In
any case, it’s hard to imagine the folks behind the trailer didn’t have Zodiac in mind when they inserted that
song in it. While The Conjuring is
nowhere near as good as Fincher’s film (that’s not meant to detract from The Conjuring’s efforts, but merely to
acknowledge that more and more people, myself included, are beginning to see Zodiac as an out-and-out masterpiece),
the fact that a movie of Zodiac’s
quality may have been on the minds of its makers somewhat bespeaks their high
regard for it. It’s clear that director James Wan was attempting something both
beyond anything he had ever made, as well as the average modern American horror
film. He wanted to make something that was good enough that people would watch
it again, and scary enough that they would hesitate to, even though they knew
the movie deserved it.
The
obvious reason Zodiac may have been
on the minds Wan and his team is the 1970s setting. Despite its modern digital
look, Fincher, with his obsessive eye for detail was able to capture the look
of the 70s better than anyone has in the 21st century. Waan’s film,
while not quite as precise as Fincher’s, still does a remarkable job of
capturing not just the look, but the aura of that decade. Because most of the
film is set in the country, he’s forced to pay extra attention to costumes,
cars, hair, and lighting while never actually over-emphasizing the period
design. If a film looks like it’s desperately trying to capture the period
design then it rings false; The Conjuring
is subtle in its attempt at recreation, and thus feels more real. Thus, while
the subject matters are completely different in these two movies, they actually
have a mildly similar feel to them. And it’s not just in their visual
appearance (besides the period detail, The
Conjuring is filled with meticulous steadicam and dolly shots—gorgeous and
often terrifying, almost reminiscent of something Kubrick would have done) but
in the way they go about using terror. Zodiac,
while not technically a horror film, is quite frightening. One of the reasons
is because despite the constant presence of the law, the viewer never feels
like anyone is safe. Even when the killings stop halfway through the movie,
there’s a looming sense of fear because evil doesn’t just overpower, but often
outsmarts authority.
The Conjuring has something comparable
going on. Typically in horror films, it’s when possible victims are exposed and
unprotected that we get the most frightened. The Conjuring however saves many of its scariest moments for when
the Perron family gets the security of both a cop and Ed and Lorraine Warren,
the paranormal team investigating the evil ghost in the house. There’s an initial
sense of comfort for both the Perrons (captured nicely with a cheery pancake
breakfast scene) and the viewer. However, these vanish soon as it its revealed
the malevolence of the evil spirit is only increasing.
Like
Zodiac, the terror is in how defenseless
good people can be in the face of true evil. Of course, while Zodiac is in no way supernatural, both
of these films do share the based on fact
title, which only adds to the sense of the viewer’s unease.
This
all a bit of a stretch, and the last movie I expected to be thinking about
after The Conjuring was Fincher’s, and
yet it’s ultimately viable with the mindset that intentions lead to unexpected
results. And with the high esteem nearly all filmmakers have for Fincher, it’s
hard not believe Zodiac influenced
Wan in some way, even if it was subconsciously.
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