Review of Annabelle (2014) by Ginak — 04 Oct 2014

I was happy to read that Annabelle, without much publicity or hype and pretty bad reviews (which it did not deserve) made only $800,000 less than Gone Girl in its opening weekend. Is there hope for the American horror-movie-going audience? Annabelle is a solid film with a plot, characters, and good acting.

Yes, it is derivative, but it also creates a consistent mood and atmosphere and conjures up some real emotion at the end. No, it is not original, but it is also not a stupid and empty slasher fest, full of blood and gore where the director just goes “boo!” at you every few minutes.

This kind of film is actually mocked during the features before this film by picturing teenagers doing such stupid things that the monster even looks exasperated. So bravo for a solid (if not great) horror film whose success will hopefully encourage more films in the tradition of “real” and more genuinely frightening films like Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Haunting of Hill House.