Review of Annabelle (2014) by James R — 02 Feb 2015

Annabelle is a prequel to 2013's excellent horror film The Conjuring. Unfortunately, this movie doesn't hit the storytelling, quality or scares like The Conjuring did. Set many years before the events of the Conjuring Annabelle is about a family: John (Ward Horton) and Mia Gordon (Annabelle Wallis).

John and Mia are expecting their first child and have moved into a new neighborhood. One day John picks up a doll that Mia has been searching for a long time to complete her collection. All seems well until one night Mia awakens to hear screaming from the next door neighbor.

All of a sudden they are attacked by a Satanic Cult (yup this really happens). The two cultists are killed, but one of them transfers her soul into the doll John bought. Strange things start to happen to Mia when John is away at work.

Doors close, bumps are heard and the doll suddenly appears in places that it wasn't left at. While this whole premise is creepy the film just isn't that creepy. It borrows a lot of scares I would say from a similar film Insidious (2010).

The film is pretty low budget and you can tell this not having the most top notch actors...the acting kinda sucks especially the husbands...ugh. I was disappointed overall because yeah there are some jump scares, but it never got to the creepiness like The Conjuring.

Overall, not even worth a look unless you are absolutely thrilled by the concept!