Review of Annabelle (2014) by Brandonbonasera — 02 Oct 2014

In comparison to The Conjuring, Annabelle is a major disappointment. The writing is incredibly mediocre with characters that are weak (and dumb), a script which is thin with a few holes and a plot which is unoriginal, predictable and just plain dumb.

Apart from a nice period art design, the production is bland and feels very cheap. Joseph Bishara's score is also a disappointment; it is far from as memorable as Insidious' score and The Conjuring's score.

The Conjuring had great performances; Annabelle - not so much. The performances feel fairly wooden and boring and do not really bring much life to the characters. I am not sure if the dull characters are to blame for this or if the actors are just not very good.

Despite these flaws, I did not dislike the film - Annabelle does have its good moments, such as a few cool well-constructed scenes (e.g. Basement/Elevator) which make the film enjoyable at times, as well as a few references to real life events and other films such as Rosemary's Baby, which, I thought, was a rather interesting choice.

Overall, Annabelle has a nice art design, a few cool moments and is enjoyable at times, but the script is weak, the characters are dumb and it ultimately feels cheap. As a theatrical film, it does not work - but it would make a great direct-to-DVD film.