Conjurer (2008)

   

Produced & Directed by: Clint Hutchinson

Written by:
Clint Hutchinson & David Yarbrough

Starring:


Andrew Bowen .... Shawn Burnett
Maxine Bahns .... Helen Burnett
John Schneider .... Frank Higgins
Tom Nowicki .... Marlin Dreyer

Release Date: SoCal Independent Film Festival: September 11, 2008

 

 

Rating:

 

After a miscarriage of their newborn a couple named Shawn (Andrew Bowen), whom is a photographer and his wife Helen (Maxine Bahns) starts a new life a year later.
Helen's brother Frank Higgins (John Schneider) helps them reside in their new house by the woods as there's an abandoned shack there which Shawn hears strange sounds coming from it and when he enters the shack his finger is bitten. The place was once resided by a witch centuries ago named Hattie and he's certain the place is haunted with her malevolent spirit.
He also finds out that Helen is pregnant once again and is told by locals there that her and her unborn child could be in danger.
He tries to talk to Frank about it but he gets upset with him and later on Helen as well since they both don't believe him and now he seems to confront this deadly spirit alone. Is he imagining all this?

 

Good shots with Helen Burnett being in labour with the ER Doctor telling her the bad news and she gets emotional along with both her and her husband Shawn getting demanding with him to check again for a pulse on their unborn child.
There's some good shots with Frank Higgins showing both Helen and Shawn around their new house.
We spot some good takes on Shawn in the shack looking around and then some fast camera action on his hand being bitten.
We have some good shots on a child watching the house in areas around the woods.
Good angle shots on Shawn taking pictures of different things in the woods.
There's a nice shot on both Shawn and Helen lying down with one another having a discussion about her being pregnant and their fears on a misscarriage as their discussions looked very natural.
We spot many takes on Shawn walking towards the shack in the dark looking around and hearing the noises with jumping moments on some ghostly approaches giving a good horror feel to it all.
A nice shot on him chasing after the child in the woods as well as a creepy like dialogue between him and a backwoods father coldly telling him about what happened with him and his wife residing there which looked very impressive.
Good argumentive discussions between Shawn and Marlin Dreyer about what is happening to where they're residing. Then we spot a good shot on Shawn staring inside the window at Marlin's wife Mrs. Dreyer with a good jumping moment on Marlin approaching and staring coldly at him.
Many good camera takes on both Shawn and Mrs. Dreyer having a discussion about the legend of the shack that hasn't been touched which looked good on her part as someone acting eccentric and mysterious.
We spot good angle shots on a crow going in a garbage can as well as standing on a pole watching.
There's good takes on Shawn hucking rocks at the crow.
A good shot on Shawn obsessively staring out his window towards a bear trap placed in a garbage can along with shots on Helen using a paintroller to paint the house.
We spot a good shot on Shawn taking a knife and trying to stab a crow caught in the bear trap with him going crazy stabbing at the crow which looked good and done in a psychotically fashion.
A nice cell phone discussion between Frank and Shawn when he gets anxious telling him about the house they're residing in saying it's dangerous with Frank acting cocky and aggressive towards him as the scene looked like a believeable dispute.
Many good takes on Shawn walking in some mist holding a stick and then entering the shack and staring at a fireplace with a good cheesy CGI effect on the flames blowing at him and nice close up shots on him and his tense expressions as well as many other good shots on him running outside and being terrorised by a crow and a shot on the haunting witch Hattie approaching up towards him which I found was the best scene of all.
Bottom line is that I enjoy films that have hauntings especially if a witch is involved. This one had the odd good scares and jumps but it seems to go around in circles a bit too much and the best part is when the film is close to it's end with the haunting battles.
The ending totally psychs you out wondering if it's for real or not entering the mind of someone claiming these hauntings. It's a fun and entertaining movie which makes it just an above average flick but that's all it is. Sometimes you might not bein the mood for it and other times you may.
Some elements borrow a bit from Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 during the ending of the film mainly and tried to be as original as possible during the rest of the story but didn't go too far. Oh well at least they tried as best they could.

The acting is quite good as lead actor Michael Bowen (Shawn Burnett) strutted his stuff quite well as the seemingly caring husband in the film showing good energy and nice intensity to his part throughout the role along with good violent reactions against the evil crow in the flick. He does well from acting sane to being really insane as well.
Maxine Bahns
(Helen Burnett) seems to do well with her emotions as well as being sympathetic too. She also knew how to act angry during one moment in the film which she brought out alot during that moment too. A
good tense moment with her screaming at someone which was well done in a certain part of the story.
John Schneider
(Frank Higgins) brought some character to the part of the film as a family member helping the couple out buying them the house showing a good charm to his part as well as acting cocky and aggressive too when he needed to be.
Tom Nowicki
(Marlin Dreyer) showed a good mysterious attitude to his part which makes you wonder what his involvement to the film is and stressed it really well by doing this.
We have a small role by Brett Rice (Fulton Moss) playing a backwoods farmer in the film but had to talk about him since he really stood out in his part and spoke well in a creepy tone with a good serious attitude as you kinda feel he has something to do with what is going on at the house and the shack too.

We hear some great windy sounds for the suspenseful moments like with a crow appearing on a pole or the creepy looking shack. There's good screeching sounds too. Alot during the storylines we hear cold sounding piano playing and violin music too with the odd chants which all came together nicely by Dana Niu.