With: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Wooodard
Earlier this year, 'Annabelle', the doll character from the film The Conjuring made it to my top favorite movie characters of 2013. By that time, it never occurred to me that she will have her own spinoff, just because she's, well, merely a doll. But it didn't take long for the news to come out that she's indeed going to have a movie of her own. What a powerful dollvil!
I always thought that 'Annabelle' isn't that creepy looking. In fact, I thought her exterior is kind of funny, but the thought that there's something sinister going on with that doll to me is what makes her, or should I say 'it', creepy. I would be lying if I say that Annabelle didn't scare the hell out of me.
It did. From beginning to end.
But it's biggest problem would have to be its slight story. The Conjuring was successful because it boasted from jump-out-of-the-seat scares, complex stories and top notch casting. It was a complete package. They even brought back one of the horror stars Lili Taylor. Annabelle is like the opposite except it still delivered the scares. But its cast was a little lackluster (although I really liked the blonde Tina Fey), and there's nothing complex about its story, very basic and something that has been done and seen before. In fact, I think it utilized the horror formula too much -- a basic family story, something sinister happened, some random character/s help them from solving the mystery, one's going to die, and finally the main characters defeat the 'protagonistic villain'. Thanks to its frightening nature, I think it's still value for money.
At the end of the day, you watch horror films for the scares so Annabelle is pretty much a successful film in that case. But if you're one moviegoer who also watches horror to learn something new, or find any interesting story, Annabelle has nothing to offer that The Conjuring hasn't already explored.
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