sense made directors lean towards deeper human mysteries rather than simply haunted locations. These stories tended to be far more wide spanning and multi-layered than the simplistic, self-contained standard people had come to expect.

Everything had a plot twist, a stylistic contrivance, or was based on a curse. The traditional paranormal movie of old was long gone and anyone craving that cosy style of horror was, generally speaking, left wanting.

In 2013, James Wan came along and changed all that with The Conjuring.

A very controversial couple

The Conjuring is a real love letter to the 70s era of supernatural horror that was so prevalent, back then. It’s also a funny little time capsule of paranormal investigation from that era, thanks to its two protagonists.

“The couple were far closer to conmen than actual sympathetic, sceptical, and altruistic paranormal experts.”

The story follows Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) as they attempt to help a family whose new home appears to be haunted by a demonic presence.

For those of you who don’t know, the Warrens were a real life married couple who made a name for themselves through their paranormal investigations. Basically, any of the notorious hauntings back in the 70s and 80s (Amityville, Enfield, Snedeker house) had the Warren’s fingerprints all over them.

If a family wanted publicity for their so called haunting, they gave the Warren’s a call to endorse it.

Unfortunately, rather than living up to the image viewers are presented with in the Conjuring and Annabelle films, the couple were far closer to conmen than actual sympathetic, sceptical, and altruistic paranormal experts.

If there was money to be made via books, television shows, or documentaries, the Warrens were right there with their hands out at the ready. They had very little interest in disproving the evidence and far more interest in milking it for whatever they could get.

Horror author Ray Garton said of Lorraine “If she told me the sun would come up tomorrow morning, I’d get a second opinion“.

The Conjuring follows one of the couple’s earliest “investigations”; that of the Perron family back in 1971. With this in mind, the movie is set during that time period and that’s where James Wan has really managed to tug on the nostalgia strings of anyone who misses those types of movies.

A proper horror movie throwback

Everything about this movie feels like it has been pulled out of the 1970s. The cosy vibes, the over abundance of brown and beige, the clothes, the hair, the structure of the story. This is a horror that perfectly captures that very specific vibe of supernatural cinema.

From that perspective, it feels like a proper throwback.

The story starts in a very familiar manner. A family moves into a house, things seem fine at first but they have no idea what they are in for. Mere moments after the final bags have been unpacked, the spooky shenanigans start in earnest. First it is minor bumps in the night, next the kids are being dragged out of bed feet first and the house smells like dog shit.

The early running features something of a split narrative. We have the family dealing with the haunting while Ed and Lorraine are miles away peddling their con to anyone who will listen. They sure love showing off that room full of cursed objects.

The picture bounces between the two separate groups before they finally come together a little later on. There’s something very comforting about this style of film. It’s absolutely oozing with “curled up on the sofa with a blanket, hiding behind a cushion” vibes.

The Perron family’s haunting, in particular, is really well done and quite compelling. The escalation from minor noises and peculiar events to full blown living nightmare works exceptionally well. It’s extremely reminiscent of older genre films like the aforementioned Poltergeist while also managing to be genuinely unsettling, in parts.

Beautifully well made

The Conjuring really represents a significant leap for James Wan, as a director.

“There’s some very clever use of different lenses to give the film a properly authentic 70s feel, too.”

It is beautifully shot with Wan and director of photography John R. Leonetti utilising a wide range of styles and angles to create a picture that feels consistently surprising.

Wan has a real knack for stretching space and hiding details in shadows to keep you off base. You never quite know where the scares will come from. There are also plenty of times where you know exactly where the scares will come from, but Wan simply refuses to look in that direction which only adds to the tension.

There’s some very clever use of different lenses to give the film a properly authentic 70s feel, too.

I appreciated that most of the lighting seemed to be naturalistic rather than bright studio lighting. It’s a gorgeous picture and there’s no overabundance of artificially added grain to ruin it.

Compelling and legitimately scary

Pushing aside how you may feel about the Warren’s themselves, this is a seriously solid story. If you take the characters at a surface level, they both remain likable and very interesting.

Lorraine’s ability as a medium is used to create some genuinely scary scenes and Ed’s desire to help people on a human level juxtaposes against that extremely well. They empathise with the plight of the family and are willing to put themselves at risk to help them which, in turn, ups the ante considerably for the viewer. If they are there, it must be serious, right?

There’s some considerable high points when it comes to the drama and The Conjuring is genuinely unsettling on multiple occasions.

The scares are so well set up that, even though they are formulaic, they are enormously effective. When the lights go out in that basement, it’s impossible not to feel at least a little anxiety. There’s some fantastic frights that call back to earlier, innocuous moments in the film that work extremely well, too. Special effects are, for the most part, entirely practical which only adds to the retro horror feel.

Acting is a particular strong point. Vera Farmiga steals the show as Lorraine. She never winks at the camera and takes the subject matter incredibly seriously while bringing a sense of warmth to the character that you really might not expect. Lili Taylor (as the Perron family matriarch Carolyn) is sensational, too. She portrays fear immensely believably and she is exceptional when things get physical, later on.

Patrick Wilson is fine outside of an absolutely terrible New England accent that he slips in and out of repeatedly and sounds far more like a New York accent. All of the child actors were utterly fantastic, too.

There are a few issues

If you were to compare The Conjuring to films like Poltergeist and similar from that era, it would be right up there because it is so effective at what it is trying to do. It does have a few issues, though.

“I’m still not sure how I feel about the presenting of the Warren’s as this loving, generous, charitable couple”

Pacing is a bit of a problem. There’s a lot of dead air once the characters are established. It takes awhile to get to the proper scares and it feels like much of the early section is padding.

The strange thing about that is the ending feels enormously rushed considering how much time was wasted smelling the roses. It just comes out of nowhere like Wan checked his watch and realised filming was due to wrap up in the next half hour. It’s a bit unsatisfying.

The antagonist’s backstory deserves some criticism. I won’t spoil it but the explanation feels a little bit insensitive given the atrocity associated with it. This is a pretty common trait in horror, though.

I’m still not sure how I feel about the presenting of the Warren’s as this loving, generous, charitable couple who were earnestly truthful in their representation of the events they were involved in.

It feels dishonest and I really wish they just created new fictional characters to distance themselves from the controversy. Lorraine Warren was even involved in a consultation role. Still, this movie is slap bang in the middle of an era where “based on a true story” did a ton of heavy lifting in the marketing department.

All in all, The Conjuring is an undeniable modern classic. It’s beautifully filmed, enormously atmospheric, genuinely compelling, and legitimately scary. You can honestly put it up there with Poltergeist as one of the best haunted house horror movies ever made, regardless of the real life controversy of its characters.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.