James Wan knows what he’s doing.

The director of Insidious- who first burst onto the scene with the original installment of the Saw series- manages to do what many horror movies these days have not: scare.

Wan’s newest offering The Conjuring is a well-directed, well-acted, perfectly edited film whose most respectable trait is that it does not talk down to its audience. Set in 1971, this flick follows the Perron family as they discover things aren’t right in their new house. Sound familiar? Sure… there are countless horror films that begin this way.

Where Wan distinguishes The Conjuring, however, is by NOT showing us everything. Terror hides in the dark corners of a room, behind a door or is simply not visible. This is a hold-your-breath and cover-your-eyes-but-not-all-the-way type of movie.

Another key to this film’s success is the casting of 4 fine actors (Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lily Taylor and Ron Livingston) to carry the weight of the film.

With all these successful elements blending together, no wonder that The Conjuring easily took the box office crown this weekend with $41.5 million while formulaic, half-assed attempts like RIPD and Turbo performed much worse than expected.

Bottom Line: Go. Now. But bring someone to hold onto.