Movie Review: Annabelle (English)
Paranormal horror films these days have more or less become a whole bunch of cinematic clichés - creaking doors slam shut, machines start on their own, shadowy apparitions lurk in the dark, elevators take you nowhere and whatnot. They are overused, yet they are the most easiest tropes to "conjure" for packing in decent scares in movies of this kind.
Last year's surprise haunted-house horror hit The Conjuring did the same, but very effectively thanks to its atmospherics, truly terrifying performances and expertly staged jump scares, including a creepy evil doll that peeped in and out for your unnerving pleasure. This ghastly plaything is the focus of Annabelle - both a prequel and a spin-off to the Conjuring - directed by John R. Leonetti.
Starting with the same opening scene as The Conjuring, the film explores how the doll came about to be possessed and landed in the hands of the two young nurses (one of the parallel sub-plots in the Conjuring). Early in the film, a husband surprises his pregnant wife, the protagonists, with a rare doll to add to her bizarre collection. Why on earth would anyone accept such a hideous and spooky gift is something that you will have to live with as you are sucked into this sufficiently thrilling horror fest.
The scares have a calculated appeal to them and you can see them coming a mile away, but they unfailingly elicit the jolts and scares to put your nerves on edge and send your pulse racing. Leonetti, who was also The Conjuring's cinematographer, sets the scenes quite well (that elevator scene sent me into hysterics, I will admit!), and despite the largely wooden performances and the next-to-nothing plot (particularly the underwhelming melodramatic climax), Annabelle delivers enough scares to kick-start your 2014 Halloween season.
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| Annabelle |
Starting with the same opening scene as The Conjuring, the film explores how the doll came about to be possessed and landed in the hands of the two young nurses (one of the parallel sub-plots in the Conjuring). Early in the film, a husband surprises his pregnant wife, the protagonists, with a rare doll to add to her bizarre collection. Why on earth would anyone accept such a hideous and spooky gift is something that you will have to live with as you are sucked into this sufficiently thrilling horror fest.
The scares have a calculated appeal to them and you can see them coming a mile away, but they unfailingly elicit the jolts and scares to put your nerves on edge and send your pulse racing. Leonetti, who was also The Conjuring's cinematographer, sets the scenes quite well (that elevator scene sent me into hysterics, I will admit!), and despite the largely wooden performances and the next-to-nothing plot (particularly the underwhelming melodramatic climax), Annabelle delivers enough scares to kick-start your 2014 Halloween season.
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