Annabelle

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 10th October, 2014
Time : 98 minutes
Director: John R Leonetti; Writer: Gary Dauberman; Music : Joseph Bishara
Starring : Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, Alfre Woodard



Uses all the traditional ways to try and scare you. And a couple of new ones. Succeeds sometimes but fails overall as a film because it never manages to make us feel anything for any of the characters it depicts nor provide a really convincing explanation for what we witness.

The doll brings evil things. Why ? Just. The demons search for a soul. Why ? Because. Annabelle, the doll, is bought by Ward Horton for his very pregnant wife, Annabelle Wallis (how ironic that the heroine’s real name is also Annabelle?), as a gift, to complete her doll set. Bad stuff begins to happen that very night and continues for several months, despite their moving house and attempting to get rid of the doll. The family priest, Tony, and a mysterious bookstore owner, Alfre do their bit to help…but…

Billed as a prequel to the enjoyable (if such an adjective can be used for a horror film?), The Conjuring (the director here was the DOP on the earlier film), it lacks the human connect and also the more appealing finale of the previous venture. Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton deliver competent performances but we don’t really find out too much about them, their tastes, their personality to really care about what they go through.

For those seeking cheap thrills, there are quite a few scenes – one with a pram, some writing on the roof and another where a child becomes a woman behind a closed door come to mind. There is a grim sense of foreboding throughout the film. But precious little else…

PS : The audience comprised mainly large groups of college going kids, with most of the girls and some of the guys professing they were scared before the film began and displaying their fears with exclamations during the movie. Imagine if they got a really good Hindi horror film to chew on ?