In Praise of Patrick Wilson, Scream King

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by galt1776

Ed Warren is sitting in a musty living room in North London, trying to establish contact with a demon. Behind him sits a little girl, said to be possessed. The demon won’t talk, she insists, unless he faces away and gives him some privacy. With his back to the girl, Ed gets down to business. “Now come on out and talk to us,” he says brightly.

Out comes the demon, cackling and taunting in a fiendish, guttural voice, like a cockney Tom Waits. He wants to rattle Ed, but as played by Patrick Wilson, Ed’s not easily rattled. Alongside his wife, Lorraine, he works as a paranormal investigator, and this is hardly his first tête-à-tête with a malignant spirit. “Your father called you Edward,” the demon snarls, trying to get under his skin. But Ed just rolls his eyes and shakes his head impatiently. “You’re not a psychiatrist, and I’m not here to talk about my father,” he says. “Let’s get down to business. What do you say?”

This scene in “The Conjuring 2” (2016), the sequel to the sumptuous, vigorously terrifying “The Conjuring,” encapsulates what these hit movies do so well. The director James Wan shoots the entire conversation in one long, unbroken take, zooming in so slowly that the movement of the camera is virtually undetectable. The demon, in the background, is a sinister blur. Instead, our attention fixes on Ed, staring ahead.

meltymcface on June 7th, 2021 at 09:18 UTC »

First thing I saw him in was Watchmen and it felt like a pretty ideal casting. Other fans would probably disagree with me, but I felt like he really did a good job of portraying the character, aging and tired, apathetic and lonely.

thinkfast1982 on June 7th, 2021 at 08:36 UTC »

Heck of a singer too

Dove_of_Doom on June 7th, 2021 at 08:08 UTC »

Seeing Patrick Wilson called a "master of horror" reminds me of the first thing I ever saw him in, 2005's Hard Candy. His character goes from creepy to pitiful to terrifying, and Wilson's performance is note-perfect as he transitions from one to the other over the course of the film.