Written by Gary Dauberman
Directed by John R. Leonetti
Evelyn (to Mia): "I'm old, which means there's very little that surprises me any more and if it does, I'm too tired to show."
The Conjuring franchise in spite of it's mixed reception and personal feelings towards the Warrens has undoubtedly managed to cement itself as one of the most successful horror franchises out there and after introducing the titular antagonist in the first movie, it was time to give her a spin off.
This movie opened with a bunch of nurses relaying their experiences before we headed to Santa Monica. Once there, our protagonists of the piece included a young doctor named John Form (Ward Horton) gifting his pregnant wife, Mia (Annabelle Wallis) a porcelain doll named Annabelle. Even if you've never seen a horror film in your life, what unfolded throughout the movie will not shock you in the slightest.
For you see, Annabelle isn't any ordinary porcelain doll. Now, whenever she's in someone's possession, bad things tend to happen and it's not long until the Forms, in particular Mia fall victim to this doll's malevolent ways. It's also not long until Mia herself gave birth to a baby girl named Leah and the Forms moved to Pasadena with Annabelle not far behind to cause them more harm.
Fortunately a change of location did bring about one ally in the form of local bookstore owner, Evelyn (Alfred Woodard). In what's something of a slight role and often exposition full in parts, Alfred Woodard does a lot with on paper does feel like a rather paper thin character. Even when her sacrifice feels rushed, it still managed to land some kind of impact.
As for the main couple of the piece, they're a fairly inoffensive group of protagonists. Out of the two, I do feel that Annabelle Wallis pulled in the stronger performance compared to Ward Horton, who felt a little too stoic in parts. As for Father Perez (Tony Amendola), it's a solid performance but again, not the most fascinating character in the movie.
As for Annabelle, herself, well her look here was the most stereotypical evil look compared what the real thing looks like itself. This ain't a Chucky style quipping a minute, but more of a quiet menace that's effective in it's scares. By the end of this movie, Annabelle might have left the Forms in peace but her evil has found someone else to antagonise.
- The original Annabelle doll is a Raggedy Ann doll that the Warrens are keeping in a glass case in the now closed occupy museum of the Warrens.
- Not only does the foll appear in other movies set with The Conjuring universe but even DC fans have seen them in the likes of Aquaman and Shazam!
- Rosemary's Baby definitely seemed to a heavy influence, even down to naming the protagonists John and Mia.
- Chronology: The story of Annabelle did seem to originate from the 1970s but this movie did seem like it was set a decade earlier.
Annabelle served as a solid means of showing that this franchise had the ability to expand beyond the Warrens while never forgetting them either. It's a solid spin-off/prequel with good performances from the main cast and decent enough scares. Not a classic but very watchable.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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