Meanwhile, across the pond in the London Borough of Enfield, a single mom (Frances O'Connor) and her four kids are plagued by a mysterious poltergeist that wreaks havoc on their home and latches onto 10-year-old Janet Hodgson (Madison Wolfe). This spurs Ed and Lorraine to come out of their sabbatical and travel to Enfield where they hope to stop this new ghostly presence.
As you might have guessed, it helps to have seen the first Conjuring, but it's not required. The Hodgson story is entirely separate from the Harrisville one, and also feels very different from that case as well. Obviously, part of that stems from the fact that the sequel takes place in urban London rather than rural Rhode Island. But the story itself is also unique in that there's not one but two evil spirits at work -- one in Enfield and another tormenting Lorraine personally -- and the way they're handled is both emotional and delightfully hair-raising.
Fans of Wan's recent work will know what to expect in The Conjuring 2. The director has come a long way since the early days of Saw, and his work in this delivers a perfect blend of dread and jump scares, never exploiting either of the two. In terms of capturing a distinct tone and style, this may be Wan's best work to date. Suffice to say, he's got these movies down to a science by now.
The cinematography (spearheaded by Don Burgess) is also brilliant, and includes tons of steadicam shots and whip pans. The image is rarely locked off, and when it is, it's for dramatic effect (e.g., an entire scene focusing on just Ed's face as he talks to an obscured presence in the background).
That said, there's an inherent familiarity to Wan's storytelling, and some viewers may find the film's beleaguered family dynamic tiresome. Of course, haunted house movies are nothing new, and The Conjuring 2 does little to subvert their time-honored tropes -- although there is a smattering of Insidious humor in there.
Still, Wan's old-school approach to the material is admirable -- and increasingly rare in a market flooded with found-footage horror films. That's not to mention the performances, which are top-notch across the board. Vera Farmiga shows off a wide range of emotion as Lorraine, while Patrick Wilson taps into Ed with all the New England swagger of a 1970s family man. The child performers aren't half-bad either, particularly Madison Wolfe, whose cockney Janet is surprisingly subdued.