Annabelle Creation Review

Remember that creepy doll from the Conjuring series and the disappointing spin off that followed? Well, it's back with a prequel! James Wan returns to produce the movie. He has directed many successfull horror movies such as Saw, Insidious, and most importantly The conjuring 1 and 2. Interestingly, James Wan was not involved in the first Annabelle movie... and it was not very good. So hopefully his involvement in Annabelle creation makes for a better movie! So do James Wan and director David F. Sandberg get the second attempt at an Annabelle movie right? Read on to find out because this is my Annabelle creation review! Creepy images throughout! Oh and i'll warn you before you get to any spoilers like usual.

Annabelle Creation is the spinoff prequel movie that, as explained in the title, tells the story of how the Annabelle doll was created and how it became evil. The movie focuses on a group of orphans cared for by a nun. They move into a very large house owned by a generous man, Samuel Mullins, who takes care of his sick wife. Things get dark very quickly when Mr. Mullins tells Janice, the young girl with the broken leg, that she isn't allowed into the locked room. Ever. In typical horror movie fashion, Janice enters the room and the main plot of the movie kicks into action. The movie seems fairly typical and cliche until the movie unexpectedly switches it's focus and point of view. It kept the movie fresh and prevented it from dragging throughout.

The characters of the young orphans have minimal but adequate development. Personalities and

dynamics are established quickly and this is another factor that supports the movies pacing and keeps it very consistent and smooth. As for horror tropes which is obviously one of the most important things in a horror movie, Annabelle creation uses the normal tricks, tropes and suspense but uses it well. It's something you have seen before but isn't boring to watch again. One thing I really liked about the movie is that it brings back scarecrows! Horror movies haven't used scarecrows for so long and its great to see the creepy fellas back in action. As much as CGI improves and horror movies try to change, a scarecrow in a barn that subtly moves as a character looks away and then looks back will ever get old!

The ending of the movie is the typical high intensity, scare after scare, sequence where the evil is let lose and basically tries to kill everyone. The scene is good and probably beats out most of the other recent horror movie end sequences. The movie is smaller in scale than its Conjuring siblings but does well to present the horror or evil as being formidable. The movie does well to sprinkle in some cool new elements amongst the horror where unorthodox camera angles are used or the scenes go further with the evil than you may expect them to. The movie also does very well to keep the feeling of an evil presence around even during the cool down scenes. Some horror movies often have a damaged final result due to killing the scare or horror completely in these cool down scenes, so Annabelle creation does well to avoid this common mistake.

"He's right behind me ins't he?"

**SPOILER ALERT, skip to next paragraph to avoid!!!** Annabelle creation does a great job of

linking itself to the other movies in the series. The most obvious reference is clearly the doll itself which was first seen in The Conjuring. One of the more interesting links comes at the end of the movie which shows Janice, who was possessed by the demon being sent into care where she has assumed the identity of Annabelle and is taken in by a family. The scene shows her grow up and 12 years later attack and kill her family. This may seem like nothing but the scene quickly moves to show a neighbour being woken buy the noise. This neighbour is Mia, the main character of the first Annabelle movie. This ending connects the two movies in a very cool way. The most awesome reference is actually an easter egg for a future spin off. The Conjuring 2 showed a hella creepy character known as Valek or more simply, 'The Nun'. You remember that creepy blue face nun thingy that scared the hell out of you in The Conjuring 2? Well it turns out the nun in Annabelle creation has had a past experience with it. This along with an after, after, credits scene goes hand in hand with a recent announcement that the nun is getting its own spinoff! Im so ready for that. I wonder what will come next in the series; The Conjuring 3, Annabelle 3, or The Nun? We'll have to wait and see.

Ok so i'm pretty sure the kind of horror movie where you can't sleep after watching it (The exorcist for example) is dead and gone away. So don't go into watching Annabelle creation thinking it will be the scariest thing you have seen for a long while. It's not. It is however, above the general standard of horror movies. The concept won't blow you away at all because it's been done so many times before and the movie follows a slightly inclined path of enjoyment that doesn't really reach any heights that will make it memorable. When it comes to making horror movies these days, you can only beat what is in front of you. Most new horror movies have the same plots and use the same tricks to scare us. Annabelle does the same but does it a little better. The focus on multiple children has already been used in the first Conjuring movie so although it seems they re-used it to create familiarity or consistency, it appeared to be a little stale and presented itself as nothing new.

The conjuring series is arguably the best current horror series with Insidious just behind. Annabelle creation is good. It is a smaller movie than The Conjuring so it's almost expected to not be as good. But with that being said, Sandberg does well to follow on well from James Wan's conjuring series and does a hell of a lot better than the team responsible for the first Annabelle. It's a smaller movie that keeps the evil presence at large and succeeds in keeping said evil formidable and frightening. The jump scares are nothing new but work well due to the use of new camera angles and classic scenes with dimming lights done in smarter ways than usual. The acting is actually pretty good! This is no surprise and is in line with the rest of The Conjuring series. This is one of the factors that tends to place the series above it's competitors. No movie in the Conjuring series has managed to top the first and Annabelle creation is no different. It makes a good attempt and will draw in interest for another possible movie but is unlikely to be remembered. With this being said, Annabelle creation get a Blog of Steel horror rating of 7/10. Seems too high of a rating I know, but I have rated this movie on a specific horror scale. This movie won't compete with the best movies of the year but will compete with best horrors of the year.

I hope you enjoyed my review and it has helped you decide whether or not you will watch Annabelle creation. If you have already seen it or are planning to, let me know what your thoughts are by commenting below. Click that follow button on the top right of the page and subscribe by email just below if you haven't already. You can also tweet me @Akash_Sond if you have a request for me to write about something in particular. Give me a follow on instagram as well @Cashman_97. The last few blog posts have gotten higher views than ever before and each week it keeps growing so be part of that movement and share this blog post with anyone who you think may enjoy reading it! Thanks for reading and I'll be back with another post soon!