This isn’t really a confession. Just a rant. Some spoilers.

I recently saw both The Conjuring and Sinister. To me, The Conjuring was much scarier. There was a slow build up. You really got to know the characters and to feel for them, so when things started to get worse and worse for them you really felt it. You could feel their terror and hopelessness. You could also feel for the Warren characters. The way it was done was wonderful in my opinion and I found it very scary and it kept my interest the entire time.

Sinister was mildly frightening, I’ll admit, but it was totally predictable. Maybe ten minutes into the movie I had already pegged the basic way the story would go. The missing child in the murder case was possessed by a demon or some otherworldly force and was the one who murdered the family. The same would happen to the main character’s family in the climax. And as each little plot nuance came around I found myself saying, “Oh yea, I know what’s gonna happen, ” and most of the time it would. It didn’t have the same atmosphere for me, and I really didn’t care about the main characters that much. The kids were bratty, the dad was a TOTAL jerk, and the mom… well, she did a lot of complaining but that was about it. I was annoyed with her for not packing up and leaving when she learned what she did about the house.

The plot of The Conjuring is one that has been used before…family moves into haunted houses, ghostly things happen, someone comes in, big climax, ladida,,, BUT the difference is I didn’t feel that way as I was watching it. I wasn’t sitting there thinking, I know what’s going to happen. I was covering my eyes and begging the characters not to go here or not to do this.

And yet, most of my friends think Sinister is the scarier movie. Whaaaa… ? I just don’t get it. But whatever. To each their own I guess.

The Conjuring is still a great horror flick. Beautiful filmography, great effects and makeups, and not so much reliance on cheap jump scares.