ANNABELLE

Director: John R. Leonetti

Screenplay: Gary Dauberman

Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard

2⁄5

Why someone in their right mind would want to take home a doll that looks like Annabelle is anyone’s guess. But Mia (Annabelle Wallis) cannot seem to contain her joy when her doctor husband John (Ward Horton) surprises her with this new addition to her doll collection. But one night, the couple is attacked in a home invasion attempt by a pair of violent lunatic cult members. The police get there on time, a remarkable rarity in horror films – or in any film for that matter, the intruders are killed, after which the doll ends up possessed by an evil demonic spirit (even the demon knows which sinister looking toy to go for when it decides to hang around) of the female cult member named Annabelle, and it is all downhill from there for the once happy couple.

As is usually the case with demons, there is a whole host of weird and wonderful things that start happening. As the young mother begins to struggle with the supernatural haunting of her house, the doctor husband who is supportive but hardly ever home and misses much of the action, thinks she is unwell, and advises rest and a professional to speak with.

Granted, there are some spooky moments that work well. It helps that the doll itself is quite the disturbing looking creation, and especially when it starts doing its own evil things the terror that mounts up momentarily is effective.

It is a shame, however, that Annabelle herself does not take the initiative to start killing everyone around her like Chuky did in Child’s Play.

A young girl and an older woman, both dressed in ragged, bloody sheets just will not leave Mia alone. There appears to be something rising from the darkness, a powerful force of darkness whose strength is getting bigger every day. It is all familiar stuff, but the scares do remain the highlight of The Conjuring prequel.

The trouble is that there simply are not enough for it to sustain the running time, even though the film only runs for 99 minutes. It is particularly disappointing to see such an uneventful finale using appalling supporting characters who randomly go in and out of the protagonists’ lives.

The worst written role here is Evelyn’s (Alfre Woodard). As a wiser, older lady, she gives useful advice, only to throw it all away in the end by being literally tossed aside. Woodard gives the film its much needed emotional core, but her scenes never follow through to amount to anything special.

Very little makes sense in the end, not that you would expect a horror film to have much logic running through in its script, but with _Annabelle, _the sheer lack of coherence is too significant to ignore.