{"id":9917,"date":"2024-12-10T23:53:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T04:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9917"},"modified":"2024-12-10T23:53:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T04:53:45","slug":"annabelle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/10\/annabelle\/","title":{"rendered":"Annabelle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Annabelle<\/strong> (2014)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 98 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (intense sequences of disturbing violence and terror)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John R. Leonetti\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Gary Dauberman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joseph Bishara\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: James Kniest\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 3, 2014 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, Alfre Woodard, Kerry O\u2019Malley, Brian Howe, Eric Ladin, Ivar Brogger.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $84.3M (US)\/$257M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: * \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0It would appear that Annabelle, the creepy doll from last year\u2019s genuinely scary The Conjuring, would like to inherit the mantle not yet vacated by Chucky. If Annabelle<\/strong> is any indication, the star of the Child\u2019s Play movies has nothing to worry about. This spin-off (NOT a sequel!) is about as scary as a rerun of Howdy Doody. Killer dolls have long been a staple of the horror genre from Dead of Night (1945) to Magic (1978) to Dead Silence (2007). For me, the best killer doll movie is still the original Child\u2019s Play (1988). It\u2019s hard, if not impossible, to outdo Brad Dourif. Am I right?<\/p>\n

\u00a0To be fair, Annabelle<\/strong> isn\u2019t as bad as some of the horror flicks I\u2019ve had to endure these past few years, but that\u2019s not saying much given some of the duds that somehow secure a theatrical release. This one isn\u2019t terrible; it\u2019s merely lame. And dull which is the worst sin a horror movie can commit. There\u2019s no amount of penance the perpetrators can do to make up for these cinematic crimes against the moviegoing public. I think I speak for all fans of the genre with these last two statements.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The events in Annabelle <\/strong>take place about a year before The Conjuring and center on the creepy doll that played a peripheral role in the story. Basically, it\u2019s an origin film. The same night med student John Gordon (Horton, The Mighty Macs) gifts his pregnant wife Mia (Wallis, W.E.) with the titular doll, they\u2019re almost murdered by violent intruders who turn out to be members of a Satanic cult. That they\u2019re watching coverage of the Manson trial on TV right before this happens shouldn\u2019t be seen as a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Naturally, all kinds of weird stuff starts happening afterwards. Could it have something to do with the fact that the female intruder was clutching the wedding dress-clad doll when she took her own life? If you don\u2019t know the answer, you\u2019ve obviously never seen a single horror movie in your life. They move to an apartment, but things continue to go bump in the night. They still have the doll even though John tried to throw it away. Although I\u2019m sure you know the drill, let me lay it down for you anyway. The doll is possessed by the female intruder (whose name in Annabelle) and wants to conjure a demonic entity by way of their infant daughter.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was originally going to give Annabelle<\/strong> a two-star rating, but after a period of consideration I find I can\u2019t even characterize it as a mediocre horror film. It definitely falls on the lame side of the scale. The doll isn\u2019t even on screen most of the time. Too much of it focuses on family drama like Mia\u2019s difficult pregnancy due to stress and her growing fear that something bad will happen to baby Lea. If this is meant to build suspense, it fails. It\u2019s just slow. On the occasion that something does happen, it\u2019s not scary because we can see it coming from a mile away. This movie is extremely predictable on all counts but one and that turns out to be a problem too. When neighbor Evelyn (Woodard, 12 Years a Slave), a bookseller who conveniently displays occult-themed tomes in the front window, enters the picture, I had a distinct idea of the role she would ultimately play in the story. I was wrong; she serves a completely different purpose.\u00a0 The makers should have taken the more obvious direction with this character.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Annabelle<\/strong> has serious narrative issues as well. Specifically, there are too many unanswered questions. What\u2019s up with all the racket from the upstairs apartment? What about the mysterious children that Mia encounters on the stairs? Maybe the makers are setting up a spin-off of this spin-off?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Not only does Annabelle<\/strong> lack the fright factor of The Conjuring, it also lacks its interesting characters and talented cast. The biggest name is Woodard and I\u2019ve already said my piece about her. Last year\u2019s movie had Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga (as real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren), Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor. The only significant thing about this cast in that the lead actress and the killer doll both have the same name. So who\u2019s responsible for this sleep-inducing bore? That would be Conjuring cinematographer John R. Leonetti who also directed Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997). As Halloween draws near, movie audiences want a good scare. They won\u2019t find it here. Annabelle<\/strong> is the cinematic equivalent of getting a rock for trick-or-treat instead of candy.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Annabelle (2014)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 98 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (intense sequences of disturbing violence and terror)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John R. Leonetti\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Gary Dauberman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joseph Bishara\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: James Kniest\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 3, 2014 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, Alfre Woodard, Kerry O\u2019Malley, Brian Howe, Eric Ladin, Ivar Brogger.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $84.3M […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Annabelle-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9917"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10261,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9917\/revisions\/10261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}