{"id":6547,"date":"2017-08-17T18:40:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T22:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=6547"},"modified":"2025-06-21T16:38:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T20:38:39","slug":"annabelle-creation-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=6547","title":{"rendered":"Annabelle: Creation-2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annabelle: Creation-2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director David F. Sandberg<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Anthony LaPaglia, Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #672<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed August 17, 2017<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Annabelle: Creation (2017) is a prequel to the successful 2014 horror film entitled Annabelle and the fourth installment in a total of the popular The Conjuring series (2013-present).<\/p>\n

Over just a few years, these films have become well-crafted, intertwined stories in the modern supernatural horror genre.<\/p>\n

Compared to another latter-day horror franchise, Saw, Annabelle\/The Conjuring elicits more of the classic spook factor rather than the gore associated with the Saw franchise (2004-present).<\/p>\n

The time is 1943, set somewhere in the desert and mountainous region of California. Dollmaker Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife Esther (Miranda Otto) live a cheerful existence with their young daughter, Annabelle, whom they nickname Bee.<\/p>\n

The family attends church services regularly and plays cute games of hiding and seeking in their vast farmhouse and land. When one sunny day, Bee is struck and killed by a passing car, the couple is devastated beyond repair.<\/p>\n

Twelve years later, a group of orphans led by Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) are invited by Mr. Mullins (Mrs. Mullins is now bedridden due to a mysterious accident) to spend some time at the farmhouse when their orphanage shuts down.<\/p>\n

The six orphans, led by best friends Janice (Talitha Bateman), and Linda (Lulu Wilson) embark on the quiet farmhouse and immediately are met by strange goings-on, most notably a life-sized doll living inside a forbidden room, which Janice inevitably stumbles upon out of curiosity.<\/p>\n

Stricken with polio, Janice has been left a disabled person, unable to move around very well.<\/p>\n

As Janice discovers the creepy doll, or shall we say, Janice awakens the doll from a strange closet covered with bible verses, the doll terrorizes the girls. It wreaks havoc on Janice and Linda in particular.<\/p>\n

An evil entity inhabits the doll, and the peculiar circumstances following Annabelle’s death years earlier rise to the surface as secrets are revealed and demons seek refuge in the farmhouse.<\/p>\n

Annabelle: Creation is exceptionally well made and inundated with scary elements of surprise. The farmhouse, in particular, is a fantastic setting for a horror film\u2014the remote locale, the eerie quiet, and the dark, unfamiliar layout of the house all come to fruition throughout the film.<\/p>\n

Specifically, a scarecrow, a stairwell chair-lift, and the years between 1943 and 1955 are of special importance.<\/p>\n

Besides the common horror elements that the film uses to its advantage, it is just downright scary and tense. On plenty of occasions, the cameras are positioned so that a figure or object could easily be lurking behind a particular character but out of sight from the audience.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, nothing appears, and the scene goes on, but other times, a scare occurs that makes us jump out of our seats\u2014this is good, classic horror at its finest. One knows not what is, or could be, coming next.<\/p>\n

I did not find Annabelle: Creation predictable in the slightest, which makes the film succeed.<\/p>\n

As if I was not entertained enough throughout the film, the final set of scenes, now some twelve years after\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>1955, brings us to the very beginning of 2014’s Annabelle. We witness the very first scenes of that picture, now making perfect sense and weaving the two films together in a compelling fashion.<\/p>\n

Apt viewers will remember that Annabelle begins with a horrific, brilliantly crafted, and shot home invasion scene. Now, the storyline will make more sense, and viewers will experience an “oh wow” moment.<\/p>\n

I was left with a couple of slight gripes about Annabelle: Creation.<\/p>\n

The character’s appearances are quite modern-day\u2014not the clothes per se, but the hairstyles, mannerisms, and figures of speech\u2014and I never, for a second, believed the time was the mid-1950s.<\/p>\n

To build on this point, and at the risk of an honest historical inaccuracy critique, a black orphan would never have resided with white orphans, let alone be one of the “popular girls,” nor would the orphans ever have been led by a sexy, Indian nun wearing heavy mascara.<\/p>\n

I get that the filmmakers deemed inclusiveness a higher priority over historical accuracy. Still, these details are noticed and readily apparent as not having existed if the film were “real life.”<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the point was repeatedly hammered home that the film was a massive supporter of Christianity and went out of its way to promote the goodness of religion over evil.<\/p>\n

Annabelle: Creation (2017) reaffirms my belief that good, old-fashioned horror films can still be successfully made in the modern era, using elements firmly etched in the genre but used in a contemporary, scary, and sinister way.<\/p>\n

Here’s hoping the creators come up with another good idea and create another segment in this thrilling dual franchise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Annabelle: Creation-2017 Director David F. Sandberg Starring Anthony LaPaglia, Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman Scott’s Review #672 Reviewed August 17, 2017 Grade: B+ Annabelle: Creation (2017) is a prequel to the successful 2014 horror film entitled Annabelle and the fourth installment in a total of the popular The Conjuring series (2013-present). Over just a few years, … Continue reading Annabelle: Creation-2017<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[348,5012,6628,7071,13,2349,6632,6631,6629,6630],"tags":[347,5017,6633,7076,248,2351,6637,6636,6634,6635],"class_list":["post-6547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2017-movie-reviews","category-anthony-lapaglia","category-david-f-sandberg","category-gary-dauberman","category-horror-films","category-james-wan","category-lulu-wilson","category-miranda-otto","category-stephanie-sigman","category-talitha-bateman","tag-2017-movie-reviews","tag-anthony-lapaglia","tag-david-f-sandberg","tag-gary-dauberman","tag-horror-films","tag-james-wan","tag-lulu-wilson","tag-miranda-otto","tag-stephanie-sigman","tag-talitha-bateman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6547"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21340,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547\/revisions\/21340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}