If "The Conjuring" was a chilling whisper, the sequel is a deafening shriek.
That might not be a bad thing for some, but the shock jumps and cheesy-looking demons in ‘The Conjuring 2’ were a definite departure from the first, and not necessarily for the better.
The brilliance of director James Wan's elegant original film was how it used our own horror savvy against us. He'd allow for a long take of a terrified girl peering under her bed and let it stay there long enough to the point where your muscles start to tense. You instinctively brace for the shock that you know is coming ... and then ... nothing.
At that point a creepy face or a loud knock on the door wasn't actually needed. The suspense was more than sufficient. The audience was already petrified.
‘The Conjuring 2,’ however, goes all out. It's even louder, somehow. And there are more demons, more jump scares, more creepy antique toys and, thankfully, more Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), the most delightfully campy couple of supernaturally sensitive marrieds ever to grace the screen.
They're like everyone's favourite Sunday School teachers - she's the earthy one, he's the groovy one. You know they've seen some darkness, too, but then Ed grabs a guitar and starts crooning "Can't Help Falling in Love" and you forget all about the demon spirit lurking in the tattered leather armchair in the corner of the living room.
Heck, the cranky dead man in the corner terrorising a working-class family outside of London probably even enjoyed Ed's Elvis impersonation, too.