Annabelle: Creation (2017) Review!!

Synopsis – Twelve years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle.

My Take – It’s been four years since director James Wan managed to leap our hearts of our chest with the critically and commercially success film, ‘The Conjuring’. The film just dropped into theaters and opened up a universe that would bestow nightmares to the audience members who saw it. Since its success, New Line Cinema has been working steadily to build and create an entire media franchise based around the world of its main characters i.e. Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in film) and their various cases. While it is obviously an attempt to trade on the increasingly profitability of the many “cinematic universes” that have appeared over the past decade, I’ve been following the “Conjuring Universe” with some interest. Despite the fact that the films only use the allegedly true stories as a jumping off point and highly fictionalize the stories being presented, Wan‘s two main-series entries released thus far have been remarkable feats in modern horror. The first film would also introduce the creepy doll Annabelle if only playing a minor role in the film. In 1970, the Warrens investigated the case of a Raggedy Ann doll which was supposedly possessed by the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle Higgins. The Warrens declared the doll to be “manipulated by an inhuman presence”. They took it and put it in a sealed box in their occult museum in Connecticut where it remains. Filmmakers reimagined Annabelle as a creepy porcelain doll and featured it prominently & of course it would go on to gain a prequel spin off a year later. A mediocre attempt at best, director John Leonetti‘s prequel/spin off suffered from shoddy storytelling and a remarkably dull pace, and considering the critical drubbing the film received, I had a degree of apprehension regarding the announced prequel that was finally releases this weekend. But amazingly, it seemed like my apprehension ended up being entirely misplaced, because this David F. Sandberg (Lights Out) directed horror is just an absolute, unadulterated blast of old-school creeps and tremendous atmosphere! It corrects the course for this spin-off series and delivers a tale that stands proud alongside the two Conjuring films as one of the most entertaining mainstream ghost-stories of the past several years. As an addition to the franchise it holds on its own while also adding to the overall background of the Conjuring & as a sequel it surpasses the origin in every level.

The story follows Janice (Talitha Bateman) and Linda (Lulu Wilson), two young girls who are a part of a group of six orphans. Displaced by the closing of their orphanage, the girls under the guidance of their caregiver, Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) find themselves welcomed into the home of the Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto). Still grieving the loss of their 7-year-old daughter twelve years ago, the retired doll makers, despite their act of kindness seem very reclusive and hardly speak to them. Samuel is kind, but gruff and the girls are basically afraid of him. They also wonder about his wife who rings a bell when she needs her husband and never leaves her room. Naturally, the orphans are curious about their new home and they’re anxious to explore. As most of them run and play outside, discovering a dark sealed well in the process, Janice tries to enter an upstairs bedroom that Samuel sternly tells her is locked and never to be opened. Very soon, mysterious events begin to plague the children, especially with Janice and Linda who seem to be the target of a malevolent dark force that might be related to a mysterious doll Janice found locked away deep in the closet of their daughter’s old room. Director David F. Sandberg, who made his directorial debut last year with the micro-budget horror feature Lights Out, here crafts an atmospheric thriller that genuinely surprised me. Much like the underrated Ouija: Origin of Evil from last year, the film is actually a prequel instead of a sequel of the 2014 film. As the title implies, the film provides the origin story of how the possessed doll first came to be inhabited by an evil entity. While, the first 2014 film gave the creepy doll some basis and established her deadly legacy, but it lacked any true backstory of her creation. The prequel, as so titled, helped fill in the creation story and establish the origin to its possession. As the film progresses, more of the Annabelle’s journey is revealed, alongside a closer look at the creature that uses it as a puppet. While not fully complete, we now have the connections needed to make sense of the first film, and further engross us in the universe. Let’s face it, dolls have been a master at creating fear within everyone, even if they are just standing by as you walk around. The thought of their heads turning towards your direction can be creepy, but this being a supernatural horror film and the doll Annabelle just creeping as it sits in the background with it continuously disappearing and showing up does make this film quite terrifying. This film proves exactly what Ouija: Origin of Evil proved, good filmmakers will make good films, regardless of the quality of franchise they make their film within. David F. Sandberg directs with confidence and proves that he is a competent horror film director. The formula is so plain that you’d think you know the film, but Sandberg infuses jumps and starts so creatively that it becomes a dangerous game of peek-a-boo. With a huge house and six girls in the forefront, there’s an unmissable The Conjuring vibe; a great reference to the previous (and undoubtedly inferior) this film connects the universes perfectly. He has obviously learnt from and taken note of the previous films, as this one too feels like a James Wan film. Director Sandberg knows that jump scares aren’t the only scare tactic out there, he actually attempts and succeeds at building tension and suspense to nail biting levels, understanding the importance of the build, rather than simply working towards the payoff, aka jump scare moment. Similar to Wan, Sandberg generates the majority of his fantastic scares through the art of misdirection. Sandberg cranks up the suspense, building or alluding to a particular scare and then brings the scare from a blind spot, catching you off guard.

Wan has said before that when trying to create a scare, he’ll build to something the audience expects, but the scare should/ will come from something they didn’t see coming at all, as that will truly surprise the audience. The screenplay, by Gary Dauberman (writer of the original Annabelle and the upcoming It), gives us a mysterious story that keeps us guessing. Director David F. Sandberg focuses on old-school scares which mix a few jump scares with disturbing images (made more effective my modern CGI), tension, suspense and even some gore (unlike the previous “Conjuring” films). Several elements like this were heavily in play and made for a fun setting. In one particular scene, we painfully watch as an unseen entity breaks someone’s fingers one-by-one as they clutch as a crucifix. This scene makes for one of the film’s thrilling highlights, amplified by the atmosphere that Sandberg has established. Thankfully, Sandberg takes his time to establish these characters, refusing to rush into the scares without first making us care about who will be in the crosshairs. And we do care about these characters, especially Janice and Linda, whose friendship serves as the film’s emotional core. While Sandberg unfortunately substitutes a bit of the build-up with a few cheap jump scares, by the end of the film the tension is palpable. Given the time period that this film takes place, the technology that was present served this film very well in the throwback sense, either because it doesn’t make the characters too idiotic to not rely on their technology more often, or it doesn’t allow the supernatural to manipulate their technology too much to the point of ridiculousness. Even traditional items like a bell, or a well work because of the particular time period that it’s in and add to the atmosphere the film builds up. Whilst certainly a stronger film than its predecessor, it still has its flaws; namely characters and story. Whereas we have Ed and Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring, there isn’t a stand out character to remember fondly here, no character being particularly well- developed. Samuel is understandably dower and awkward after what he’s been through, but disappointingly nothing of any interest is revealed to be hidden underneath; his wife Esther too is very underwhelming; most of the girls too are generic and devoid of character. Perhaps with a bit more care to writing, genuinely interesting characters could have been developed. Fortunately, the central duo are more interesting. Perhaps the film’s most surprising attribute is the strong performances from the predominantly young cast, despite their relatively weak development. While Lulu Wilson is a definitely a standout in her second straight horror film role (after last year’s Ouija: Origin of Evil), her counterpart Talitha Bateman also gives in a great performance. As in most horror films, most of the scares are seen through the eyes of the children in the film. Despite being underutilized, Miranda Otto, who plays the Dollmaker’s wife, gets some of the film’s more shocking moments. Stephanie Sigman is a joy to watch as the nun who takes care of the children, while Anthony LaPaglia is good. Philippa Coulthard and Grace Fulton also do very well in their performances as two elder teens in the orphaned group, while Tayler Buck and Lou Lou Safran round out the group in decent but somewhat underdeveloped roles. Samara Lee is adorable. On the whole, ‘Annabelle: Creation’ is a surprisingly solid and wickedly terrifying film that provides legitimate creeps and shrieks. With the Conjuring universe expanding, The Nun (starring Vera Farmiga’s sister Taissa Farmiga) and the Crooked Man, from The Conjuring 2 are getting their own spin offs, until director James Wan & screenwriters Chad and Carey Hayes come up with The Conjuring 3.