I heard great reviews for The Conjuring, which got my butt to the theater to see what the buzz was about. I think my expectations were a little too high going in. I don't often get scared by movies, and I was hoping this one would spook me. It didn't quite do it for me.
That's not to say it didn't have a lot of creepy elements. Some of the ideas were really good. For example, I liked how they used that clapping game to good effect. A lot of the concepts might have been cliche, but they were shot in ways that didn't make me think, "I've seen this exact thing before." That doll was pretty horrifying, and would make a good pumpkin pattern.
There were a bunch of "jump scares" which I often find cheap. At least the scares were justified though. Usually it was some real supernatural phenomena, as opposed to an old trick like having the character's friend grab them on the shoulder from behind and scare them. Those scares are the cheapest. But here, the jumps were good. I would have liked even more chilling suspense though.
The story was decent, but ultimately it didn't have many surprises. Once the reason for the haunting is explained, things feel pretty straightforward. Maybe I was hoping for more of a twist or some other unexpected revelation that I didn't see coming. I liked the idea of the paranormal investigators researching the case. This model could be used for some sequels, where the Warrens investigate other cases.
Overall, I wasn't blown away, but it's a well made haunted house movie. So if you like those, I'd recommend it. What I'm most grateful for is an original horror movie, which got good reviews and did well at the box office. With so many of our genre releases being unimaginative remakes, reboots, and sequels, it's refreshing to see an original script do so well. And I hope it leads to more like it!
Side note: the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren are from my home state of Connecticut (they're known for researching the Perron case in neighboring Rhode Island and the Lutz case in nearby Amityville, Long Island). In fact, Ed is from the same southern CT town where my pumpkin carving tools are manufactured. So maybe, just maybe... the tools could be haunted. Would you consider that a selling point?