Conjurer
After moving to the country to start life anew after their child's death, photographer Shawn Burnett and his wife, Helen, begin to suspect that a ramshackle cabin on their property is haunted by the malevolent spirit of a long-dead witch who once lived there.
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- Cast:
- Andrew Bowen , Maxine Bahns , John Schneider , Tom Nowicki , Brett Rice
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Reviews
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Wow... there are a LOT of really polarized reviews here for this film. But, I can understand why. This is the classic case of a VERY slow burn, ULTRA low-key, Retro Horror film, very much like a lot of the old British Ghost Stories. You honestly either really like them or you do NOT.That is why you see reviews here with 7 and 8 stars and comments like 'Creepy' or 'Really Scary', and yet there are also MANY that tell you that the movie is complete crap and a waste of time.The one thing right from the start that I VERY much appreciated was that the acting was actually quite good. Even others here who have rated the film a '5' have stated as much. As I've said before in other reviews, usually that is the ONE thing that turns me off immediately with many 'Horror' films that are similar to this. Especially with very emotional situations such as this couple went through. But, thankfully, the characters never became excruciatingly hysterical or unbelievable like so many do in films like this. So, that went a long way, at least for me, in helping me like the movie.Basically it should be pretty easy for you to decide whether you would like this movie or not. IF you do enjoy real slow, but quality old fashioned Horror films and you are NOT looking for over the top sadism or violence, and also VERY important, if you are the kind of person who can EASILY get drawn into atmospheric, slow-building, Ghost Stories that are similar to this, then there is a decent chance that you will enjoy watching this movie. BUT... and it is a HUGE BUT like Mariah Carey's... if you like your Horror films with a faster pace or more action or are easily bored, then you will definitely want to give this one a pass. I'm not saying that you won't be able to appreciate it; I'm only saying that it probably is just not your kind of Horror movie.But, if you DO enjoy a low-key, mildly scary Horror story and you can allow yourself to get caught up in the mood and atmosphere that the film makers built quite nicely, then you should have some fun watching this...
cant believe anyone gives more than 2 stars. Waste of time to write more. just filter reviews to "hated it" and y'll be informed. OK, they want 10 lines. Poor acting and dialogs, instead of the dog and crow perhaps. Poor plot, max. 5 minutes could be worth watching if the rest would not be so dumb. set not too bad, if their's a good story. Really no need to say more about this whats worth to add here. You'll not see a new or even good told story. You'll not see good or interesting pictures. Just have a walk in y'r area or take a bike ride through field and forest around y'r place y'll enjoy much better than watch this. It even did not work if you want to watch it why y can't sleep. It so stupid that you are angry about yourself watching it and want to smash something. I'm pretty sure the good reviews are paid by the producers of this waste of celluloid.
"Conjurer" is an utterly poor and hardly worthwhile affair.**SPOILERS**A year after a miscarriage, Shawn, (Andrew Bowen) and Helen Burnett, (Maxine Bahns) move out to the countryside with Frank Higgins, (John Schneider) and Marlin Dryer, (Tom Nowicki) who tells them he's going to let them live in a small house while he finishes their new home. Attempting to get settled, he begins to think he's the target of something as whenever he goes near a dilapidated shack on the grounds something terrible happens. Eventually learning of an old story about the first owner who had cursed the cabin against those who would move in, he realizes the connection between the story and the events that have transpired to him and he tries to convince others of the dangers on the house before the deadly curse that's still alive takes them all out.The Good News: There wasn't much to this one that worked. One of the main issues is that there's some rather good haunting scenes, even though most of them are incredibly short. The main early scenes out in the cabin, first when he discovers the broken fragments on the floor that results in the thumb accident that plays a big role in the rest of the film and the second one where the hallucinatory snakes and maggots are shown to be involved despite not appearing later, are fine at building up a small level of mystery about the location, and a later scene where smashed and scattered fragments of something would've been a blast had it actually done something with them but it's still a pretty creepy scene. The witch burning vision during the thunderstorm comes the closest to working well due to the freaky vision and the set-up with the storm, but again is never capitalized upon. Even other potentially fun scenes, like the faulty projector or the flashing lights in the house in the distance, could've been good and at best, tend to make for a nice atmosphere. There's also a fairly lengthy scene following a foot-chase through the woods against an unknown victim is fairly good, and the finale is probably the best part of the film. With the haunting in the cabin turning into an armed chase through the darkened house with plenty of surprises to pop out of nowhere, it's fairly entertaining and certainly makes for some adrenaline to flow through the film, and with a somewhat original twist to occur certainly helps. The only other part that actually works is the back-story, which like most good ghost stories is rooted in legend and is somewhat chilling, providing the perfect basis on which to hang a horror film. These here are all that really work for this one.The Bad News: There was some pretty big problems for this one. One of the biggest issues, as it's the one that takes up the most amount of time, is the film's rather horror-less feel to it. It's very rarely when the film feels like a horror film, which is most of the good parts, which leaves the rest of the time spent on a lot of themes or ideas that aren't very scary or horrifying. Frankly, the idea of watching them argue over what to paint a specific room in the house or how the rest of the family is reacting to his stories aren't that interesting, and when the idea of him slowly going certifiably-insane becomes a focal point halfway through with his repeatedly unsubstantiated claims of funny business occurring in the cabin, not only does it not be scary but it really becomes irritating and annoying when it keeps playing the same card over and over again. This leads the film into an incredibly dull-like feeling and makes for some really boring times within the film, especially during the ending when it somewhat peters out instead of building up to a grand finale. That's another problem with the film, which is it's weak and entirely confusing finale. This one doesn't even let you know it's over until the credits begin rolling, which is bad enough, but the visuals and the story told are just utterly confusing and don't mesh at all. This one ends up feeling really lame when it's all over and doesn't leave much of a positive effect when it's over. Another big problem is the film's censored feel, which never sits well in a film. The first half of the film presents the wife as constantly horny and wanting some action, yet it never shows it and cuts away just before, and it has no problem later on showing her changing while wearing nothing but a bra, which is a total tease. There's also the lack of violence here, which really doesn't deserve it and would've added something fun to the film. The last flaw is the film's incredibly short action scenes. No matter how fun they are, the fact that the longest one lasts all of a minute, and that's pushing it to the extreme, simply shows that this one is not at all concerned with keeping the film moving along, which is a big problem as some of them had the potential to really stand-out, yet they're not given the time to do so. These here are the film's flaws.The Final Verdict: Even though it may seem there's some good stuff here, most of it's hardly worth the effort and is overtaken by the flaws. Really only see this one if you're into the style of this one or a fan of the creative side, otherwise this one will have the flaws more apparent than those who won't matter.Rated PG-13:Language and Violence
This little movie came to me through a friend who now works at a video store and asked my opinion of it. She knows I like spooky suspense but don't like slasher or gore porn. She thought I might like it and I did. It's quite a decent little movie with a willingness to be slower paced and had some really nice spooky touches. There are things in the story that have been done countless times before and others that were fresh. The plot slowly gives way to a mixture of horror / supernatural and psychological thriller that sets it apart from so many in this genre. It seems filmmakers are all jumping on the Asian bandwagon when it comes to horror and this movie had none of that which was a relief. It's too bad the studios don't make more gradual creepy supernatural thrillers since there seems to be a big audience for these. There are lots of us that don't want want an edit every three seconds and the story served up with piled body parts.