Annabelle: Creation - Movie Review
We all knew Annabelle was going to return to theaters one of these days. Is she back with a vengeance? (and a good film?) Here's my take on ANNABELLE: CREATION.
Annabelle: Creation is directed by David Sandberg and is the prequel to the prequel of the 2014 horror bomb of the same name that spun off from The Conjuring series. Yes, you read that all correctly.
In the 1950's, Sister Charlotte and several orphan girls are welcomed into the home of dollmaker, Samuel and his wife, Esther. Upon learning of the married couple's deceased daughter, Samuel's possessed creation, "Annabelle" begins to terrorize the girls and the house itself.
Originally, I shook my head at the thought of another Annabelle movie since the first installment was incredibly underwhelming. However, with the competent director of Lights Out at the helm, this film couldn't get any worse than its predecessor.
The eerie atmosphere is much more prevalent this time around in Creation. Naturally, the Annabelle doll is still as creepy as ever, but the real praise of the improved environment goes to the director.
David Sandberg expertly directed unique and effective scares throughout the story. From sequence to sequence, the chilling cinematography helps the setting become an old-fashioned spook house and done right.
Creation is also backed by a solid round up of performances, despite their thinly written characters. In particular and ironically, Lulu Wilson from last year's Ouija: Origin of Evil, carries a lot of the emotional beats in her role throughout this demonic haunting.
While the overall story does seem formulaic, the screenplay is solely concerned with being a fun, summer scarefest. This is arguably a pro and con simultaneously. As alluded to before, these are thinly written characters with minimal depth. Thus, the stakes feel almost non-existent when terrible things begin to happen to these characters.
Final Take
In the long run, Annabelle: Creation will fall into the very small catalog of good horror movie sequels. David Sandberg was able to craft a fun, haunted scarefest that revolved around a creepy doll that originally didn't do anything. Despite the characters simply going through the motions at times, Creation is still an impressive horror flick in its own right.
I'm going to give Annabelle: Creation a "B-" on the movie grading scale. Granted, the first Annabelle film wasn't much competition to begin with, but nonetheless, we need to support more good horror movies like these. They're a dime a dozen.
As always, thanks so much for reading and make sure to stay posted to Frank’s Takes for more reviews. Until next time, keep it 100.
