Director David F. Sandberg
Genre Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Cast Stephanie Sigman, Miranda Otto, Lulu Wilson, Javier Botet
Rating R
Release Date August 11th, 2017
“Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle.”
Annabelle: Creation is the follow-up to the underachieving 2014 horror film Annabelle, an extension of The Conjuring, which was inspired by the paranormal investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Annabelle: Creation brings back the original writer Gary Dauberman, but they make a change with the director and bring in David F. Sandberg, the man who had his feature film debut recently with the successful horror film Lights Out, an idea based on a short film he also directed. The cast includes Stephanie Sigman, Miranda Otto, Lulu Wilson, and Javier Bote.
A vast improvement over its predecessor, Annabelle: Creation benefits from a talented director and some creative storytelling, but seasoned horror fans will be left wanting more. I was a huge fan of The Conjuring and I felt that the sequel was decent, but definitely paled in comparison to the original. The first Annabelle film, released after The Conjuring, was the first extension of what is now known as the "Conjuring Universe", but unfortunately it fell a bit flat for most critics and viewers, myself included. Annabelle: Creation starts from scratch and essentially serves as a prequel to the first film. So what did I think of the movie? It might be easier for me to break it down in a pros and cons format. First let me start with the pros, this is a crafty horror film utilizing some old school techniques to scare the audience. Director David F. Sandberg has an eye for horror, and he invests a great deal of effort in making sure that this is a film he could, and should, be proud of. Annabelle: Creation is half slow burn horror, and half creepy encounters mixed with jump scares, and everything works for the most part. You will feel very uneasy often, and will find yourself constantly scanning the screen for something that you know will be appearing very soon. That leads me to the cons, and I know this will sound like I didn't enjoy the movie even though I did, but at the end of the day Annabelle: Creation really isn't all that scary, at least to me anyway. It felt like the majority of the jump scares were set up in advance so that you knew something was coming, and to me that drastically impacts the effect of well-timed jump scares. Now, I am admittedly difficult to scare, and the last time I felt genuinely scared at the theater was during the first Paranormal Activity movie. I didn't know what to expect, and it honestly gave me chills and sent me home wondering if I would be able to get to sleep that night. Now THAT is the impact a horror movie is supposed to have on viewers. I had a sense of similar feelings during It Follows and The Witch as well. Annabelle: Creation was very creepy and dark, but it was just missing that something extra. I also felt like they really didn't do much with the R rating either, making me think that perhaps it was a marketing ploy to make viewers think the film pushes the limits more than it actually does.
The cast for Annabelle: Creation is a bit on the younger side with Talitha Bateman and Lulu Wilson getting the bulk of the screen time. Lulu Wilson made quite an impression on me with her stellar performance in Ouiji: Origin of Evil, and her acting talents transitioned well to this role. She is an extremely talented young actress and is certainly one to watch. I'm not nearly as familiar with Talitha Bateman, who has played in a few less than great B movies, but Annabelle: Creation gave her an opportunity to shine and she took full advantage of it. I think she has a bright future ahead of her. I honestly felt like the rest of the cast was solid and benefited from some great direction, but nobody else really stood out as providing as much value as these two young actresses.
As I mentioned already, Annabelle: Creation is far superior to the first film, and the admittedly unsettling and genuinely creepy doll makes quite an impact. David F. Sandberg should be pleased with his first foray into the world of The Conjuring, and I still consider him to be one of the better up and coming horror directors. I just wish that Annabelle: Creation was a bit edgier, similar to his first feature film Lights Out, but considering that was a feature length adaptation of a short film he did, my guess is he didn't have quite the same creative freedoms he was afforded during that project. Sandberg also sets things up for not only the potential for another Annabelle, but he also sneaks in a very cool tease for another upcoming film in the “Conjuring Universe”. Annabelle: Creation isn't as scary as I hoped it would be, but this is still a high quality horror film that genre enthusiasts need to experience for themselves.
