Review of Annabelle (2014) by Orlando O — 10 Feb 2015

The one thing that strikes fear into mostly everyone is creepy dolls or the common case of clowns. Annabelle is its own spinoff from the doll in 2013 The Conjuring film which was a fun horror film. The worse thing is Annabelle fails to live up too it as a spin off. It is disappointing, as Annabelle is a supernatural object that is haunted and possessed that puts everyone in close proximities in danger. What else can you expect in a supernatural horror that follows the clichés, such as a happily married couple try to start a new life and a baby soon to be expected. The husband surprises wife with a creepy looking doll, he has an over night job, leaving her alone experiencing all kinds of unexpected noise. The routine is clearly checked off for the typical horror movie. The sad thing is the movie surprises with a lot of cheap scares, like objects being turned on or watching an intense scene of the lady using the sewing machine intently. Then, an unexpected fire breaks out in kitchen. The movie does try to raise all bars of trying to bring any scares during the climax when a possessive demonic figure chases the main character through dark lighted corridors or a flashy scene in the stairwell. The movie fails to be scary in every way; it does have that creepy premise but nothing else.

Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton also gave stale performances as the two leads playing Mia and John Form. One unique thing that Annabelle actually had that was an entertaining reference in the movie is classic Rosemary Baby film. A couple expecting a baby, living in a condo and a plot that has some form of cult that is haunting Mia when she is alone. Otherwise, Annabelle has its own direction of having the haunted doll in the mix that tries to bring any scares but has a stale disappointing direction, dull acting, and is quite boring.