James Wan directs Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Frances O’Connor in this London set sequel following real life Catholic “ghostbusters” Ed and Lorraine Warren saving another working class family from a diabolical haunting. 

Nitpickers beware! You will see the problems first, front and centre, when settling into this effective genre sequel.  1) a creaky, cliched opening, 2) actors of various nationalities trying on “sausage era” Grange Hill accents for size and being swamped by them, 3) the incongruous CGI Crooked Man… UGH! Who signed off on that in the final edit? 4) anachronisms on the soundtrack and the telly 5) the kid with a speech impediment, obsessed with biscuits whose bully can do a better fake stutter than the poor tyke cast. These wobbles aside, this proved a great date night for a pair of horror aficionados. The 2 hour length makes the film feel appropriately like an exhausting epic for our heroes and if you are gripped by the constantly ratcheted sense of dread, which I was, then the pay off contains some of the best action storytelling in a finale for years. The nun sequences are genuinely intense – both the painting scene and the Bill Wilkins reveal involving “it” will be held up as high watermarks in big screen scares. Vera Farmiga adds a rare touch of acting class to the proceedings (as always – I’m annoyed with myself I never got into Bates Motel), while Patrick Wilson is still an enigma to me – managing to be both vanilla and creepy, bland yet mysterious in pretty much every role he’s in (I can’t pigeon hole his appeal or success, can anyone?). The faith subtext was nicely handled even for my lapsed agnostic sensibilities and it’s just winning to have a blockbuster series centred on a mature, loving married couple rather than more chosen one kids or Megan Fox or “stars” who can’t open a movie without a cowl or cape. I’ll repeat there are niggling problems throughout and this style of scare storytelling is starting to already show its age and needs a shake up… but there are also those previously stated moments of brilliance too. James Wan grows more assured and masterful in the genre every sequel and spin off he sets to. As a piece of horror entertainment it’s well above par in term of quality and I’d happily see The Warrens become a summer fixture over Deadpools, Turtles and orcs. And – for all my grumbling about unfortunate  forger’s notes in the recreation of a 1977 London council house -the Woolworths Christmas decorations, wooden telly, British Rail train carriages, wasteland gardens with iron swing sets, and especially the toys and the clothes, all feel spot on to my similar , poltergeist free, early childhood.

7