The following review was published in Issue 1 of The Paolite, 2017.
Annabelle: Creation made its theatre debut on August 11. If you are looking for a heart pumping, scare the pee out of you, nightmare for days type of movie, this is the one for you.
Annabelle: Creation is rated R and is the prequel to the horror film Annabelle. The movie is set in 1950s America. A couple (played by Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto) lets a small group of six orphan girls live in their home after their own daughter, Annabelle, was hit by a car a few years prior. Janice (played by Talitha Bateman), an orphan girl crippled by polio, enters Annabelle’s old room, which was supposed to be locked, only to find a key to unlock a secret door. Inside is an evil inhabited doll and the horror is unleashed from there.
Personally, I loved Annabelle: Creation it had everything I love in a scary movie. Including suspense and foreshadowing to the original movie as well as a fellow terror, The Conjuring 2.
The beginning of the movie starts out slow but things begin pick up once Janice catches the eye of the lurking evil in the house.
The movie never had a dull moment., I was always on the edge of my seat, wanting more. Director, David F. Samberg, has even said that they tried to make the movie as scary as possible and that the movie might be hard to watch for some people due to the scenes being too intense.
The two movies end up intertwining; at the end of the second movie, when the evil presence has taken over poor Janice, she disappeared and later shows her being adopted and growing up with an actual family. This is where it leads into original Annabelle, showing her killing her parents. The doll Annabelle also makes appearances in The Conjuring when it is showed in the “blessed room” of the Warren household. Not just Annabelle either, at one point in Annabelle: Creation the nun from The Conjuring 2 is shown pushing young Janice into the old doll making barn where she is soon possessed.
I personally look for a deeper scare in horror movies, the kind of scares that leave you chilled and Annabelle: Creation does just that. The film itself is not the only thing adding to the horror of it all, but the original plot behind it.
The Annabelle movie is based on a true story. The doll actually resides in Ed and Lorraine Warren’s museum a room they bless monthly and is in their own home. The Warren’s are paranormal investigators and house this doll, locked in a box, and no one is permitted to open it. There are even legends of when people come to the museum and make fun of the doll, they either end up severely hurt or even dead.
Annabelle: Creation leaves its viewers with hairs standing on end. Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, this movie is sure to give you chills.
To me most prequels are bland and really just retell what has already happened from a different perspective, but this one took me by surprise. It added depth to the plot and made the whole story-line better by showing where Annabelle originated from. I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars on the scare meter for truly giving me a good scare.
