The Annabelle Trilogy - False Advertising

The Annabelle movies are meant to be about an old fashioned doll who captures the inherent creepiness of Victorian China toys. However, possessed doll shenanigans are in short supply throughout the three movies, as the movies veer back into The Conjuring Universe's comfort place: demons.

All three movies have this premise – that a strange, antique doll falls into an unsuspecting victim’s lap and wreaks havoc.

I watched the second movie, Annabelle: Creation (2017) first, since it was a prequel and the first wasn’t on Netflix at the time. And it was good. It legitimately built up good tension with creepy locations and a menacing adversary. Set in the 50s, the movie makes good use of its isolated setting to play into the ‘creepy house with creepy owners in the middle of nowhere’ cliché harmlessly enough. (Clichés are half of why we watch a movie, as long as it’s done well, it doesn’t matter that it’s been done before.)

Not much can be said for the film’s characters. They are – passable. Not so two-dimensional that they are unbearable, but not brilliantly fleshed out either. The two main girls, Linda (Lulu Wilson)and Janice (Talitha Eliana Bateman) are primarily the audience’s lens to the doll action.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of it. None of the movies directly show the Annabelle moving and that does succeed in making her much creepier. The weeping angel like effect of her appearing in different places is spine-chilling and completely underused. Annabelle: Creation has the most of the doll herself in, and the scares with her are certainly the ones that stick in your mind when you go to sleep (good luck looking under your bed), but they were startlingly few considering it’s her movie. Instead, we get several scares of a shadowy demon creature with a bland design who is difficult to see with the low lighting or a jump scare so comically cliché it will make you laugh.

Still, this one has the most plot, and the narrative of Linda trying to save Janice is at least enough to make you continue watching it. We do want to see her succeed, if only for the happy ending. So whilst slightly drawn out for my liking, Annabelle: Creation was still a good, scary horror film, even if it never seemed like the doll was the evil one. (Poor writing or contradictory writing, given the other films.)

Unfortunately, the last minute or so of Creation were meaningless unless you saw the first one, and even now I struggle to see why they were included. It would have been simple enough to leave the doll being passed on, without fast forwarding in time without explaining just what made Annabelle snap that night. (Other than to reuse footage.)

Nevertheless, when the first Annabelle (2014) became available, I watched it. It was more of the same – not much to do with the doll and the same bland demon yelling or throwing people across the room. Maybe I’m biased, because I am not a fan of demon horror movies. There seems to be two choices on how to deal with them – have the power of Christianity save the day (which is divisive among movie goers, especially given the Warrens' reputation) or not have Christianity work. (In which case, if your monster can’t be beaten, then we’re left with a depressing, defeatist end.) The Annabelle movies seem to pick and choose this depending on the desired scare of the scene - presumably to keep up any pretence of tension.

Which is either these movies’ blessing, or curse. The individual scares work. They are creepy and unsettling. In Annabelle, they are tied together by boring scenes and average dialogue that make you wonder why it got a prequel in the first place.

And a sequel! 2019 saw the return of everyone’s second favourite horror doll (Tiffany will always remain on top), in Annabelle Comes Home (2019). This movie came along with the secret game of ‘guess which entity will have their own spin-off film.’

Once again, Annabelle doesn’t get to do much Annabelle-ing during this movie. It feels like she’s fighting for screen time against a homicidal bride dress and ‘The Ferryman,’ who both seem to be inserted Marvel-movie style to test their popularity before a standalone film. (Although The Nun wasn’t successful on that account, having been teased in Annabelle: Awakening.) Again, each individual scare is great – especially the ones with Annabelle. (Until she becomes the same black demon that we’ve seen in every Conjuring movie.)

The characters in this one are improved, slightly. Judy (Mckenna Grace) is the Warrens’ daughter and she does make for an interesting protagonist. She’s calm and collected when it comes to seeing ghosts, but she’s understandably socially awkward. We warm to her, and Grace’s acting helps with that. Her two babysitters on the other hand, are less likeable. Even giving Daniela (Katie Sarife) a tragic backstory doesn’t feel enough to flesh out her character, and seems to just be there to give her a reason to go into the room full of cursed things. Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), and her unneeded, shoe-horned in love interest Bob (Michael Cimino) are cookie-cutter clichés. (Maybe Bob was just there to stop things getting too sapphic.) It doesn’t help that everyone seems to have taken extra stupid juice than a horror movie usually requires. There’s some truly baffling decisions of leaving people behind or closing doors on them that defy common sense, even in horror movie logic.

Logic seems to be forgotten in this movie. One minute a crucifix and chanting works on Annabelle, whilst it hadn’t in Creation. Maybe that was so that the movie could have a happy ending with no twist or tie into the franchise.

I can’t, however, be to harsh on that sentiment, since the movie is dedicated to Lorraine Warren and no doubt the filmmakers wanted to honour her via an ending scene with a heat-touching message.

But the movie isn’t awful. It’s competent and works as a horror film for a sleepover. It’s certainly better than the original and either 'The Bride' or 'The Ferryman' will make an interesting spin-off.

Of the three I’d recommend the Annabelle: The Creation the most. It’s definitely got keep-you-up-at-night potential. Annabelle Comes Home is worth a watch if you enjoyed that one, but I’d keep a wide berth of the first.

It also should be said that Annabelle is inspired by a real doll, though a Raggedy Anne, thought to be possessed by a demon. She currently resides in the very real Warrens Occult Museum and is said to cause fatal accidents to those who mock her. (Though not the Buzzfeed Unsolved crew.) The ‘true story’ itself would certainly make for a more interesting horror movie than the first Annabelle, (though this is the one touched on in the original The Conjuring) and makes for an interesting read that will have you keeping an eye on your dolls for a few days.

The Warrens themselves have been heroized in The Conjuring Universe. A slightly dangerous narrative given a debate around their authenticity. It would not be fair to conclusively judge whether they’re work was true or false, though there are those who see no conclusive proof of supernatural activity in the museum. Instead, their reliance and determination to push Christianity as the solution of so many of their cases can be an uncomfortable one. The rejection of other cultures and religions projects a holier-than-thou feel. They seemed to have a disregard to examine any natural causes or provide significant evidence to accompany their cases. Overall, its best to take their representation in The Conjuring Universe with a heavy grain of salt.

When it comes to Annabelle, expect the same scares and twists. Serviceable, but not longstanding.