In James Wan's 2013 horror hit ‘The
Conjuring,’ there was this creepy looking antique wooden doll with a rictus grin that’s
decidedly unsettling in the collection of that movie’s paranormal
investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren. The
doll was purportedly possessed, according to the testimony of
her former owners. In the spin-off
'Annabelle,' we get the history behind this unique item in the Warrens'
cabinet of curiosities.
Set in year 1969, the story of 'Annabelle' centers around the lovely young couple of John and Mia Gordon. John is a young doctor-in-training and his
pretty young wife is pregnant with their first baby. John gave 'Annabelle' to a surprised Mia as a
gift, since Mia has been unsuccessfully looking for this rare doll and had all
but given up on it. As decent,
church-going Catholics, God only knows why Mia wanted it. But no matter, how else are we supposed to
have a movie, right? As you might
expect, strange occurrences started happening to the Gordons, like the stove
and sewing machine
turning on inexplicably by themselves as if these inanimate objects have minds of
their own, or some neighbor kids drawing 'flip book' pictures of their baby's stroller getting run over by a truck. Are these supposed to be scary?
The problem with 'Annabelle' is
that, by the time we learn that the doll is possessed by the demonic spirit (big
surprise) of a 'Helter Skelter' cult member who attacked and killed her parents in one of the movie's earlier scenes, the movie had long lost
its momentum. Really, 'Annabelle' would
have been much scarier had she shuffled around à la Chucky with a knife in her hand.
Grade: C
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