An excellent film with an almost grueling sense of dread and a few appropriately placed jump scares. "The Conjuring" is so successful because it builds suspense and holds it there, keeping you on the edge of your seat. It makes you cover your eyes, but not because of the gore (there's almost none), but because you care about the fate of the characters.

This film packs a wallop, combining demonic possession, witchcraft, and a haunted house story. It also uses the "based on a true story" claim, which always adds to the creepiness factor.

James Wan's direction is skillful. The best sequences are the smallest ones. The two that come to mind are when one of the children sees something behind a bedroom door. She wakes her sister who is sleeping in a bed across the room. The sister openly stares at the same door and sees nothing. Wan lets us stare at that very same door, allowing us the same opportunity to see what is lurking there. It's a great example of the suspense that "The Conjuring" brings that other recent movies haven't.

An example of a well executed jump scare occurs during the game of hide and seek that the mother plays with the youngest daughter. The clapping combined with silence and the maze of hallways make it a perfect moment.

I watched this with my 18-year old. This is the kid that said that the "Evil Dead" remake wasn't scary. After we watched "The Conjuring" he said it was the scariest movie he'd ever seen. I asked him how that could be given all hype I'd seen about how the new "Evil Dead" was so disturbing. He replied that the "Evil Dead" was gory and shocking but not scary at all, while "The Conjuring" was frightening even with zero gore. This is exactly why "Horror" movies have lost there way and why the term "torture porn" is so appropriate.