NEW YORK -- The Conjuring will be a back-to-basics horror movie using "old-school tricks" rather than the latest in computerized technology, the filmmakers told a packed auditorium Saturday at New York Comic Con.
It's not going to be the type of effects-heavy film we're used to, and one of the stars of the movie, Ron Livingston, said it was a challenge to scare "an audience that's jaded and used to seeing six people killed in the first six minutes."
It's what you don't see more than what you do see that'll have you covering your eyes when you watch the movie. Indeed, there were a fair few screams echoing in the hall when the fans were shown a clip from the movie in what was the first public viewing of any of The Conjuring material.
The scene shown at Comic Con had Lili Taylor's character playing a blindfolded, Marco Polo sort of game with her daughter, following the child's clapping. But it transpires that Taylor's guided by a spirit, rather than her daughter, all the way down into the spooky cellar of their farmhouse in 1970s New England.
*The Conjuring'*s director, James Wan, who became famous after his 2004 movie Saw, said he "wanted to pay homage to classical horror films like Amityville, and that's what The Conjuring is -- a classic ghost story."
Wan said the scariest part of the movie is the fact that it's based on the true story of a mother and father in the '70s who tried to protect their children and flight a demon within their own home.
As you're getting ready to be spooked this October, save room for July 19, 2013, when The Conjuring will premiere. It's an odd release date for a horror movie, but something that Wan sees as a sign the movie's going to do well at the box office.
"I find scary movies play better around Halloween but I think it's a testament to the quality of the film that [Warner Bros.] feels it can compete in the summertime," he said. "They've given us the July 19th slot and I'm very flattered by that."
