This horror movie really isn't doing anything new or special but it still manages to work out as a great and effective one, simply by just being a mostly old fashioned one.
This movie definitely feels like old school horror. Back from when it wasn't just another simple cash grab but directors still put some effort into their movies and tried to be creative, without constantly having to fall back on well known horror clichés and other formulaic ingredients.
It actually manages to feel like a very original genre move, even though in its core this still is a very formulaic haunted house genre movie with its story and settings. It never really feels like one though, which is really mostly due to James Wan's effective directing approach. It's a classy and good looking movie, made with an eye for detail and not as a standard horror movie that basically only builds up toward its next scare moment and is also constantly busy trying to scare you. This movie feels more subtle and humble with is approach. Instead of trying to be scary it simply is trying to tell a story instead, that just happens to be a scary one. Not that it makes this movie a more realistic one but it does make it a more effective as well as interesting to follow one.
It's also a movie with a great atmosphere to it. It definitely helps that this movie is set in 1971, as opposed to modern times. It makes the movie a more gritty and dark looking one already, without ever feeling or looking outdated with anything by the way.
The movie manages to feel like a genuinely creepy one, due to its atmosphere and its great and subtle build up to things. It handles all of the mystery and tension well and is only revealing small snippets of new information, one at a time, spread over the movie. It's never revealing too much but at the same time still enough to keep things going and interesting to watch, at all times.
This also a movie that works out a tad bit better than usual due to its characters. They are some well developed and played characters and it besides is good and refreshing to see two different couples being equally important and featured in the movie. It brings some more variety to the table and basically makes this a movie with two stories for the price of one in it.
A great and original feeling genre movie, that besides is being a very effective one with all of its horror.
7/10
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