Sunday, July 25, 2021

Delayed Reaction: Annabelle: Creation

Premise: That disturbing doll had to come from someone.

 


I remember when the first Conjuring movie came out reading a review that was very excited about that room with all the objects the Warrens had collected over the years. The reviewer (Drew McWeeny, I believe) liked the idea of all the different stories they could tell with the items in that room. I believe the idea at the time was that it was a natural way to franchise the Warrens. Where most horror sequels are forced to find excuses to keep making the same movie, The Conjuring set itself up with a natural excuse to explore different kinds of stories.

 

The premonition did come true. I doubt this is what he was imagining though. The Conjuring has become a franchise that's 8 movies deep now. Annabelle has three movies. The Warrens just investigated another haunted house in The Conjuring 2 and have moved to a demonic possession in The Devil Made Me Do It. The other spin-offs have been for the creepy Nun and the loosely connected Curse of La Llorona. No more origins of other creepy objects in the artifact room. I don't even think they've added anything to the room*. It sure feels like the Conjuring Universe is wasting a good resource.

 

*I wrote this before The Devil Made Me Do It came out. I can confirm they added to the room in that movie at least.

 

I have little to say about Annabelle: Creation. The first Annabelle left little impression on me. I don't think the haunted doll is as dynamic as the Conjuring producers seem too. Creation is big on manufactured jump scares and transparently creepy production design. It's a decent date night horror thriller, I suppose. It could be fun with an over-reactive audience. It's pretty forgettable though.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend

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