August 8, 2017: Annabelle: Creation Review, Terrifying Horror!

A Brief History

On August 8, 2017, we reflect on our screening of the upcoming (August 11, 2017) horror flick, Annabelle: Creation, a prequel to the Annabelle and Conjuring movie franchise.

The quick and dirty on the movie is, the audience cheered and clapped at the end!  We consider this reaction a sure sign of success.

Digging Deeper

An active audience participating in the film, laughing, gasping, and commenting, reminds us why we see movies in theaters instead of just on television at home.  The attention of the audience was obviously held for the duration of the medium length 109 minute film.

The movie builds the background of Annabelle and her family, and the orphan girls at the center of the story.  The acting on each character’s part was outstanding.  We were more than impressed with the 2 girls playing the parts of Linda (Lulu Wilson) and Janice (Talitha Bateman) and expect to see both of them in starring roles in the future. Anthony LaPaglia as Samuel Mullins, the toymaker that makes the doll in his dead daughter’s image is creepy, really creepy!

As we have come to expect, the special effects are quite good, and the use of frightening apparitions, ghosts, manifestations and live people provides plenty of breath stopping, gut wrenching terror moments, sometimes moments that go on for a few minutes.  The second half of the film is fairly relentless, and the tension could be felt in the audience.

Annabelle: Creation makes use of humor in moderation, and the jump scares are countered by expected jump scares that turn out to be non-threatening events, a technique that successfully keeps the audience on their toes.

The premise of the film is how the Annabelle doll came to be possessed by an evil spirit, and the film is part of the Annabelle and Conjuring film series, each film based on a supposedly true story.  See our previous articles about other films in the franchise here and here, and we encourage you to also read another source about the historical accuracy of Annabelle: Creation at History vs Hollywood.  A major difference in the real story versus the film is that the demon doll in the real story is a “Raggedy Ann” type doll, while the movie portrays the doll as a custom made old-style doll.  The film does pay homage to the “Raggedy Ann” doll at the end, although you can buy a replica of the movie doll at Amazon.

Be sure to stay for the mid-credit and post-credit scenes, and leave the young kids (less than 10) at home if they are the type that get spooked by scary movies featuring kids.  Tweens and teens should be fine accompanied by a parent, as the film is rated R, deservedly so for the terror and bodily harm involved.  At the time of writing our review, Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an 83% rating indicating that the early reception is generally good, with our rating of “Must See” for horror movie fans, especially those fond of the possession and haunting genre.  Even if you have not seen the other films in the Annabelle Universe, this film stands on its own merits and will entertain an audience unfamiliar with the story or the other films.

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Historical Evidence

For more information, please see…

Leonetti, John R., dir.  Annabelle.  WarnerBrothers, 2015.  DVD.