Cinematic universes aren’t a new thing in any way, from George Lucas’s Star Wars universe to the beginning of it all in the Star Trek universe. There have consistently been franchises that take and give characters back and forth and combine their stories.
However, one of the most unusual universes that were ever created was James Wan’s Conjuring Universe, which is now known as the Annabelle Universe. Annabelle was a possessed doll that was featured in the original Conjuring film, and the second one along with its own series of films later on.
So, the Conjuring films being the standout horror series of the 2010s, how tall did Annabelle stand up in comparison? Let’s find out!
How to Stream or Download Annabelle
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The Movie Review
Annabelle follows the story of a couple who has just moved into a brand new house just like any other typical horror film. In this house, they’re living quite peacefully as the wife’s pregnancy starts to blossom, the husband even brings her a vintage doll from olden times, and she accepts the gift heartily.
However, one night they are attacked by a group of cultists and luckily make it out alive through this incident. However, one of the cultists manages to invoke something within the vintage doll that gets carried into their lives even after the event.
The demonically possessed doll now haunts the couple and their newborn baby as they figure out ways to survive in this nightmarish life.
Now, before I get too deep into reviewing the film I must say, this is a POORLY directed movie. Probably the worst decision that the studio ever made was to incorporate an origin story to the popular doll figure from the Conjuring films.
They didn’t stop here either, they went onto create a film that showcased the actual origins of the doll before the incidents of this film.
There’s the over expository dialogue, the slow door creaks, the typical priest saving the day, the usual husband dying, and the spooky doll that’s always in every horror film is literally the main attraction. There is literally no uniqueness to Annabelle, it’s a bland film from the get-go.
I will say this about the movie though, it does have a talented lead actress. Annabelle Wallis plays the main role here of Mia, while the rest of the cast members just kinda walk around doing nothing out saying random dialogue that tells you “this is a scary movie, be scared.”
The husband John Form is played by Ward Horton, and he does a moderately decent job too. I blame director Leonetti for not pushing his actors into acting better but when the script is this uneventful, who’d want to?
What makes everything even worse here is the awful production design. From terrible cinematography to boring and bland set design and even a pretty useless lighting design, there’s nothing that would save this movie from itself. The best thing that this movie does have is its really decent horror soundtrack. I will say that it isn’t the best one I’ve ever heard, it’s not quite good!
The Bottom Line
So in Conclusion, Annabelle is one of the most pointless horror films to come out of the 2010s. It’s a film that never asked to be made, and shouldn’t have been made at all either. There’s absolutely no creativity here in this movie, it’s colorless, and the actors feel genuinely bored of the script they’re acting in along with some super bad production values. Overall, the film’s budget should’ve gone to creating something more unique.
