The Conjuring

There’s a creeping sense of familiarity with each run at the haunted-house premise, and with The Conjuring, the latest from James Wan (Saw, Insidious), that familiarity is amped to the nth degree with an indulgence of homages to the touchstones of the genre, with the film’s structure of acts obviously: The Amityville Horror, Poltergeist, The Exorcist, wrapping up with The Evil Dead. But the end result is more of a homogenized Scooby-Doo episode padded to feature length and played straight. There are some spooky moments to be found—a couple of decent chills and one good jump scare. And one clever approach is having the focus be more on the ghost hunters themselves (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, playing real-life paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren). Unfortunately, Ed and Lorraine aren’t very interesting. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated R.