For every Godfather 2 or Aliens there is a sequel to a great movie that goes the way of The Exorcist 2: The Heretic. That is probably the biggest fear of everyone who agrees that The Conjuring is a modern day horror classic. But no need to worry, James Wan and his fantastic cast have stepped up their game delivering a sequel that recaptures the core of the original (great frights with a solid emotional core) without cheap thrills, manipulations or any sense of an obligatory formula. In others words, Wan makes sure that it's fun to be scared but he won't pull the tricks you’re expecting him to.

Even though the novelty of discovering a great horror movie is impossible with a movie that has to live up to very high expectations, The Conjuring 2 delivers the goods. While I wouldn't call it superior to the original film, one of the things that impressed me the most is how this screenplay finds a more interesting and active way to make the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) protagonists who are more effective and engaging than just being the gateway to things that go bump in the night.

This movie opens with the same disclaimer as the first one; it's a true story. But it ads that this is the one that truly terrified Loraine Warren (Farmiga) who after the events of the first film has a traumatizing premonition that might spell doom for her husband (Wilson). But the Warren's retirement does not make for a compelling horror movie.

So soon enough the narrative jumps to London where a working single mom (Frances O'Connor) and her four kids are being terrified by a mean spirit who claims that they are living in his house. When the Church sends the Warrens to verity the family's claims things take a dark turn when a demonic presence decides it wants to take the soul of Janet (Madison Wolfe), the youngest daughter.

As impressive as all the actors are, in particular Madison Wolfe who goes full on Linda Blair but also has to play to the notion that the whole haunting might be a hoax, the real star of the movie is director James Wan. As with the first film, all the scares in this film are earned as the filmmaker plays the audience like a fiddle while exploiting their primal fears. What is impressive is how decisively different his visual approach is from his other work in this genre. During the first section of the film, the camera glides in and out of the hounded house in London like the unseen shark from Jaws. Then Wan channels the giddy patience that Alfred Hitchcock had for building up the suspense bit by bit. To that you can add the way he lets Farmiga and Wilson give gravitas to their characters and their plight which makes the climax of the movie even more exciting than it should be.

So this sequel is the work of a true master of this genre. Lets hope he doesn't go underwater with Aquaman for too long and returns to find new ways to scare the crap out of us.

The Conjuring 2 in theaters June 10.