The Conjurer
Directed by: Clint Hutchison
Featuring: Maxine Bahns, Andrew Bowen, John Schneider
2008 www.conjurer-movie.com

Andrew Bowen and Maxine Bahns star as Shawn and Helen Burnett, a couple who have recently lost their child to miscarriage. You know what will do them good? Packing up and moving to the country! That’s what Helen’s brother, Frank (played by John Schneider... BO DUKE!!) seems to think. And the house they move into has a lovely abandoned cabin sitting right on the property that is haunted by an old witch’s ghost named Hattie. I am not a relationship expert, but I guessed, and I was right, that this might lead to some problems in Helen and Shawn’s relationship.

But Shawn doesn’t want Helen to feel like he doesn’t want to live in the country. I mean, he doesn’t, but that’s beside the point. It’s not that he regrets leaving his successful photography business or that Frank is pushy and irritating, but that he is genuinely seeing Hattie walking around on the property! Hattie’s flying evil crow familiar does irritating things like peck at the trash just to annoy him. When Helen tells Shawn she’s pregnant again, Shawn finds out they’re really in danger from Hattie. Years ago, Hattie’s child was stolen from her, and now she wants Helen’s! Shawn has to try to convince Helen that the only safe thing to do is to leave the house, the cabin, and country life altogether and return to the city, but Helen is reluctant to follow his lead. In fact, Helen seems to think Shawn is selfishly trying to force her to go back to the city, and Frank agrees. Shawn realizes he’s going to have to go to extreme, and violent, lengths to get Helen to listen to him and to save his family from Hattie.

Maxine Bahns is completely amazing as the pregnant Helen. She doesn’t take a backset as the one-dimensional wifey-poo. She makes the most of her character and her relationship to actor Andrew Bowen is nicely done and well-directed. Bowen himself handles the mandatory “I just saw a ghost” scenes with some surprising realism and leaves out most of the cartoon reactions we’re used to seeing in horror films.

A sweet twist ending makes The Conjurer a really great horror movie from a male’s point of view. You see, Shawn is the main character of the film. While we have the tortured Hattie and the pregnant Helen, Shawn and his downward trek to confusion and unhappiness are the main focus of the storyline. There are aspects of Shawn’s childhood that come back to him in slow and painful ways as he tries to put into perspective what is happening on the farmhouse property. Hattie is a clever villain; she’s subtle and manipulative of Shawn in ways that you can’t quite put your finger on. She’s elusive and evil and vindictive, and she seems to have convinced Helen that there’s nothing to be afraid of.

The Conjurer’s high production value would have made it easily palatable even if it were a less well-written story. Digital effects are used sparingly and in good taste with maximum effect- something we more and more rarely see in horror films. There’s no extreme gore or gross-out scenes; The Conjurer relies on atmosphere and creepy good-old-fashioned gothic horror to curdle our spleens. We even get an historical narrative ghost tale, one that ends in tragedy and misery and haunts people with a curse! That’s just awesome, because Hutchison gives us our flashback sequences just like he knew we wanted.

The Conjurer would be such a big hit on Lifetime TV, but I know they wouldn’t air it because the lead character is male. Isn’t that sexist? But for any woman who adores the gothic and thriller stories on Lifetime TV, this is one not to be missed especially if you are in the mood for something scarier and darker than what you’re used to watching.