Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun.
Annabelle 2 (2017)
Stars:
Also Known As:
Annabelle: Creation
Production Co:
Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker
and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage
into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker's possessed
creation, Annabelle.
New Line’s prequel for the 'Conjuring’ spinoff provides a chilling backstory for the demonic doll.
After a couple of false starts attempting to establish the origins of
the demonically possessed doll first introduced in James Wan’s 2013 The Conjuring and featured as the centerpiece of the Annabelle spinoff a year later, Annabelle: Creation finally clarifies her complicated past, initially obscured by conflicting timelines.
Closer in tone and old-school psychological fright tactics to the original film than either The Conjuring 2 or Annabelle,
David F. Sandberg’s incisive approach capably resets the franchise in
what will surely become another hit horror sequel for New Line Cinema.
As he did with his assured debut in Lights Out, Sandberg demonstrates a deft affinity for the elaboration of horror conventions, as well as the expansion of the Conjuring
universe. After deploying the requisite jump scares that get events in
gear, the helmer settles into measured pacing that deliberately
maneuvers the characters into mounting imperilment while gradually
revealing the magnitude of the threat facing them.
First, however, he firmly establishes the narrative baseline for the
emergence of the preternaturally disturbing doll by situating the film
12 years after tragedy strikes the Mullins family when Sam (Anthony
LaPaglia) and Esther’s (Miranda Otto) beloved 7-year-old daughter
Annabelle dies in a tragic, strikingly staged accident. Still remorseful
over her passing, they offer shelter at their sprawling California
farmhouse to a group of six girls from a local Catholic orphanage and
their guardian, Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman).
Polio-stricken and wearing a leg-brace, young Janice (Talitha
Bateman) seems particularly uncertain about the move, but her best
friend Linda (Lulu Wilson) tries to reassure her that Mullins, a former
toymaker, and his wife will look after them. While the older girls sleep
together in a spacious communal room, they banish less mature Janice
and Linda, who end up with a bunk bed in the sewing room once dedicated
to creating doll costumes. Mullins, however, deters them from entering
the locked room across the upstairs hall or the bedroom where his
incapacitated wife has retreated from the world.
Sandberg and production designer Jennifer Spence (who also contributed on Lights Out and two installments of the Insidious
franchise) make great use of the eerily labyrinthine layout of the
Mullins’ farmhouse, much as Wan did with the haunted home at the center
of The Conjuring. Often confined indoors, Janice
tentatively explores the numerous interconnected rooms as curiosity
finally gets the better of her when she discovers the forbidden bedroom
of the Mullins’ deceased daughter.
Still decorated with Annabelle’s toys and furnishings, it’s a
complete delight, until Janice finds a large, white-frocked wooden doll
in the wardrobe, one of Mullins’ original creations. Put off by the
garishly painted toy, Janice tries to ignore the doll, but soon it’s
showing up unexpectedly all over the house. After one particularly
terrifying late-night encounter, Janice becomes convinced that the doll
is possessed and determined to seize her soul. But Sister Charlotte and
the other girls think that maybe she’s just a bit hysterical after
spending too much time alone in the cavernous house, never
suspecting
the danger threatening them all.
Annabelle screenwriter Gary Dauberman methodically lays out
the plot points leading Janice into closer and more perilous contact
with the threatening doll, inexorably drawing the girl toward her
expected fate. As Janice becomes increasingly debilitated, Linda emerges
as her protector, unknowingly thrusting herself into escalating
jeopardy.
The camera is absolutely insane, and all the elements which we are familiar with from the Conjuring movies are in here again and it is simply something epic if you don't know what it is at the corner of the other and darkness rules.
The effects are awesome and I love those countdown jump cares which are ready, steady,.............., go.
The music is super light and super cool, like in 50th style and might also be an stolen idea from the Conjuring movies, however it fits in here.
I don't want to talk about the setting because each word I would probably say is pure spoiler.
The scripting falls short, however, in setting up the fundamental
conflicts between religious faith and demonic possession that resonantly
characterized the events surrounding the doll in The Conjuring and subsequently Annabelle.
Sigman’s Sister Charlotte, although a resolutely reassuring presences
for the girls, remains ill-equipped to deal with Satanic visitations,
and Mark Bramhall’s Father Massey makes too few appearances to offer
much support.
The two youngest girls, however, prove effectively resourceful
dealing with the ever-more powerful demon. Bateman bravely embodies
Janice’s epic struggle to avoid losing her individuality, as Wilson
surprises with Linda’s endearingly fierce display of loyalty and pluck
in an effort to protect her closest friend.
Otto ends up underutilized as Annabelle’s traumatized mother, except
in one key, impassioned scene when Esther provides a burst of exposition
that clarifies her daughter’s unfortunate destiny. LaPaglia’s Sam
offers infrequent, cryptic utterances that also hint at the family’s
tragic circumstances, but brings little to bear on the outcome of
events.
Sandberg nonetheless orchestrates the cast into an impressive
ensemble, giving each character a key task to accomplish in the attempt
to vanquish the emerging demon. The final scenes satisfyingly circle
back to the violent events at the center of Annabelle, efficiently reconnecting the franchise’s chronology. Epic plus point and I will never ever forget the end. Stay seated until the very end.
10/10 genre
10/10 overall
I love the movie, I love it, I love it, I love it.
There is absolutely nothing bad to say about it.
It took us almost 2 months to talk about a movie which deserves nothing else than 10 out of 10 points, and I am very happy having seen it already, but for sure I will watch it again in the big cinema, when it comes out finally. And again the performers are most likely girls and kids and they are doing their job in an absolutely incredible way.
Thanks for reading and have fun watching movies.
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