Annabelle: Creation
/"Forgive me, Father, for I am about to sin."
Filmology Rating: 2.75 out of 4
A couple still grieving the death of their daughter take in children from a local orphanage, but the family soon becomes terrorized by a doll known as Annabelle.
I was really disappointed with the first Annabelle film. I felt it was rushed and was only made to be a cash grab and mooch off the success of the first Conjuring film. It was a complete flop for me. This however did not have that same feeling. This was the film that should have been made the first time. While James Wan did not direct this film (he was the director of the Conjuring and wrote and produced the 2nd) he did once again produce and his presence can be heavily felt. James Wan is excellent when it comes to making these films well rounded while also being scary.
Annabelle: Creation was a really fun movie. While not better than the Conjuring films, it is right behind and still had much to offer. Since this a horror movie, you want to know if it actually had some good horror and not just cliché jump scares….. it did. Sadly there were some cliché jump scares but they were minimal. The horror was actually quite scary at times and I was at the edge of my seat biting my nails waiting to see what the little demon doll did next. What the Conjuring films do so well is that it takes a scene and builds it and builds it and builds it until it finally gives you the thrill; even though you know it’s coming it still gets you. That is when horror is well done. When you see it coming and yet still are scared. Well done production team behind this film!
The acting in this movie was also very well done. The two main leads are both young actresses, both of which were excellent. Now being kids, they do make very dumb decisions sometimes so it will be a little annoying at times. However kids are dumb! Plain and simple they will make bad decisions and they can’t help themselves sometimes. However annoying this was in the film, it was somewhat realistic.
One last thing that I really liked is that they are building a Conjuring universe. Two movie future films got set up, or at least were introduced during this film. One of which I am really excited for, The Nun. If you are unfamiliar with this reference, then make sure and see the Conjuring 2, it’s well worth it.
Overall, Annabelle: Creation was an excellent continuation of the Conjuring series and I look forward to what else they will do in the future. I do have some minor flaws or things I wish they did differently in this film but nothing to major. This is a good one for all you horror fans.
Rating: See It
-Nick
When I first started writing for Filmology I thought that I hated horror films, I always thought I needed the lights on with a remote close by in case I needed to quickly turn the television off. Since joining Filmology I have seen great horror films like We Are What We Are, Oculus, and Don’t Breathe but I have also had to see such terrible films like Dark Skies, The Lazarus Effect, and Annabelle. The first film was easily the worst film in the Conjuring franchise and I thought we would never see a sequel to the film, but, as usual money speaks more than the quality.
Samuel Mullins, played by Anthony LaPaglia, and his wife Esther, played by Miranda Otto, decide to open up their house to Sister Charlotte, played by Stephanie Sigman, and six girls from an orphanage who need a place to stay. Once the girls are moved into the house they quickly realize that everything is not well with the Mullins and that they might be the next souls taken by Annabelle.
The horror films that I have come to hate are the CGI filled jump scares which are usually PG-13 rated films. I normally find more enjoyment and horror in the things that go unseen, think of films like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, but I still want those jump scare films to give me the shivers down my spine while watching them. Almost every scare in Annabelle: Creation is a jump scare, it’s something jumping at the screen with a loud music sting. Most are predictable and they made me jump because the film is so quiet that I’m waiting for something to happen. I jump in real life when talking on the street and someone unexpectedly comes up behind me to say “hello.” Once again the act itself isn’t scary but the unexpectedness of it just makes you jump.
The highlight of the film was the production design, the house in which the horrors take place is a fantastic set. Production designer Jennifer Spence, who also did the production design for Lights Out and Insidious: Chapter 2, deserves most of the credit for making the scares in this film work. The set felt like it was lived in and offered enough hidden corners for scares that you were always wondering where Annabelle would come from next.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that the design of the movie was better than the movie itself since those were my thoughts with direct David F. Sandberg’s Lights Out, the only other feature film he has directed. Sandberg is fantastic at creating dread, you feel that terrible things will happen to these children at every turn and you have no idea who to trust. While the Annabelle doll itself is creepy you still need to have the correct lighting and camera motions to make the doll not seem silly, like Chucky in the later Child’s Play films.
I had two big issues with Annabelle: Creation, the first I have already mentioned which once again is it’s reliance on jump scares, the second is a real lack of an ending since this film leads directly into Annabelle. I have a message for all filmmakers and producers, if you are going to make a prequel to a prequel stop and think if the film is really that necessary. While this film is astronomically better than Annabelle the way that this film ends makes me furious that Sandberg and the writer, Gary Dauberman, insist on you watching the previous film after watching this one. Making a movie in a franchise feel like it should be able to stand alone shouldn’t be that hard, Marvel Studios does it almost every year, yet studios can’t seem to actually stand behind a product. The studios feel that they need every movie to tie into the next and so on and so on making a continuous machine making an average product.
When I first joined Filmology I was nervous about walking into horror films, I never wanted the horrors to stay with me. If you are terrified of things jumping out at you, but you love that adrenaline rush that you can get then Annabelle: Creation is for you, but if you like a horror movie that will make you think and that you can actively engage in then I would recommend waiting to see It in a month or just go back and watch The Conjuring.
Rating: Rent It
-Jonny G