Review of Annabelle: Creation (2017) by Viktor M — 25 Aug 2017

7.7/10 - Annabelle: Creation is the fourth entry in the "Conjuring" Franchise. It tells the story about a dollmaker and his wife making their countryside home into an orphanage ,after the tragic death of their little daughter Bee. Yeah there are a whole lot of name puns in this film. The movie is surprisingly much better than its predeccesor. The child actors are great, which is not often the case in horror movies and the other actors ain't half bad. The atmosphere is authentic and the scenes are memorable. While there are plenty of jumpscares, they feel natural and earned, not cheap like in most horror flicks. Yep, the characters make dumb decisions,but not too dumb. Yep, plenty of horror tropes like knee-dragging, "villian" teleportation,blanket spooks and locked doors opening by themselves are present ,but they are embraced and done with full capacity. David F.Sandberg delivers a lot of fancy and cool shots across the table "no pun intended". We actually do not see Annabelle move, she does it only when we are not looking at her and it is very subtle. Darkness plays a big role and it is used very effectively. The third act delivers on the R-rating of the movie through the use of some pretty disturbing imagery,that will be amusing for gore fans and not too over-the-top for others. The only major flaw is that this flick brings nothing new to both the Conjuring universe and the horror genre.Everything is traditional in the best way possible. Conclusion: Annabelle: Creation manages to improve upon the first movie through a decent script, memorable scares and remarkable directing. While not elevating the horror genre, it feels like a classic,fun movie guaranteed to scare the crap out of you every time. SPOILERS AHEAD:

Although not making perfect sense, the tie-in to the first Annabelle movie is appreciated. The handicapped girl changes her name into Annabelle Higgins ,which is the psycho woman who possessed the doll in the first movie,explaining that the devil himself is the one we battled all along. Talitha Bateman does a fine job of playing the little-girl-impersonating-demon thing.The demon busting out of the scarecrow manages to be one my favourite moments in this movie,not with being overly creative,but with looking *beep* awesome. Everyone except the parents manages to live through the events,but not without some bruises. The deaths of the parents feature some impressive body horror,ranging from snapping fingers to mutilating whole bodies. The visuals themselves are noteworthy. The subtle references to Valak (from "Conjuring 2" and the upcoming "The Nun" movie) were small,but effective enough to remind us that this is indeed a shared universe,without getting bogged down in it. And the song "You Are My Sunshine" will never be the same.