Annabelle: Creation (2017) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

I don’t think anyone was counting on improvement for Annabelle to be a horror icon when its spinoff became bland following the doll’s debut in The Conjuring. Little did we think a prequel would fix this issue.


PLOT


2017’s Annabelle: Creation takes place in 1955, long before the doll became in possession of the Warrens or the Forms. For the past 12 years, doll maker Samuel Mullins and his wife Esther have been grieving the loss of their daughter Annabelle aka Bee (Samara Lee), who was struck by a car on accident. They now open their home to provide shelter for Sister Charlotte and six girls left homeless after the closing of an orphanage. The girls’ names are: Linda, Janice, Carol (Grace Caroline Curray), Nancy (Phillipa Coulthard), Kate (Taylor Buck), & Tierney (Lou Lou Safran). On the first night, Janice who suffers from polio, breaks the rule of roaming Bee’s locked bedroom after finding a note saying ‘Find me’. In the room, she finds the porcelain doll Samuel made for his daughter but opening the closet releases a powerful demon. Janice confesses of what she saw to Charlotte, but she disregards the doll and insists on her to avoid breaking other rules. Only after this does the demon start haunting the girls. By the next night does it start taking Bee’s form and claims it wants Janice’s soul. The child does try escaping via stairlift, but it hurls her to the ground so severe that she becomes wheelchair bound, remaining confined on the first floor. With her new predicament, the demon then targets Linda isolated upstairs. The day after, it lures Janice into the barn and successfully possesses her after vomiting black bile into her mouth. When Linda picks up on her change of behavior, she ends up telling Samuel about finding the doll. When he believes her and tries to take immediate action, it immediately kills him. Linda and Charlotte go missing when trapping it in the well, but it causes Janice to go missing. The nun confronts Esther of it who admits they prayed for her daughter to come back, unintentionally inviting the demon. But she didn’t realize what a mistake it was until it gouged her left eye, thus locking the doll in the closet and having priests bless it at the time. Realizing the kids living in the house gives the chance for it to have a host, the possessed Janice attacks the girls before killing Esther and targeting Linda. It would try trapping her in Bee’s room until Charlotte intervenes and traps Janice instead. The morning after, she and the girls would be picked up by the police and relocate to a new orphanage. Although the doll would be taken in as evidence, Janice remains possessed and she escapes the house before being found and relocated to a whole other orphanage in Santa Monica that the girls didn’t go to. This is where she would be adopted by Pete & Sharon Higgins, officially taking Annabelle’s name for herself. The film ends with a time jump tying into the events of the preceding film in ‘67 where she and her cult partner murders the couple, which wakes up the Forms next door.


THOUGHTS


In one case, a prequel to a spinoff would sound like a waste of time because it could’ve started there to keep audiences tightly onboard. Surprisingly, Director David F Sandberg and writer Gary Dauberman proved there’s always time for improvement and gave validation on how good this platform of storytelling can be. The jumpscares are best executed here in the term of these franchise’s spinoffs because whether it was a scarecrow in action or actually seeing a demon’s face on a child’s body, I was sold on being terrified. Heck, I even got scared of dumbwaiters and stairlifts again. What I respect a lot about this entry is that there wasn’t a legit happy ending since one main character doesn’t overcome the odds this time. That decision successfully gets the message across in what happens when the ambition of good intentions goes unchecked, which’ll make a setback in confronting contagious evil. The fact a child is the victim in this case proves not everyone is lucky in these cases and I respect it going there. And in another case, the fact the demon found its way back to the same modeled doll as it ties in to the predecessor reflects how history is bound to repeat itself. Arguably, this is the best cast in spinoff terms because even though you know where it’s going for, you can’t help it root for them since they’re walking into something they never intended to. While the four teen girls remain clueless of what they’re into until the tension picks up, you don’t have animosity for them since they’re all just making the best of their situation hoping for a better tomorrow, as in find new families that’ll love them dearly. To me, the dynamic of Janice & Linda are the highlight of the movie as they have empathy for each other, knowing how much they long for the connection that’ll lead to adoption. Talitha Bateman showed the former to be the most yearning since she jinxed how much a vulnerable burden she was in her condition before being possessed. But for Lulu Wilson, she shows the latter to be most perceptive because before the terror kicked in, she always looked past that part of her. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to save her friend. They may have not had parents at this point of their lives, yet it’s a relief there were still people willing to give their hearts out when most needed. Stephanie Sigman was indeed the finest example as Sister Charlotte because her faith is drove her to take it to the limit in protecting all the kids, despite not defeating the evil for good. Anthony LaPaglia & Miranda Otto then do a great job portraying the Mullinses as a couple who lost their way with all the grief they were coping with and their attempt to reconnect with the past blew up exponentially. The former accurately depicted Samuel as the gruff who didn’t know how to let his guard down to connect with the kids, while the latter portrays Esther as the most withdrawn that she stays bedridden in shame of what she did. You could argue them being killed puts them out of misery, but I would say that don’t make it any better. And even though the Warrens eventually contain this evil, it’s still a shame it’s one yet to be defeated. This movie is everything we should’ve gotten before, but good stuff like this still have questionable moments to pick up on during a rewatch. For example, why is there a stairlift to begin with? It may be a temporary advantage for Janice to get around the house, but it feels pointless since Esther was never paralyzed or crippled after losing her eye. Heck, Samuel could’ve told the whole group about staying away from Bee’s room rather than single out Janice for tension’s sake. While it’s neat for Charlotte to take a confession from Janice, that’s something only priests can do, so they don’t need to talk back-to-back about what she found. And if you ask me, I don’t think the Mullins’ house would work as an orphanage since it’s in the middle of nowhere. Respectfully, I don’t think any class of family would go out of their way for adoption to travel that far unless they’re a local. Also, how the hell did no one hear Janice scream when she’s pushing into the barn? They were outside as well, so there can’t be an excuse for them especially since Charlotte hears the commotion from inside. On top of that, I feel like Samuel should’ve sealed the doll in the well rather than Bee’s room because he could’ve still blessed it with the priests just like the room. If you can these things however, then you’re still set for a thrilling good time. In short, Annabelle: Creation is the biggest improvement needed for the Conjuring franchise to prove how unconventional horror can be. If you still identify the Conjuring films as top tier intensified filmmaking, this spinoff will impress you as well