The Conjuring - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Conjuring

Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
The Conjuring was a breath of fresh air back in 2013, and for a very good reason. The horror genre had grown pretty stale in the 2010s, and both supernatural and slasher horror films were fairly rare these days, not to mention the fact that everything was gravitating towards easily digestible PG-13-rated “pop-horror” films. I remember being mildly interested in James Wan’s The Conjuring from its trailers, but it was really one of my good friends (who is a RABID supernatural horror fan) who forced my hand in seeing it. I had gotten the Blu-ray to review, and he was AMPED up to view it on the big screen. So we went all out, popping popcorn, making sure our female halves had left for the evening, and sat back to watch what I thought would be an average horror flick. Oh boy, how was I wrong. Said “average horror flick” turned out to be the best horror film of 2013, and spawned a franchise that not only has 3 sequels (with one coming out soon), but it created an entire side universe of evil to explore from Ed and Lorraine Warren’s “real life” world of supernatural evil.

Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) have spent their entire lives as paranormal investigators, searching high and low for evil spiritual influence despite the vast majority of the world disbelieving them (kinda like real life), calling them kooks, nut jobs, weirdos, heroes, and even idols. Up until this summer, though, the Perron family would have happily included them in the “kook” category. But with recent events in their new home, the scared family is forced to turn to the Warrens for help. Roger (Ron Livingston, of Office Space fame) and Carolyn (Lili Taylor) Perron are simply folks, having just moved into their dream home a few years ago and set down their roots in what they hoped would be their legacy home. But strange events have been happening to the point where even the agnostic Roger and Carolyn are starting to believe that their house is haunted. Doors are magically opening and closing, clocks stopping at 3:07 every morning, and a dead dog showing up on their front lawn with no signs of struggle.

Bound and determined to make their new home their actual HOME, Carolyn decides to visit a lecture from the Warrens, and begs the paranormal investigators to come home and see what they can do. The Warrens are a bit skeptical due to the fact that they’ve been pranked in the past or simply fallen prey to the overactive imagination of their clients. But the second they step through the Perrons’ doors, Ed and Lorraine realize that they’ve found the real thing. Every event that Carolyn and Roger describe starts happening right on cue, and the Warrens realize that they’ve hit a gold mine. Needing proof for a full exorcism from the Catholic Church, Ed and Lorraine set up their equipment to get as much visible proof as they possibly can to sway the church’s decision to send in a spiritual professional. As you can rightly guess, the spirit invested in the house doesn’t take too kindly to their meddling, recognizing them for the threat they are to its existence. Amping up its attacks to vicious levels, it’s an all-out war as the demon and the Warrens fight for supremacy, forcing the Warrens to improvise and use every tool in their arsenal to keep the spirit from winning.

I’m going to fully admit that back in the 2010s, I was pretty burnt out with the supernatural horror world. I hadn’t really liked much of the genre outside of the iconic classics, and the PG-13 watered-down stuff we got recently was mostly garbage (outside of Insidious), so I was fully expecting to be bored out of my skull with this one as well. Coming from a faith-based background, I have a hard time getting “scared” with the supernatural horror genre, as the logical part of my brain keeps saying “that’s not reality, nah, bro, that’s NOT what really happens” and I just check out. That being said, this was the first time in at least a decade (back in 2013, that is) that I was blown away by a supernatural horror film. The flick starts with the same clichéd tropes that we all know from the genre, but Wan takes those old tropes and keeps them humming at high velocity while keeping the tension high with the Warrens' battle with the demon. The cinematography plays a huge role in that; jump scares are used judiciously, and the angles and atmosphere of the film are just thick and intoxicating.

The film could easily have gone down the “jump the rails” track that most of these films hit in the 2nd or 3rd act, but Wan keeps things very tight and focused, refusing to really overuse many of the tropes past their welcome point. And when things DO get a little too repetitious, he changes things up a bit and has the Warrens come at the demon from another angle. But the one thing that really grabbed hold of me was how period piece accurate Wan was able to get the aesthetic and tone. He really grabbed hold of that 1970s feel, getting every haircut, every piece of clothing, and even the wallpaper on the wall JUUUUUST right so that you felt like you were sucked back in time some 40 years prior. And even today, the film holds up as one of the best supernatural horror films of the decade (even though the sequels would get worse and worse as they went along).




Rating:

Rated R for Sequences of Disturbing Violence and Terror




4K Video: Video:

The Conjuring doesn’t appear to have had a new remaster, as it’s listed as having a 2K–4K upscaled transfer for this release. That being said, it does a good job at going for 4K even though we obviously would have PREFERRED a native 4K remaster. The image looks for the film has obviously not changed any, even with the HDR application, and the film looks like a slightly more refined version of the Blu-ray. This new transfer simply enhances and highlights the colors and palette with a more refined and rich layer to it all. Blacks are deeper and inkier, and I didn’t notice any of the crush that I made note of in my 2013 review. Colors are deeper and richer, with the browns and amber layers really standing out. Skin tones look a bit cleaner, with the tamed brightness levels HDR employs, and fine details have some nice upgrades, even if they’re rather subtle. General clarity and detail levels are pretty similar, but if you look closely at backgrounds or clothing, you can see distinctly more detail than the Blu-ray, and the black crush issues that 1080p Blu-rays are notorious for show a cleaner look in the shadows in 4K. It’s not a perfect transfer, but it’s certainly a solid one.





Audio:

Instead of giving us a Dolby Atmos upgrade, Warner has ported over the same 5.1 DTS-HD MA track that was on the Blu-ray, and while I AM a bit disappointed in not seeing what they could do with a modern object-oriented mix, the 5.1 track is still a 5/5 experience from beginning to end. Starting out pretty mild, we’re privy to a couple of slamming doors, creaking floorboards, and jump scare material that should be pretty standard for the genre. Once the Warrens show up to confront the demon, things get wicked real fast, and the track comes out to play for real. Directionality is incredible, with moans, whispers, and flickers of wind in the wooden slats very distinct and noticeable in their precision. From the crashing of a heavy wooden door behind you to the footsteps crunching in the long southern grasses up in the front of the room, the track simply moves all over the place. And the LFE is jaw-dropping. The jump scares and action-oriented bits really bring the whirlwind, with soul-crushing LFE pushing its way into the already intense track. Dialog is spot on perfect in the front of the room, and overall, this is still one of the best 5.1 tracks that I’ve heard.








Extras:

• NEW Scariest of Them All - The cast and creators of The Conjuring take a look back at some of the greatest scares of the series, uncovering what made these films so iconic.
• NEW Reflections on the Conjuring - More than a decade after the release of the original film, the cast and crew of The Conjuring reflect on their experiences creating one of the most legendary horror series in history.
• The Conjuring: Face-to-Face with Terror - Relive the real-life horror as the Perron family comes together to reflect on the farmhouse they shared with diabolical spirits for nearly a decade.
• A Life in Demonology - The real demonologist and paranormal experts from The Conjuring take you inside their life's work and into their personal occult cellar, where they keep haunted and unholy relics from their many cases.
• Scaring the "@$*%" Out of You - Director James Wan (Saw, Insidious) welcomes you into his world and gives an inside look at the at the scenes that scare the "@$*%" out of moviegoers time and time again.

Final Score: ​

Looking back on the film that started it all 12 years ago, I have to agree that it was probably one of the most influential horror movies of the last 15 years or so. The Conjuring was a massive blockbuster hit that not only got the inevitable sequels, but spawned an entire “verse” with other entities based on the real-life Ed and Lorraine Warren’s supposed “escapades” (yeah, you can tell I don’t find them very believable in the real world). Not all of them are good (let alone great), but this was genuinely one of the better supernatural horror films that I’ve seen in modern times. Creepy and suspenseful, it kept me locked to my seat and engaged the entire time, and even though I’m not the world’s most active supernatural horror fan, I still find that I enjoy the film every time I view it. The 4K UHD looks good, and still sports the same INCREDIBLE sound from the Blu-ray, just with a few extras added in to make the very anemic Blu-ray look substandard in comparison. I remember in my Blu-ray review back in 2013 complaining how bad the extras were, and while the added extras aren’t going to rival Criterion or Arrow, it makes the package a whole lot more appealing. Highly recommended.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston
Directed by: James Wan
Written by: Chad and Carey Hayes
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Bros
Rated: R
Runtime: 112 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 26th, 2025

Recommendation: Fun Watch

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