Review - Annabelle: Creation

Annabelle: Creation is the latest film in what is becoming The Conjuring Cinematic Universe. Director David F. Sandberg brings his gimmick-based horror stylings to the franchise after last year's Lights Out. Full of scare-laden set pieces Annabelle: Creation manages to greatly approve upon the previous outing featuring a possessed doll, but is it enough to make a good horror movie?

The film opens with a montage of Annabelle being built by dollmaker Samuel(Anthony LaPaglia) for his young daughter Bee. In a terrible car accident, Bee is killed. Years later, Samuel and his wife Esther (Miranda Otto) open their home up to a nun and her six charges from a recently shut down orphanage. 

Screenwriter Gary Dauberman does a nice job giving each girl some time to define their personalities. This makes for an ensemble of actresses that we begin to care about. The issue arises with what drives the film's narrative. It becomes increasingly clear as the movie churns along that there is no real main character to the film or a compelling story to tell. Annabelle: Creation is built around flashy, scary moments and little else matters.

Speaking of those scares, Sandberg has proven he can create visually clever moments that elicit screams and jumps from an audience. Lights Out managed this while also never feeling like it was telling a story it cared about. Sandberg routinely bases each scare around a gimmick such as a fishing rod toy gun, a record player that plays old-timey music, and a bell. These moments generate the desired effect and it is clear that Sandberg is a horror fan who wants to scare his audiences. However, he also seems disinterested in what moves the film in between these set pieces. The character of Samuel is fascinating and Anthony LaPaglia is a talented actor and yet nothing is done with him. 

In the end, the film will satisfy more than not. It delivers the jolts and screams that Friday night audiences will eat up. There is a nagging sense that the film only exists for this reason rather than to compliment the scare gimmicks with a compelling narrative. With no main character and no driving force behind the story, Annabelle: Creation is unmemorable and uninteresting. Sandberg has talents for clever scares, now the trick is tell a story. 

2.5/5