The Conjuring
New Line Cinema | Release Date: July 19, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubJul 25, 2013
I'd be shocked if we see a better horror film in 2013. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 16, 2013
Like the wood-grained farmhouse itself — a beautiful piece of production design by Julie Berghoff — The Conjuring has an analog solidity that makes the terror to come almost unbearable. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJul 17, 2013
Wan masterfully tightens the vise on the audience's nerves, using mood and sound effects for shocks that never feel cheap (the harmless kids' game of hide-and-clap has never been so bloodcurdling). Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 18, 2013
The dread gathers and surges while the blood scarcely trickles in The Conjuring, a fantastically effective haunted-house movie. Read full review
90
VarietyJustin ChangJul 12, 2013
A sensationally entertaining old-school freakout and one of the smartest, most viscerally effective thrillers in recent memory. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 18, 2013
The net result is an entertainingly frightening film that keeps the audience in a state of alarmed, but eager, anticipation. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 17, 2013
The pervasive aura of creepiness more than compensates for the low body count and inventive use of sharp instrumentation. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 16, 2013
The movie belongs to the women, for once, and The Conjuring doesn't exploit or mangle the female characters in the usual ways. Farmiga, playing a true believer, makes every spectral sighting and human response matter; Taylor is equally fine, and when she's playing a "hide-and-clap" blindfold game with her girls, she's like a kid herself, about to get the jolt of her life. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jul 17, 2013
As an exercise in classical scare tactics, delivered through an escalating series of primo setpieces, The Conjuring is often supremely effective. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 18, 2013
The Conjuring succeeds because of all that anticipation of dread things to come. The damned thing works you so well that you may even consider leaving halfway through, for fear you'll have a heart attack. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 17, 2013
A sense of dread permeates The Conjuring from the start, and it’s delightful. Read full review
80
Film.comWilliam GossJul 12, 2013
Wan has marshaled his crack sense of supernatural menace into making his most satisfying scare story yet. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJul 12, 2013
The handsomely shot, expertly button-pushing scare-fest has the polish and the cast to draw older audiences who grew up on shockers built from performances rather than CGI. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 19, 2013
It scared the living crap out of me. Only at the movies is that a compliment. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 19, 2013
The Conjuring manages to place individuals in one isolated situation after another, where the editing and music are perfectly timed to capitalize on the payoff scare moment. We also get a level of writing and acting rarely seen in this genre, particularly when the mothers bond over the fiercely protective love that a parent feels for a child. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellJul 18, 2013
As horror movies go, The Conjuring is an extremely skillful, entertaining remix album. That's not an insult. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickJul 18, 2013
Classy old-school horror, James Wan’s The Conjuring depends more on its excellent cast and atmospheric direction than cheap gimmicks to raise hairs on the back of your neck. Which it does, quite frequently. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 18, 2013
Whatever your belief system, this much is gospel: Movies like The Conjuring are less about the battle between God and Satan than the battle between the silly and the scary. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJul 18, 2013
Unexpectedly fresh, alive, and vibrant - and wonderfully traumatizing. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJul 18, 2013
An uncommonly intense and frightening experience, The Conjuring is the first genuinely scary release in ages by a major studio that features practically no violence and spills only a bit of blood. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJul 17, 2013
The Conjuring is a throwback to old-school spine tingling, although this movie is less Halloween theme ride and more 1970s post-"Exorcist" terror. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGabe ToroJul 16, 2013
The Conjuring, at points, is terrifying. Wan really understands how active, acrobatic camerawork can enhance the storytelling without breaking the fourth wall, a technique abused by today’s horror craftsmen. Read full review
70
The DissolveKeith PhippsJul 17, 2013
With The Conjuring, [Wan] once more turns the familiar terrifying, making it easy to fear what’s behind that closed door, or under the bed, or just around the corner, making a creaking noise that doesn’t sound quite right. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJul 18, 2013
With its forked tongue planted loosely in cheek, this haunted-house flick is enjoyably retro in both style and substance. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 17, 2013
The Conjuring digs up no new ground — indeed, it seems almost proud of its old school bona fides — but it plows the classic terrain with a skill that feels a lot like affection. The ghost that’s really haunting this movie is nostalgia. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 17, 2013
The Conjuring is like a prequel to 40 years of demonic possession thrillers. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 3, 2013
Wan’s film is a sturdily built supernatural chiller, with next-to-no digital effects or gore, and it delivers its scares with a breezy lack of urgency. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnJul 17, 2013
Wan seems to critique the third act failings of The Conjuring during the alarmingly superior first half. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 18, 2013
The big difference is that "The Exorcist" took the nation by storm with fresh ideas and brilliant filmmaking. The Conjuring conjures with amped-up echoes of old ideas, and represents a bet that they still retain their creepy appeal for today's audience. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 18, 2013
As a ninth-generation descendant of Abigail Faulkner, a convicted Salem witch who only escaped execution because she was pregnant at the time, I call down a terrible malediction upon the people who made this entertaining but indefensible movie. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlJul 16, 2013
The Conjuring's problem, beyond its lack of a conjuring, is how its otherworldly hokum is stubbornly of this world. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJul 11, 2013
Though The Conjuring claims to be based on a true story, in truth it's based on every horror film that's come before it. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJul 18, 2013
If The Conjuring were less of a con job, horror fans would not feel equally as trapped. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisJul 17, 2013
The seen-it-all-before elements of this supernatural thriller directed by the filmmaker who gave us "Saw," however, are more hoary than horrific. It might as well be retitled "The Amityville Exorcist." Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJul 19, 2013
The Conjuring is as toothless as it is because it's two different kinds of boring. The film's plot is explained exhaustively whenever loud noises aren't blaring, and random objects aren't teasingly leaping out at you from the corner of your eye. Read full review
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