The Conjuring 2

Story: Ed and Lorraine Warren travel to North London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by a malicious spirit. 

The Conjuring was one of the most terrifying movies of the summer and the best films James Wan has ever directed. He said he was done with horror and moved on to directing Fast 7. But here we are, and here he is as he returns to the franchise he started with The Conjuring 2.  Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson return as the Warrens.

This time out we follow the Warrens as they deal with a premonition Lorraine has when working on the Amityville Horror case.  Lorraine learns that if they don't stop helping people deal with the paranormal her husband Ed will die. This leads them to not taking anymore cases and leaving behind the paranormal for good. But as time goes on, non believers start coming out of the wood work, which annoys Ed to no end.

Meanwhile, a family of four in North London is dealing with a nasty poltergeist and possession as the youngest daughter is slowly becoming possessed. The case began gaining attention as the situation began getting worse, furniture moving on its own.  Eventually, the Warrens are called in to investigate on behalf of the church.  Lorraine is against it but is convinced by Ed to help.

There are naysayers (played by Franka Potente) who believe the youngest daughter and mom are making the whole thing up just to get money/publicity. Its one of the aspects I enjoyed about the sequel in how it includes characters who are non-believers. That change in the general public opinion about the believability on ghosts and demonic possession. Its a great addition to the film and a perfect continuation from where the last film left off.

Its fantastic to have Vera and Patrick return to the lead roles. Vera continues to grow in the role of Lorraine and adds more layers to an already fabulous performance. Same with Patrick, he continues to develop Ed as both a loving husband and caring father. Sterling Jerins and Shannon Kook make small returns as Judy Warren and Drew Thomas. Sterling gets a legitimate amount to do as the daughter of the Warrens but sadly Shannon makes a blink and you'll miss him cameo. I wish he had a bigger role in the film but with the change in the times in the film certain characters would not remain around forever.

The follow-up does continue to bring the scares. James has a real talent for bringing the thrills and scares and he did get me a few times. He created some terrific new spirits/villains. One let down though was the amount of CGI used in the film. While it isn't a total lot, it is an upturn from the first film as the first one barely used any CGI. The spirits in this film are seen more and the CGI is than used to exemplify the scare factor of the spirits. That and some of the fake out scares were a bit of a let down for me but that is it.

Joseph Bishara continues to craft a fantastic score for these films, adding depth and fear to an already dark and scary film. He brings back themes from the previous film, continues to develop them and he even brings back Mark Isham to compose the family/romantic themes for the warrens.

As with the cast, they are fantastic. Madison Wolfe is by far a stand out here as she plays the part of the possessed daughter. While at times she is slightly laughable, she gets better and ends up being pretty fantastic. Frances O'Connor is a revelation as she plays her part of the conflicting mother with amazing skill and velocity. She is brilliant and is a fantastic edition to the cast, by far matches the talent of Lily Taylor from film one. Bonnie Aarons and Javier Botet are terrifying in the roles of the demon nun and the crooked man. Bob Adrian does brilliance in the role of Bill Wilkins. Franka and Simon work very well off each other and are both amazing talents. They both give believable performances on the stances their characters take in the film; Franka is the naysayer/non-believer and Simon plays the part of the one who wants to believe.

The best part of this film is the big twist near the end. Just when you think things are over, a big bomb shell drops and everything you thought was true is put into question! It really made the movie and was a great idea by the filmmakers.

As for the look and feel of the film it is darker in tone from the first, being set in London there is the sense of it being dreary. I loved the costume design and the set work, very brilliantly done and while some pieces looked like sets for the most part it all had a good solid sense of realism.

The Conjuring 2 may have the sense of a hollywood picture but still provides amazing thrills and scares, fantastic performances and a great story that continues the journey of Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Rating: A-