Annabelle begins with the same scene that opened The Conjuring, with three people relating their supernatural experiences involving a possessed doll to Ed and Lorraine Warren (here unseen). This time, however, the film follows the titular doll and how it affects the lives of John (Ward Horton) and his pregnant wife, Mia (Annabelle Wallis).
John and Mia Form live an idyllic lifestyle in the suburbs as churchgoers and friendly neighbors to the Higgins, an older couple whose estranged daughter eventually returns with a fellow satanic cult member to slaughter her parents. When they turn their sights on the Forms, John fends them off until the police arrive to save the day. The Higgins’ daughter (named Annabelle) commits suicide while holding the doll John purchased for Mia as a gift.
And now the terror begins with both the possessed doll and maybe even Satan himself attempting to lay claim to the souls of both Mia and her newborn daughter.
Annabelle is by no means disappointing…but it isn’t anything spectacular either. Director James R. Leonetti (cinematographer on The Conjuring) helms a decent horror movie that’s more evocative of the much better (and far more terrifying) Rosemary’s Baby (with similar scenes basically lifted and slightly altered from the classic). Whatever authentic “feel” The Conjuring had as a 70’s period piece is absent from Annabelle which takes place in 1969. Sure, the look of the time is there but take away the costumes and, to a small degree the sets, and this film could have been representative of any era.
There’s nothing really terrible about Annabelle. The acting is solid, the direction more than competent, and the story standard genre fare.
But I felt as if I’d seen Annabelle before. Even disregarding the film borrowing heavily from Rosemary’s Baby, nothing about Annabelle makes it a memorable horror film. Sure, there are some genuine scares, but it failed to elevate itself above literally hundreds of other films that relied upon demons, possession, scary dolls, and pregnant women being threatened by supernatural forces as fodder for story. The characters are little more than horror stereotypes even though the cast does its best with the material provided.
I suppose my main issue with Annabelle is that it falls into the trap that so many horror sequels do (even though the doll was a minor part of The Conjuring)–it explains how the evil began in a backstory.
And that ultimately undermines what makes anything scary.
Nearly every major horror “saga” has suffered from this mistake with Rob Zombie’s take on Halloween being the most memorable perpetrator of this offense*. It was always more terrifying to not know why Michael Myers snapped that day but Zombie (whose House of 1000 Corpses and particularly The Devil’s Rejects are fantastic entries into the horror genre) felt as if he had to give him a rough childhood as explanation. Once you provide a reason, you remove the mystery and that lessens the impact.
*That said, I liked parts of the film and thought his vision of Halloween would have been better served had it not been a reboot and, instead, an original idea with a new twist on it. He should have just done his own thing and created a new character and story altogether.
Annabelle can be best viewed when you’re not expecting much out of a sequel and want a film that delivers a warmed over version of your favorite horror tropes.
Annabelle grade: C
This Old Haunted House 