The Conjuring

James Wan's The Conjuring is the most commercially successful haunted house film ever made and the launch pad for a franchise worth over $2 billion. What separates it from its imitators is Wan's classical approach to horror filmmaking: long takes, slow camera movements, and a refusal to rely on CGI. The clap-in-the-dark sequence and the wardrobe scene are masterclasses in building dread through patience rather than shock. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as Ed and Lorraine Warren give the film an emotional anchor that most horror films lack. The Conjuring proved that old-fashioned craft could still terrify a modern audience raised on found footage and torture porn.