Annabelle: Creation Review
We’ve made it to week #4 in my Conjuring review series. Leading up to the release of The Conjuring: Last Rites in September, I’m reviewing every single film in The Conjuring franchise. That means today we’re talking about Annabelle: Creation, the second film in the Annabelle franchise that’s actually a prequel to the 2014 film. Is this film better than the first? Let’s talk about it!
The Good
First things first, to answer the question I just asked “is Annabelle: Creation better than the first?” Yes it is. This is an example of a sequel that surpasses the original by a good bit. It’s not just a small gap, there’s a pretty big gap between Annabelle (2014) and this film. On every single level this is a better produced and directed film. The first film was directed by John R. Leonetti who directed Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and whose directing career is pretty bad. This film was directed by David F. Sandberg whose directing career is much better, he later went on to direct Shazam! With this film, it felt like they listened to the criticisms of Annabelle and really tried to make a better film. What’s more interesting is the screenwriter for the film is Gary Dauberman, who wrote Annabelle (2014). But they got a different director that can elevate things and make a good film out of what easily could’ve been a very mediocre and bland film. That was really the big thing that stood out to me about this film, it’s a big improvement over the original film with how it’s crafted and made. This is what they should’ve released after The Conjuring, not the mediocre slug that is Annabelle (2014).
Another thing you have to talk about with this film is its ability as a prequel. One of the things that was really cool about the film was how it’s able to connect to Annabelle (2014). In some ways, this film makes that film better. That film still isn’t great, it’s still a flawed film. But the way that it acts as a prequel to the film and directly tying into that film. Had they released this film in 2014 and released Annabelle in 2017, I think this franchise would’ve been better received. Because this film provides the context for the main character in the 2014 film. This film explores how one gets corrupted and changed by this Annabelle doll, which obviously is a very big part of the 2014 film. With this film’s sub-title being “Creation” means one thing when you start the film, but means something totally different by the end. We’ve gotten several prequels for the films whether in horror or not and a lot of them haven’t been great. Prequels tend to answer questions we weren’t asking or provide answers that are stupid and hurt the mythology. Annabelle: Creation is an example of a prequel that compliments the original nicely. It expands on the mythology in ways and areas that make sense. I feel like horror prequels and prequels in general should learn from this film to learn how to do a prequel right.
As it is a horror film you have to talk about the horror moments and sequences. Sandberg shows that he knows how to deliver these thrilling and horrifying moments and images. Like several films in the franchise it’s a slow build horror film. You get teases and hints of horror early on, but it doesn’t deliver full on horror and thrills until the third act. You get this constant tension as you know at any moment something scary and horrifying could happen. You’re on the edge of your seat as you don’t want anything bad to happen but you know that at any moment something bad could happen. Once again, there’s moments where kids are in danger and you’re scared because you don’t want a kid to be hurt. The doll of Annabelle is doing all of this crazy stuff that makes you want Annabelle to be defeated much more in this film than in the original. Something that surprised me about this film is there’s a lot of bone breaking and bone cracking sounds. There’s this scene where this little girl is possessed and you hear her bones making sounds they shouldn’t be making. At one point, the father’s fingers snap back as he’s holding a cross. Whenever you hear bones breaking it unsettles you and makes you uncomfortable. There’s some scenes in the film that made me the most uncomfortable in any of these Conjuring films.
From there, this film uses its setting in some very nice ways. Several of these films take a place at this old house. The house in The Conjuring (2013) is very similar to this house. But I think the film adds the layers of it being remote. The characters are at this old house in the middle of nowhere with no easy communication with the outside world. Once the characters get to the house, we’re spending time with them there. I believe the final scene is one of the few scenes that doesn’t take place at this remote location. I feel the creepy location goes back to Sandberg’s direction. If this was just some generic horror director that was hired to get the job done, I think the location would’ve been drab. But since Sandberg is a good director he’s able to make the location work and have it be creepy. There’s a shot of a character standing in front of a dark hallway. But the character is standing to the left of the screen so you’re seeing all of this empty dark space waiting and wondering if something is going to happen and pop out and scare you. With so many of the scares and thrills like that, you can only pull it off in a creepy and unsettling environment.
Finally, as a whole I think this film does the best job of closely matching the tone and vibe of Wan’s Conjuring films. As of the day that I’m writing this, I haven’t any other spin-offs. But I feel they’re going to have a hard time keeping up with Sandberg’s direction and finding a way to create this atmosphere and tone that fits in with what Wan established with The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2. This more so then Annabelle (2014) did a better job of having me believe that spin-offs in this universe could fit inline with those films.
The Bad
While I think Sandberg did a great job of crafting a film that feels like it connects to Wan’s Conjuring films, he’s clearly not on the same level as James Wan as a director or visionary. What Wan was able to do with The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 was create these horrifying films that have moments of levity. There’s moments of humor that come from Vera Ferminga and Patrick Wilson’s chemistry with them playing a married couple. There’s classic songs from the ‘60s that are played throughout the films to add moments of levity while also making you scared and terrified. With Annabelle: Creation it lacks the moments of levity and is just a lot of drab and dark things happening with almost no humor. It’s a humor film, there shouldn't be a lot of humor that undermines the tension. But there should be some humor or some things to add little moments of levity here and there. When a large percentage of your cast is kids who are playing siblings that’s a great way to add levity. Siblings crack jokes and make fun of each other. Once again, it doesn’t need to be a lot. But just a few moments here and there to just break the monotony of constantly just looming in this dark film for 90 minutes. Those are some of the areas in which I think Sandberg's direction lacked to make it a more entertaining and exciting film like Wan’s Conjuring films.
The other thing here is that I felt like the film was borrowing tricks and techniques from past films in this franchise. The plot of The Conjuring (2013) revolves around Ed and Loraine Warren going to an old creepy house to investigate what’s going on. The plot of this film has our main characters go to a creepy house that feels reminiscent of The Conjuring and what Wan did much better in that film. Also in this film a lot of the creepy and unsettling stuff is happening to kids that are about the same as the kids from The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2. That means in ¾ of this franchise’s films thus far, there’s kids that range from 5-11 that are being haunted. It would’ve been nice if with this film if they aged the kids up to provide more interesting dynamics and just changed things up. I believe Annabelle Comes Home and some of the other films have characters that are much older (which is good). But when ¾ of your films have a very similar cast of characters, it gets redundant and you want them to change things up.
Final Thoughts: Annabelle: Creation is a sequel that greatly improves upon the original. Within the first 30-40 minutes this film was better than the entirety of Annabelle (2014). David F. Sandberg is a much better director than the director of the 2014 film. He’s able to expand upon the Annabelle mythology in a way that makes sense and make a prequel that compliments what came before. It’s not perfect and I don’t think it’s as good as The Conjuring or The Conjuring 2, but a very solid entry in this universe.
The Score: 8.3/10 (B)
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