Annabelle Creation Review

-

It’s hard to find a good horror movie. It should have a decent storyline and it should be a hair-raising experience to watch. If the story is not convincing, it fails. If it’s not scary enough, it is demoted to a mystery movie. Annabelle Creation has both, a convincing story and the scare factor.

Annabelle Creation, as the name suggests, explains the origins of the evil doll. The doll maker, Samuel Mullins, suffers a terrible tragedy that results in a demonic possession of the doll. A group of orphaned girls and a nun come to stay at the Mullins’ house. Janice, played by Talitha Bateman and Linda, played by Lulu Wilson, are steadfast friends who are the first to interact with the demonic presence. As the story unfolds, the presence gains power, until it’s too late.

There are some minor observations that rankle. Why is the haunted house always so big and dimly lit? If I lived in such a house, I would make it a point to put up as many lights as I could and keep bottles of holy water all over the place. Why would you choose to live with an evil doll as if it’s nothing but a doll, even after being at the receiving end of its implacable wrath? In addition, how are the people living in such a house unafraid to the point of being foolish? Why would you poke your nose in a room that is showing obvious signs of being haunted? Then again, I suppose if you didn’t, there wouldn’t be a horror movie. However, some of the foolhardy decisions of the characters are exasperating. Just observe Janice in Annabelle Creation and you’ll know what I mean.

Annabelle Creation has all the elements of a good horror movie- a huge dark house in which the story plays out; characters who disregard sensible thinking and exacerbate an already alarming supernatural problem; a possessed doll that delights in tormenting and harming the people it comes in contact with. The sequel of this movie, Annabelle (2014), which was released after The Conjuring, was disappointing. In this movie, the doll harasses a young married couple and tries to possess their baby. The story was uninteresting and the development of the characters was crude. The protagonist, played by Annabelle Wallis, lacked personality; also, Wallis’ deadpan face did not help. Yeah you read it right, the name of the actor is Annabelle. I’m not sure how she felt about sharing her name with a demonic doll.

If you follow the story of Annabelle, you’ll see that the 2014 movie is technically Creation’s sequel. In which case, Annabelle Creation upholds the old adage. The sequel is almost never as good as the original. The 2014 movie is also the sequel of The Conjuring, which is an infinitely better horror movie than either Annabelle or Annabelle Creation. So, there you go- sequels hardly ever live up to the originals.

Annabelle Creation may not be as good as The Conjuring or Insidious, but it succeeds in giving a hair-raising experience. If you enjoy horror movies, you should watch it. God knows, there isn’t much out there for horror fans.

Rating- 3.5/5

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Piku Review

-
Image
Piku is a heart-warming movie about the parent-child relationship. Deepika, who plays Piku, does not waltz in with her hair streaming behind her and music playing mysteriously in the background. The movie starts with just another day in the life of a working woman who looks after her aging father. The actors portray the characters beautifully and you easily slip into the story. Throughout the movie we notice small things like the family sitting down and eating together, talking about inconsequential things; the problems with the maid (a situation that we are only too familiar with, eh?); the minor tiffs in the family. Bhaskhor and Piku even discuss his daily bowel movements and the products therefrom matter-of-factly at meal times. Bhashkhor, played by Amitabh Bacchan, is a neurotic and overprotective father who, in his attempts to protect his daughter (Piku) at all times, ends up causing her embarrassment at her workplace and at family get-togethers. However, his charact...
Read more

IT Review

-
Image
The movie IT is a partly scary and partly funny thriller. Now, I know that the combination of fear and humour is a paradox; I mean, isn’t comedy the antithesis of horror? One need only refer to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, to know how a good laugh can wipe out all vestiges of a frightful scare (hint: riddikulus!)  Much to my surprise, I found the horror-comedy of IT quite enjoyable. I wasn’t really expecting to laugh while watching a horror movie. I always thought you only laughed when the film was terrible, like Drag Me to Hell. However, as I watched that fearsome clown in action, there were moments when I looked nervously through squinted eyes and other moments, when the movie coaxed a laugh out of me. Richie, played by Finn Wolfhard, elicited intermittent bursts of laughter from the audience. Pennywise a.k.a. IT, played by Bill Skarsgard, made them gasp in fear. There were scenes of tense silence interspersed with moments of hilarity. The light humour, soot...
Read more

Logan Review

-
Image
It’s telling that the latest wolverine movie is called Logan. It has almost all the characteristics of a classic superhero movie, but it’s so much more. When I sat down to watch the movie, I was ready for action, drama and superhero awesomeness. I was not prepared for depth, maturity and eloquence. It’s a shock to see Logan looking old and weary, it’s painful to see Professor X so incapacitated. It’s difficult to shake off the image of their prior strength, grandeur and invincibility. They hurt in this movie, they feel too tired and old to fight, and yet they do. In this movie, their power comes, not from their mutation, but from their strength of character. In this movie, you see how the superhero suffers and struggles with himself. No matter how powerful they are, how much they have done for humanity and how many bad guys they have put down, life is no bed of roses for them. They hurt, they bleed, they grow weak, but they don’t stop fighting. They do the best they can and liv...
Read more