7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
Lorraine and Ed Warren travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by malicious spirits.
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Madison Wolfe, Frances O'Connor (II), Lauren EspositoHorror | 100% |
Supernatural | 42% |
Period | 1% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English DD 5.1=audio descriptive
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The surprise success of director James Wan's 2013 The Conjuring virtually guaranteed a sequel. A self-conscious return to the Seventies style of expertly paced spiritual horror epitomized by The Exorcist, Wan's thriller provided a welcome change from the CG-laden gore and grossout style that has dominated the genre for the past decade. The Conjuring 2 dutifully treads in its predecessor's footsteps, unveiling what is purported to be an even more terrifying case from the files of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren than the one explored in the original film. The sequel's flaws are already ingrained in the concept, since the first Conjuring claimed to be the Warrens' most frightening case, the one they allegedly kept hidden and locked away, fearful that the world wasn't ready—except it now turns out they were supposedly hiding an even darker secret. (Given the box office success of Conjuring 2, you can be sure that, as with Jedi offspring, "there is another!") Building on that dubious premise, The Conjuring 2 attempts to top its predecessor at every turn, and the result is a bloated running time and an overly busy plot that ultimately saps the tale of any real tension. Wan is a good enough craftsman to provide several effective set pieces, and stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson remain engaging as the Warrens, but overall The Conjuring 2 is a letdown.
Oscar-nominated cinematographer Don Burgess (Forrest Gump) took over as director of photography on The Conjuring 2, which was digitally shot on Alexa and finished on a digital intermediate. As Burgess notes in the Blu-ray extras, what's hidden in Wan's carefully composed frames is just as important as what's seen. Many of Conjuring 2's scares derive from filling the screen with areas of indistinctness where a threat may or may not be lurking. Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray faithfully reproduces these effects, deploying deep blacks and artfully obscuring shadows in service of Wan's and Burgess' visual strategy. The American scenes generally feature a rich and warm color palette, which contrasts with the dull and desaturated hues of the English settings, reflecting the poverty of the locale, the wintry season and the emotional drain caused by the demonic attack on the Hodgson family. (Note, though, how often a touch of red appears in the English scenes, a Wan trademark that is remarked upon in the extras.) The image is copiously detailed where it should be and conspicuously lacking in detail where little or none belongs. Noise, aliasing or other artifacts were nowhere to be seen. Warner has mastered The Conjuring 2 at an average bitrate of 22.54 Mbps, leaving 11 GB of unused space on the BD-50.
The Conjuring 2 arrives with a Dolby Atmos track that effectively deploys the sounds of a haunting—or is it just an old house?—throughout the listening room. Creaks, moans, dripping water and abrupt knocking and pounding occur all around and also overhead. Deep bass extension emphasizes the low rumbling tones that sometimes (but not always) signal the approach of danger. Small but critical sounds—e.g., the pop of curtain rings as they are pulled, one by one, from their supporting rod—punch through the mix. The film's conclusion is a cacophony of lightning, wind, breaking glass and screaming cries for help. The dialogue is always clear, even when spoken by ghostly voices with distorted harmonics. Composer Joseph Bishara continues his scoring duties; his style and technique are the subject of a separate Blu-ray extra.
The Conjuring 2 will probably seem less derivative (and therefore more enjoyable) to viewers
who are not intimately familiar with its sources. Even so, the film is about 15 minutes too long
and would have benefited from sacrificing a few of its scares, the better to concentrate on its
bigger moments. Filmmakers afflicted with "sequelitis" routinely go overboard in their attempt to
top themselves, and Wan and his team have succumbed. However, for those who don't mind The Conjuring 2's flaws, the Blu-ray is a
quality
presentation and, accordingly, recommended.
2016
Reissue with Lenticular Slip + It 2 Movie Cash
2016
2016
with Instawatch
2016
2013
2014
2017
2016
2013
2019
2011
2018
2015
2019
Night of the Demon
1957
2018
2015
2010
2015
Standard Edition
1992
2012
2015
2018
The Untold Chapter
2020