I Watch Films: Annabelle: Creation

Annabelle: Creation is the prequel to Annabelle, which is a prequel to The Conjuring, neither of which I've seen. A doll-maker’s daughter is killed, and later he and his now-disabled wife offer their house as an orphanage for six girls and a nun. It turns out that the last doll made, on the morning the daughter was killed, is now haunted.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I might. Which is not to say that it’s effective; it is. It’s a combination of things I think. The possessing entity deliberately targets the youngest and most vulnerable girl first, which makes sense but makes me uneasy. Meanwhile there’s some interesting bits that are used and then discarded, rather than adding towards a theme or resolution. For example the daughter played a hide and seek game with notes, and does it again when the orphans arrive; having got one girl into the forbidden room that idea is just dropped. The girl confesses her sin to the nun, and then having been possessed introduces herself by saying “Forgive me sister, I have sinned.” But sin isn’t really the theme here. If the parents have a sin it’s excessive grief, or maybe necromancy, and that doesn’t fit with the curse that is laid upon them.

Maybe this would work better if I saw the other films in the series? Anyway, I’m being quite picky over what is otherwise a pretty good haunted doll film.

Watch This: For haunted doll horror
Don’t Watch This: For a nice, pleasant evening’s entertainment