James Wan

[4] I thought the first Conjuring movie was moderately entertaining (for a warmed-up rehash of horror cliches), and was hoping for an improvement the second time around. The sequel could have entertained me by being more about Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), the paranormal investigators who can’t stop helping haunted families even when their aid poses psychic threats to their own lives. …

[7] Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) and Donnie Wahlberg star in this stylish horror film from James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring). Kwanten plays a man whose wife has been murdered by a creepy-looking ventriloquist doll and Wahlberg plays the detective convinced that Kwanten killed her. The two pursue their separate lines of investigation, both of which lead to an abandoned Guignol theater where they uncover the …

[6] The Conjuring, written by twin brothers Chad and Carey Hayes and directed by James Wan (Dead Silence, Saw), is an old-fashioned haunted house story that morphs into one of demonic possession. After some clunky exposition, the first half of the film is a solid tension-filled spook fest. Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston play parents of four young girls who unwittingly move their family into an …