THE CONJURING (2013)
Label: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 111 Minutes 55 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Joey King, Shanley Caswell, Hayley McFarland, Mackenzie Foy, Kyla Deaver
The Conjuring (2013), directed by James Wan (Insidious), tells the tale of how world-renowned paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson, Watchmen) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel) were called upon to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in a secluded farmhouse. The film proper actually opens three years before the main story with the Warrens investigating a haunted a creepy doll named Annabelle which has been terrorizing a group of roommates, securing the doll in their private reliquary of cursed objects. Three years later in 1971 the Warrens are contacted by the Perron in Harrisville, RI who have moved into an old farmhouse and have been experiencing terrifying paranormal activity. We have parents Carolyn (Lili Taylor, The Addiction) and Roger (Ron Livingston, Office Space) and their five daughters: Andrea (Shanley Caswell, Detention), Nancy (Hayley McFarland, TV's Lie To Me), Christine (Joey King, Independence Day: Resurgence), Cindy (Mackenzie Foy, Interstellar), and April (Kyla Deaver). Arriving to investigate the Warrens suspect demonic possession is afoot, discovering that Carolyn has been possessed by an accused witch and Satanist named Bathsheba Sherman who once lived at the farmhouse!
I have real fond memories of seeing this at the cinema with my kiddos who were twelve and thirteen at the time. The film is pretty much a masterclass in building suspense, eerie atmosphere and some truly startling and well-crafted scares, that repeatedly sent my kids into a frenzy at the theater. This might have been my first real experience taking my kids to a theatrical horror film, they'd been seeing some beginner horror at home for a few year by then, but seeing a new R-rated fright flick at the theater with a full audience is something else all together, they were feeding off the energy of the crowd, and I in turn was experiencing the film vicariously through their first theatrical experience, ad the nervous energy they were feeling at the time. There's scene where the witch eaps off an armoire onto the Carolyn, it's a taught a well-staged scare moments, to this day, I still talk about seeing at at the theater when my son, terrified and an ineed of release screamed "oh shit!", it's treasured memory. I am not coming into this review with much re-evaluation, this is a modern classic, if anything I loved it more this go around, loving the slow-burn build-up, the creepy elements (including that terrific hand-clap seen in the trailers), and the more terrifying possession and exorcism scenes with Lili Taylor that channel The Exorcist and Evil Dead. The fact that this was made using so many practical effects versus rampan digital trickery makes a huge difference.
Audio/Video: The Conjuring (2013) debuts on4K UHD from WB in 2160p Ultra HD, sourced from a 2K DI, framed in 2.39:1 widescreen, with HDR1- color-grade. Being an upscale this didn;t wow me in terms of resolution and texture when compared to the previous Blu-ray, but certainly a notch above. The most notable improvement comes from the HDR color-grade, colors are richer and more nuanced, those fall RI colors look terrific, the blacks are deeper and inker, and the scenes of candlelight and flame look wonderful. No Dolby Atmos for it's 4K UHD debut, but we do get the original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track, which is no slouch by any means,. The track is terrific, the haunted house ausio soundscape excels, disembodied children's voices laughing and whispering, creaky floorboards, Lili Taylor's affected possession voice and screams, it's just a solid mix all the way around.
Onto the extras, we get the archival featurettes fromt he Blu-ray by way of the 7-min The Conjuring: Face-to-Face with Terror, 15-min A Life in Demonology, and the 8-min Scaring the “@$*%” Out of You. We also get two new featurettes by way of 8-min Scariest of Them All, with the cast and creators looking back at some of their favorite scares from the film, and the 7-min Reflections on the Conjuring with the cast and crew recalling their time on-set making it. the new featurettes include Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Lili Taylor, Mackenzie Foy, director James Wan, producer Peter Safran and more. Sadly, no trailer is included for the film, which I thought was quite strange.
The single-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring that iconic scene of Taylor in the basement holding a match in the dark, the ghostly hands clapping just behind her head. Inside there's a redemption code for a Digital Copy, and we get a matte finish Slipcover.
Special Features:
- NEW! Scariest of Them All - The cast and creators of The Conjuring take a look back at some of the greatest scares of the series, uncovering what made these films so iconic. (7:47)
- NEW! Reflections on the Conjuring More than a decade after the release of the original film, the cast and crew of The Conjuring reflect on their experiences creating one of the most legendary horror series in history. (6:45)
- The Conjuring: Face-to-Face with Terror: Relive the real-life horror as the Perron family comes together to reflect back on the farmhouse they shared with diabolical spirits for nearly a decade. (6:37)
- A Life in Demonology: The real demonologist and paranormal experts from The Conjuring take you inside their life’s work and into their personal occult cellar, where they keep haunted and unholy relics from their many cases. (15:37)
- Scaring the “@$*%” Out of You: Director James Wan (Saw, Insidious) welcomes you into his world and gives an inside look at the at the scenes that scare the “@$*%” out of moviegoers time and time again.(8:02)
Buy it!
#ad
