'Annabelle' is the prequel to 'The Conjuring' and shows the events of how the infamous demon doll became the property of Ed and Lorraine Warren..and it's brought to us from the director of 'Wish Upon', 'Mortal Kombat 2', and 'Butterfly Effect 2'...yeah this movie is going to be painful. Honestly, I can see from director James Wan's choice of John R. Leonetti as he is a wonderful cinematographer. However, being talented in one field does not make you so in others and after seeing the above films and this one, you'd likely be inclined to agree.
In all honesty, I don't think anyone was asking for a film based upon the Annabelle doll. Yes, 'The Conjuring' was a very enjoyable film and one of the best of the genre but the doll was so secondary in that film. Placing an entire 90 minutes upon the shoulders of what began as a subplot in a much superior film is just asking for a disaster. That's not to say it doesn't have some positives to it, such as the cinematography is better than other horror films of the modern age. It doesn't rely on that puke green florescent color scheme that began with 2004's 'SAW'. It's all well lit and has the appropriate spooky atmosphere to it, but even the best looking film is nothing without substance behind it or appropriate tension and buildup.
95% of 'Annabelle' consists of jump scares, which is the laziest way to scare your audience and is generally frowned upon by every horror fan. It's not a real scare as it's just a loud noise that you will instinctively jump at and feel foolish afterwords. That is not the same as genuine dread or fear, as I don't look behind me while walking home at night after seeing a jump scare in a movie. It's actually quite astounding to see something genuinely frightening like 'The Conjuring' spin off into something so bland and generic for the genre. The film's screenplay also sadly suffers from other tropes of horror, such as characters doing stupid things for no explained reason and just the basic idea of why on earth would a couple reasonably have a doll like this for their infant child? If the doll wasn't so overly designed to look evil and kept something closer to its real life counterpart, then maybe this wouldn't feel so out of place and in general I think this would come off as scary much more.
In the end, 'Annabelle' is just another horror movie from the 2010's. It's really bad yes, but it's also completely forgettable once you leave the theater so overall it's rather harmless but this is a problem in of itself. We shouldn't just accept it as a product of its time because no matter the material, it should have some sign that the people behind it gave a crap about it in some way other than a payday. Even TROMA makes efforts when they put out their trashy films but with 'Annabelle' you just feel that no one really cared about it being a decent film. If you really still wish to take a chance on it, may I counter offer with the various paranormal documentaries about the subject or simply watch 'The Conjuring' and its sequel again.
( D- )
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