Annabelle: Creation (2017) Review

     The Conjuring universe has become one of Hollywood’s most successful horror franchises of all time for three main reasons.  Firstly, the films are in relation to true events surrounding the world famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.  Secondly, producer James Wan is already an established horror producer by producing the Saw franchise.  Thirdly, whereas the Saw franchise consisted of sequels, The Conjuring franchise consists of some sequels but also spin-offs offering more creativity and not just a continuation of the same story.

     Annabelle: Creation is the second spin-off based on the infamous doll and is a prequel.  Ed and Lorraine do not make appearances in the spin-offs as they are origin stories before the doll makes its way to the paranormal investigators.  While the adult actors in this film, such as a doll maker and wife who lost their daughter in a car accident, don’t live up to the performances of the adult acting in The Conjuring films in any manner, the film still has many scares.  All thanks to a high budget from the success of the other films in The Conjuring universe.  Although the first Annabelle movie was rather mediocre, we can tell that the money put into the special effects of this film is what saved the Annabelle story-line.

     The story-line itself, like the first film is still mediocre and VERY loosely based on the actual events of the original story of the Annabelle doll.  According to claims originating from Ed and Lorraine Warren, a student nurse was given a Raggedy Ann doll in 1970, but after the doll behaved strangely, a psychic medium told the student the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a dead girl named Annabelle Higgins who had died in an automobile accident when she was 7.  The actual doll was purchased at a hobby store in 1970 by a mother who gave it to her 28-year-old daughter Donna as a birthday present, who was studying to become a nurse.  Donna was allegedly told by a medium that the spirit of the child had at some point entered the doll, and that the tragic accident that claimed the child's life had happened close to Donna's apartment building…  Supposedly, the student nurse and her roommate first tried to accept and nurture the spirit-possessed doll, but eventually became frightened by the doll's malicious behavior and contacted the Warrens, who removed the doll to their museum after pronouncing it demonically possessed.

     Commenting on publicity for the Warrens' occult museum coinciding with the film release of The Conjuring, science writer Sharon A. Hill said that many of the myths and legends surrounding the Warrens have "seemingly been of their own doing" and that many people may have difficulty "separating the Warrens from their Hollywood portrayal".  Hill criticized sensational press coverage of the Warrens' occult museum and its Annabelle doll.  She said, "Like real-life Ed Warren, real-life Annabelle is actually far less impressive."  Of the supernatural claims made about Annabelle by Ed Warren, Hill said, "We have nothing but Ed’s word for this, and also for the history and origins of the objects in the museum."  So while the film is based on true events, the only true recorded events of this doll are simply just claims with no real substantial documents to prove them.  No mention of a doll creator for the dead girl’s father either…  However it’s a movie and whether the claims are true, that doesn’t mean that we can’t be entertained by this film full of scares.

     In the past I have mentioned that I have not found Wan’s horror characters especially scary such as The Nun & The Crooked Man from The Conjuring 2 and the Black Bride & Demon from the Insidious franchise.  It has always been the atmosphere and story that I have found creepy about the Wan's films because I personally feel that if you show too much of the scary characters that the imagination gets spoiled.  Thus resulting in less of a suspense factor in regards to the revealing and full manifestation of these characters.  However in this film I genuinely got spooked when the ghost of the 7 year old girl went from spooky to demonic claiming that it wanted a little girl’s soul.  Mind you this is the first time watching the film and the more I will likely re-watch it, the less I will be finding that particular part scary.  It was a brilliant jump scare moment for a first viewing however!

     Why is the story-line mediocre?  It seems the plot itself did not have many surprises except for an easy and convenient twist at the end.  A nun and her orphans move into the doll creator’s and his mutilated faced wife’s home as a favour and a way to get over the loss of their child.  One of the girls finds Annabelle in the deceased daughter’s bedroom which she wasn’t supposed to go into and paranormal activity starts to happen.  Something disturbing happens to the handicapped girl who finds Annabelle and she eventually gets targeted by the malicious presence…  I won’t give away how the demonic presence gets attached to the doll, as it’s something that gets revealed later on in the film but it’s just another mediocre part of the story.  However the story-line is still really creepy and possibly just didn't need a thick plot.

     The mediocre story-line is to be expected since it’s a spin-off as the Executive Producers likely want to save the thick plots for the main films in The Conjuring franchise.  Nonetheless, for a spin-off the film’s scares are brilliant!  While an all in all mediocre film would deserve a 2.5 out of 5 rating, I want to give this film a 3.5 out of 5.  Yes it has a mediocre plot, but it’s also a scary as hell thrill ride that ranks a higher scare factor than the main Conjuring films!  I will certainly be watching it again and adding it to my horror collection to watch with friends!

⭐⭐⭐1/2

Sources:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/08/Annabelle_Creation.jpg/220px-Annabelle_Creation.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annabelle_(doll)

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/annabelle-2-creation/

https://fandangogroovers.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/the-conjuring1.jpg

http://www.dreadcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/annabellecreationtrailerbanner.jpg

https://www.thescreamcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/real-anabelle-doll.jpg