Genre:

The Conjuring is a film made in 2013 directed by James Wan and produced by New Line Cinema. The genre of The film is horror as it takes after numerous traditions of other films in this genre for example possession as show in classic horror films like “The Exorcist 1973”. It also has key features of horror films which is highlighted in the trailer which builds momentum through whispers and leads up to high pitched fast non-diabetic sounds, as show in other horror films “Insidious 2010”. It's constant use of low lighting and dark colours also indicate The Conjuring is a horror film as black is generally associated with death/evil and mystery; the dark colours of the house suggest this is where the haunting is to take place as it contrasts from the bright picturesque surroundings of the farmhouse. The film has the sub genre of a religious thriller, as consistently throughout the movie there is talk of religious ideology and concepts for example exorcism is a recurring theme of the movie and the holy trinity is mentioned multiple times. In this way The Conjuring is similar to other religious thrillers as most include supernatural experiences for example this is demonstrated in “The Rite 2011”.

Purpose:

The purpose of The Conjuring is to entertain the audience by stimulating a sense of fear or dread in the audience’s minds, by portraying people's worst fears and nightmares. However the purpose of the film is also to inform the audience, as it is based on a true story in which Ed and Lorraine Warren the famous paranormal investigators aided the Perron family who were being haunted by a dark presence in their isolated farm house. They did this by using real tape recordings in the actual movie and making the story as factual as possible, this is shown in the possession scene, which actually happened.

Form:

The form of The Conjuring is it is a film. It centres on a family who are tormented in their ranch house by the presence of its previous occupant. It is rated 15 and was released on the 2/8/2013.

The form of the narrative film is at the start of the motion picture we meet the leading characters (Ed and Lorraine Warren) and by being introduced to these characters we learn about what motivates them and why they behave a certain way and therefore can figure out their role in the film. We are also first introduced to these characters as, the film goes off the perspective of Ed and Lorraine Warren, it is therefore similar to a documentary; as it is from an investigative perspective as Ed and Lorraine Warren were investigating The Perrons home for a malevolent force. The film is a horror film and this is shown in the form of the film, as it obeys horror film conventions, such as having the setting in an isolated place and also using dark lighting and colours to indicate death and danger.

Style:

The Conjuring as expressed above follows tradition from other classic horror films; but it is still unique and creative, as the film is set in the mid 70s, therefore the director has effectively made the film retro. As it doesn't resemble a 2000s horror film about the 70s; it appears authentic, this is done by cinematography, as colours look less vivid as if it's being shot with an old camera.

The conjuring has a classic horror style, as it has nostalgic aspects to the films that are similar to older horror films such as “Amityville Horror”. It also doesn't have the bloody violence which you can associate with newer horror films an example of this is “Saw 2004”, but focuses more on character development which you can find in early horror films such as “Dracula 1931”.