REVIEW: ANNABELLE

Last year, one of my favourite films was The Conjuring, directed by Malaysian-born James Wan. The film tells the tale of a pair of husband and wife paranormal investigators who helps a family from being tormented by evil spirits and demons. The investigators came to prominence worldwide after helping in a case involving a doll possessed by an evil spirit. The doll became a supporting story to The Conjuring and served as an introduction to the characters in the film. You can read my review by clicking here. One year later today, a movie is released about the doll and serves as some sort of ‘prequel’ to The Conjuring.

The title of the film is Annabelle, which is the name of the doll. It is directed by John R. Leonetti who is a Director of Photography (DOP) and was a frequent collaborator of James Wan’s films. The film stars Annabelle Wallis (yes, it is the real name of the actress and a pure coincidence to the film’s title), Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, and Alfre Woodard. The film is written by Gary Dauberman and James Wan serves as one of the producers.

How will this spin-off fare against The Conjuring? Will be as horrifying? Do read on…

Annabelle the Doll

SYNOPSIS:

In a seemingly suburban neighborhood in the 1950s, a couple is awoken to the sounds of a possible violent disturbance. As the couple fights off the intruders, the pregnant wife is accidentally injured but still survived. While fending off the criminals, the wife Mia notices one of her attackers carrying the Annabelle doll belonging to Mia. The attacker is later learned to be a Satan worshiper. After the incident, strange occurrences begin to happen. Both Mia and her husband John moved into another house with their newborn daughter but the occurrences keep happening. Eventually, Mia attempts to investigate what is going on in her house.

SCRIPT:  

Very weak and uninteresting. The film started very promising but it only lasted for 10 minutes. After that, the direction of the film was very messy. It tries to explain the plot too much where the audience can actually figure it out. For a film that is marketed and known to many as a horror film, it lacked the most important essence… scare factor. The film became more of a drama than a horror film. Terrible built up and bad ending.

ACTING:

I understand to producer’s decision to cast newcomers to the lead roles (to make the film seem ‘fresh’ for audience) but the choice of casting was pretty bad. Ward Horton in the lead role of John was too boring. Wallis did show some promise earlier in the film but slowly her appeal. I think they are good actors but had very bad direction.

FILMING:

For a film that is set in the 1950s, I praise the set design. But that is just about it. The editing was not as exciting as I would expect in a horror film. Even the sound effects failed to scare me (well, maybe just that one moment). There was nothing too fancy with the cinematography and looked like a low-budget film, in which it was.

PACING:

Good start and then downhill all the way. Draggy in the middle and anti-climactic towards the end.

TONE (MOOD):

Evil constantly torments a couple and their newborn baby, and it is up to them to solve the mysteries behind these mischievous souls.

OVERALL:

If you are a fan of The Conjuring, maybe you should watch it.

If you are a fan of horror films, please skip it.

If you are a fan of films in general, it is a must skip.

Horrible!

RATING:

2.5 out of 10