Re-watched this one recently and now I remember why it didn't really leave an impression like it's sequels. as the first of the trilogy it had the burden of building the characters and world up, which it failed to do. none of the characters felt fleshed out, leaving the viewer to not really care what happens to any of them. for most of the film you feel as if you're watching a slice of life film instead of a horror one. it finally starts to pickup halfway through the film although the ending doesn't really feel earned and the conflict happens and dies out too quickly as if it remembered it had to happen. the second film did a way better job at being a spin-off film for this important entity of The Conjuring universe.
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juanheights11 November 2019
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lnvicta5 May 2015Horror is one of my favorite movie genres. I really wasn't expecting to hate this as much as I did but it is astonishingly terrible. Really. I loved The Conjuring - this is nothing like The Conjuring. At all. It's a blatant cash-grab and a terrible one at that.
There is zero tension throughout this movie. Zero suspense. Everything is reliant on close ups of the dolls face to "creep" us out and really long periods of time where NOTHING HAPPENS. Literally, it's about this couple that we do not care about and their stupid problems which we care even less about. I don't know if they were trying to build suspense in these scenes but in order to build suspense you actually have to care about the characters. Or at least have, you know, suspense; a lingering sense of danger. This had nothing. And holy hell that ending.
The positives of this movie: The lead girl is beautiful. She's easy to look at. The soundtrack is pretty cool too. That's it. The characters are horrendous and the acting is even worse. Seriously if you're going to make a movie this awful at least have the decency to take an acting lesson or two. It's a dreadful watch. Please, don't waste your time with this cash grab sh*t stain. Don't give them the satisfaction. Watch something good like Sinister or 1408 - haunting movies done right. -
nitzanhavoc14 January 2015Let me start off by stating that as a devout Horror fan with a special liking to ghost stories, haunts and exorcisms, I have really enjoyed The Conjuring. Therefore, my anticipation towards this pseudo- prequel is to be understood, as well as my disappointment...
Perhaps it was the fact that James Wan was only an executive producer of this film that has made it wreak of mediocrity, especially compared to the first. Most of this film's components are exactly that: mediocre. The acting lacked the charisma and screen presence of Patrick Wilson (Ed Warren in The Conjuring), though I must say that Alfre Woodard (Evelyn) and Tony Amendola (Father Perez) were certain light spots. The story feels like it came out of an automated template machine given the basic "create me a mediocre haunting story" order, and again, compared to The Conjuring simply doesn't make the cut.
So why the slightly generous rating? For a few reasons:
1) Say what you will, that doll is one of the scariest, creepiest and most horrifying things I have ever seen both on screen and in life. Whoever created that doll's exterior should be either given a reward for being a genius or committed to a mental ward for being sick in the head (and I say that with the utmost respect, that doll is a work of art). Unlike The Conjuring, Annabelle gives the doll a lot more well deserved screen time.
2) The cinematography is at its best with the quick shots, giving the audience sometimes less than a second to realize what they're seeing. Showing demons, ghosts and such evil presences in that manner really adds to the fear factor in my opinion, for Hollywood is yet to realize how to portrait a demon that is scary for those of us who aren't religious Christians (and I say that with no disrespect whatsoever to Christians or Christianity). I like to use Insidious (another Wanderful masterpiece, if you haven't seen it stop reading RIGHT NOW and go see it) as an example - the one thing really lowering that excellent film's level is the demon shown there. In Annabelle, demons are shown, but for a snap shot, leaving much to imagination which serves to add to the scare gauage.
3) Plot actually gets pretty intense towards the end, but only towards the end.
So all in all, perhaps had I watched this film before The Conjuring I would have been able to be more objective, but seeing as how I am unable to ignore it's shortcomings - I give it 6.5, meaning you should definitely watch it (especially if you liked The Conjuring) but you shouldn't expect it to meet The Conjuring's level. -
ghost_dog865 October 2014There were only two, count em', two well constructed and (more importantly) scary sequences throughout this entire HORROR MOVIE (the home invasion part and the elevator bit). If that fact alone is enough to get one person not to watch "Annabelle", then I've done my job as a critic.
If you went into "Annabelle" wanting to see something along the lines of "Child's Play" or at the very least, a doll-centric horror movie where dolls are either animated in some fashion or at the very least, trip someone as they walk down the stairs, then you will be savagely disappointed. On the other hand, if you were a fan of the small snippet of Annabelle's story shown in "The Conjuring" and wanted a terrifying and in-depth origins story, then you will be disappointed as well.
Synopsis: With an engaging set up, set against the rampant cult-phobia of the 60's, "Annabelle" is the story of a couple living in California who begin to experience paranormal occurrences after the husband gifts his pregnant, doll-crazed wife a doll, that soaks up blood faster than a Bounty paper towel. After that, the plot falls pretty flat by turning its focus away from the scary doll element, as the story becomes 10% "Rosemary's Baby", 20% every single haunted house movie ever and 70% watered down scares.
Aside from the fact that not for one second did I care about any of the characters here, for the most part director John R. Leonetti (the director of photography of "The Conjuring") does a lazy job of "conjuring" up scares. For about 80 minutes of this 98 minute film, every single scare follows the ultra uncreative quiet, quiet, quiet, LOUD, formula. About 20 minutes in, it becomes obvious that Leonetti is either just going through the motions or doing a rather poor job of plagiarizing much scarier films.
Final Thought: Much like the countless throw away, straight to DVD Disney animated sequels to come out of late the 90's and early 2000's (Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World, The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea, Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True") "Annabelle" (a prequel) is nothing more than a soulless money-grab from this particular production company, attempting to feed off the success of "The Conjuring". No mention of Ed and Lorraine Warren (real life paranormal investigators from "The Conjuring") no James Wan (the director of "The Conjuring") and not one doll-induced scare, all seemed to have a hand in making "Annabelle" a strikingly forgettable film. I mean, in "The Conjuring", the Annabelle doll is only used in all of three scenes, but due to some smart direction, those are some of the scariest potions of the movie. In "Annabelle", the titular doll is used throughout and it's not even a little bit creepy. What gives? -
LloydBayer2 October 2014As a prequel and spin-off of The Conjuring – 2013's highly effective horror film – Annabelle does what it promises, even if it does so one jump and one jolt at a time. But that's all you get, jumpy scenes done to perfection, with little or no atmosphere and a story that disintegrates before it reaches a satisfying conclusion.
One of the most important aspects of The Conjuring and older sibling Insidious (both films directed by James Wan), is the cinematography and how it wreaks havoc with the viewer's peripheral vision. By this I am referring to events occurring off-center, or in some corner of the screen that is oblivious to on-screen characters but very obvious to the viewer. Consider a scene where a mother watches over her new born baby. The scene is shot in the living room where the right half of the frame is composed of the mother and her baby and the left half is a hallway that leads to other rooms in the house. Without shifting focus from the mother and child, we see something or someone lurking in the hallway behind; something that shouldn't be there in the first place. While this tactic is nothing new to horror-thrillers, it works for the whole purpose of inducing dread, thick and slow, before the actual jolt hits a few seconds later. The scariest scenes in Annabelle are made up of these moments, and at times we are left guessing what lurks in the corners. And is probably why cinematographer John R Leonetti of those preceding films is tasked with directorial duties in this film, while Wan himself is bumped up to producer. Leonetti plays it safe by treading down Wan's beaten path but without any surprises of his own.
Playing the aforementioned mother is Annabelle Wallis (freaky coincidence?) as Mia Gordon. Mia has a doll collection, one of which is the titular vintage doll gifted by her medical student husband John (Ward Horton). After surviving a horrific attack from a satanic cult, the Gordons have new guests that won't leave. At first Mia starts seeing things and becomes increasingly paralysed by fear while John begins to doubt her sanity. It's a stock approach to crying wolf in horror movies. It takes a while to dawn on them that something has latched on to Annabelle, making the doll a conduit with increasing intent on harming them and their new born baby. Consultations with a librarian and a priest reveal far greater implications, thus leaving these young parents to ward off hell by going right through it.
On one hand, the look and feel in this film is a copy-paste version of Insidious, but concentrated with sporadic moments of numbing fright. We've seen it before in classic horror films – young parents who must literally go through hell to save their child's soul. It's the same concept here but effective enough for a low budget horror film. Like a stern disciple, Leonetti is on par with Wan's technical approach. Cinematography, hair raising sound design (including deliberate moments without sound), and some decent tension will garner a few screams from the audience, but that's about it. On the downside, there isn't much of a story for a script based on real events and don't even expect anything along the lines of an animated 'Çhucky' doll. It's not about what the doll can do but about what's in the doll -If only they had built on that frame of thought. After some well-timed jump scares in the first half, all we are left with is a murky conclusion owing to underwritten supporting cast members whose inclusion leaves the ending stale and cheap. -
helvin39 January 2015About a minute into this film I squealed out of fear when they put the Annabelle doll into frame. I have a genuine fear of dolls like this. They freak me out. Therefore I was excited about this movie - I sincerely thought that there would finally be another movie out there that would manage to scare me (I have 3 in total so far). Sadly this is not the case. The movie was boring and predictable. The worst thing was that they have this terrifying creature-object-thing to make good use of and they failed miserably at using it. I'm genuinely disappointed at the reuse of the same old washed up horror storyline. How'd this script even get approved??! booo! I wish I wrote it so they could actually see what fear of a doll is haha.
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alyssasalcido1 April 2020This movie was not bad at all. The acting, the time period, the wardrobe, the house, and the satanic cult plot was all pretty good. The jump scares and pacing were also nicely done. The black demon scared me the most out of any horror movie I've ever seen. If there's one reason to watch this movie it's the creepy elevator scene. This was a good start to the Annabelle series and I would watch it again.
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scotta950320 October 2014I have watched many many scary movies, some good some bad, none truly scary. Anyone who reviewed this film as scary or awesome obviously has not seen the film. This is a complete snore-fest, from start to finish. I saw perhaps 3 "jump out of seat" scenes where it was totally predictable on it and was yawning each time. The conjuring was a terrific film, and this one is just trying to score big bucks off that name with 1/4 the budget. I was left feeling angry and cheated. There was no depth, no character relation, no story-line, nothing to get you even remotely into the film, except "saw the previews, this is gonna be so good !" feeling you saw when you watched the previews and couldn't wait for this to come out. A complete letdown in all aspects except the fact it actually ended and I could go do something else.
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dunnypop2 October 2014I'm a horror movie fan - I'm a fan of the original evil dead trilogy to Romero to Poltergeist, korean horror, french horror etc... I'm also a fan of the new wave of horror. I'm a fan of the Conjuring as it was a film that made me think the art of a horror movie is back.
First off... this isn't made by James Wan... it's made by it's filmographer so off of the bat you're probably going to get some cool scenes but perhaps lack of character development. The budget of Annabelle is $5 million (that's 1/4 of what the Conjuring cost). Let me tell you the script is the weakest part of this film.
The movie starts off slow... this is where the film should really get you into the characters but there isn't much here, it's generic. It's the weakest part of the film. You have your standard couple... man goes to work, woman stays home and experiences weird stuff. The problem with this is that it's hard for you to bother to relate to the characters. This kind of kills the film for me. There were actually a lot that could have been explored but they didn't touch like the kids in the apartment.
Now the good. There is very little CGI - perhaps none. It's all old school. This is something that anyone could actually film.... chair moving, oven is on, someone standing there. It's good. It works. There's a great scene here with a baby. Are there enough scares? Not really. The pay off for the film felt like they might have fixed the movie for censors but even though the film is Rated R.
There's a lot missing in this film. It's not horrible. It's worth a rental. It's your average horror movie. -
slater-jon-home9 January 2015This film is hilariously bad. I brought it back for me and my girlfriend, and we watched it. This film really tried to pull off the 'omg-look-behind-you' and 'im-really-stupid-so-im-not-going-to-pick-up-that-gun'-type mentatily. I understand this is part of the Horror genre that i so love, but.. this is ridiculous to the point to making fun of you. Because of this, you will probably want to shut it off about 2/3 through, by that stage the shitness couldn't bring me to care about the already weak characters any more anyway, unfortunately. Started so well. What a shame.
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HabibieHakim12327 August 2023Annabelle was a good enjoyable horror movie of an iconic object that doesn't fell to it's underground of a silly boring horror movie at least mostly, although at 99 minutes i felt longer and it's not entirely special in terms of directing style compare to Insidious and The Conjuring though there is still couple of cool shot, overall Annabelle still terrified me, the performance are mostly well done, i wonder how they gonna do the story and they make it acceptable enough, i was invested, i was entertained, and i like it, it's good.
Imdb didn't let us making short review anymore. So i don't know what i'm gonna wrote except this and hey this included on the required characters so while i wrote this it's actually included and there you go! -
coolbeanj1 October 2014"C'mon! A haunted doll? ...Really??"
Obviously, I really wasn't expecting much. But similar to my experience with The Conjuring, I left the theater actually feeling quite satisfied. The doll wasn't as central to the story as one would expect, rather it was more of a symbol of evil in the film. There was some nice character development, an interesting plot, and plenty of moments where I had my mouth wide open because I was terrified! This movie is a lot of fun, and (to my surprise) I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a movie with fun scares and ACTUAL substance to the storyline (radical concept for a horror film). Bravo! Can't wait to see The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist in 2015. -
cornflakeboy201 October 2014In the first, rather scary, scene in the Conjuring, featuring the Annabelle doll, I wondered, what kind of woman would ever buy a doll that creepy looking? Apparently no one. Since the real Annabelle was in fact a simple Raggedy Ann doll. This movie purports to tell the whole story behind the doll, almost none of which conforms with reality (meaning the "true" story as it was given to and told by the Warrens). We meet a bland, prosaic young couple about to have a child. The wife has a doll collection decorating the child's room (Before she knows if it's a girl or boy), and the husband buys her the Annabelle doll, which is supposedly an expensive collector's item meant to match two similar dolls. Following an attack by two cult members who lived next door, the Annabelle doll becomes possessed, doing usual ghost things like operating a sewing machine, and record player. Later, she seemingly tries to kill the baby in its womb, contradicting the later explanation that the doll is a demon host looking for an innocent soul. Luckily, a kindly mystical black woman owns a nearby bookstore with a well-stocked occult section. The wife and her friend discover the name of the cult to which the neighbors belonged, but use absolutely none of the information to defeat the doll. In fact, there are many threads that dangle and go nowhere. We meet two children who seemingly draw pictures of the baby being hit by a truck, and then the children are never seen again, and bear no relevance to the plot. The fact that the mystic new age black woman is willing to go to any length to protect this bland white family may strike some as offensive, especially since it appears nowhere in the actual story. Like most films of this nature, it is practically an advertisement for the Catholic Church and Christian religion in general. The Warrens also investigated the Amityville story, whose victims were also Catholic, and the book featured an introduction by a Catholic priest. Essentially, these stories say, for better or worse, that Catholics are the religion feared by the devil, and the only ones capable of eliminating supernatural threats from demons. The Warrens, in fact, keep the doll in a case protected with a cross, and blessed by a priest. As for the movie itself, it features a couple good jump scares. There are a couple scenes strongly reminiscent of Japanese horror (Dark Water and the Grudge especially). I've seen this type of movie done better and much worse. I have no idea why the R rating, except possibly the religious iconography and injury to a priest and pregnant woman. But honestly, this could play on television barely edited, if at all. You can definitely wait for this title on video.
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bentleyjdaniels14 September 2016There was such huge potential for this movie to be scary. Extremely creepy looking doll, backstory from The Conjuring , an old house and a baby. But instead of a genuinely haunting movie, we were subjected to an insulting plot with ZERO scares. I am not exaggerating. There were zero scary parts in this. Lots of zooming in on the creepy doll's face. You expect something to happen at this point. The head to move, the mouth to open, the eyes to blink. But no, there was nothing. Just a slow zooming in shot of a stationary inanimate doll.
Look at the movie's budget vs. profit and you'll see why the producers wanted to make this movie. It was simply a cash making exercise with no thought given to the plot.
This should not be classed as a horror movie. I've seen Scooby Doo cartoons which were scarier than this. -
FeastMode20 July 2019Enjoyable horror flick that was pretty creepy and suspenseful with some good jump scares and jaw-dropping moments. also completely breaks the cliche of the annoying skeptical husband/boyfriend, that made me happy (2 viewings, 6/20/2020)
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I'm not the type to write long reviews & give too much unnecessary details.
But overall I'm giving this movie a 9 out of 10. I really enjoyed it and would probably watch it again as we get closer to Halloween. The movie had a good story line, and nothing stood out as being too fake or unrealistic.
This movie was very well made. I would definitely recommend to watch it this October during the Halloween season.
There were definitely plenty of "jumping in your chair" moments and plenty of people screaming in the theater. I think "most" people would enjoy watching it. -
rjsmith53-612-8310358 October 2014I had high hopes for this movie having liked The Conjuring but I was sadly disappointed. There were only 4 shock scares throughout the whole movie.It seemed to me the doll was not even possessed, just a demon who enjoyed playing with it. I actually noticed more bloopers then scares. I found the characters where just thrown together with no development and outside characters made no sense as to why they were even in the movie since they added nothing. I believe that this movie would have been best served going strait to DVD instead of being offered in movie theaters. For the lack of any attempt to develop the characters or even attempt to make the doll demon possessed(IE moving around on its own, glowing eyes) The one time they actually showed the doll moving by it's self was portrayed as a demon holding it. Overall it was a major disappointment. Definitely not a must see move of 2014.
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I saw this in theater originally even had an odd experience with the theater halfway kinda brilliant for supernatural horror, I was even with someone but they were quite obnoxious. Anyway the movie is solid I understand the hate crazy enough the sequels are an improvement. The terror is the best thing about it and there's not much of it. I like how the main actress's name is Annabelle Wallis she's brilliant in a later role called Malignant!
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michael_verhoeven10 October 2014I really wanted to go see Annabelle after seeing the trailer, which made it seem like a good horror movie... But it wasn't.
The movie tells too much in the first couple of minutes and then starts off at a really slow pace. Nothing much happened for the first hour or so. There were a lot of missed opportunities where genuinely scary things could be done. Unfortunately the director choose not to do that, instead he tries build tension and create a mood by having Mia move around really slow... which started to get annoying really fast.
There were plot holes, strange reactions from the characters in order to make the story work and so on... In the theater I was watching, there actually were a couple of times the audience spontaneously burst into laughter at how stupid what was happening on the screen was.
For me there were two scary scenes in the movie, those who saw the movie probably know the ones I'm talking about. And unfortunately even these scenes could have been made even more scary then they were.
This was a story and a movie with a lot of potential, unfortunately it wasn't as good as it could have been.
Annabelle isn't a complete waste of time, but if you're looking for a really good, scary horror movie, it's not for you. -
paranormal147 October 2014I expected Anabelle to be like all those silly doll killer movies but Anabelle was so different. it wasn't your average doll movie. it was more realistic and terrifying. it had a good suspense and creepiness to it and it was terrifying and scary. I had Goosebumps when watching it. it's a really exciting and thrilling movie. It has lots of jump scares, I kept jumping from fright. The doll was so scary. it's terrifying to think that this is based on a true story and actually happened. Anabelle is still alive all the up to today. the whole environment of the movie was scary. It was just a scary movie in general , I loved it. This movie isn't just about a doll, it's about demons. I think any horror fan should watch this movie because it is really good.
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OK, first of all I decided to make an IMDb account just to write a review about how crap this movie was. I cannot believe how poor this movie was it made me so angry and irritated me, the acting was horrible.
the characters were just not very convincing I was not scared through this movie, I kept watching it hoping that it's going to get better but it didn't. The conjuring was so much better the acting the plot was so much better.
Do not even waste your time watching this movie Annabelle because you will only be disappointed overall I'm giving this movie a 0 out of 10. -
steven-7351 October 2014Okay folks. This not an Oscar film for sure. It is also not ground breaking by any means. Hell the only thing even remotely true about the film is the first maybe three minutes. This is every horror movie you have ever seen rolled into one. One minute you feel like your watching Rosemary's Baby. Then Rosemary is in the Amityville house. The next moment here comes Chucky with even a little Helter Skelter thrown into the mix. But everything I could say that is wrong with this film is exactly why it works. it embraces its cheese factor. Even revels in it at times. The film has some great scares and in a few cases some real interesting ones. It is just simply a lot of fun to watch with a lot of people. So much so, when Annabelle reveals herself fully you find yourself really into it. I thought the ending was weak but by the time you get to the end it would be very hard to raise the level suspense any higher. There is a scene with a sewing machine and Jiffy Pop which I think should go down in horror movie history for the right way to build suspense. It was funny listening to the audiences nervous giggles as something was about to happen. Go to this as entertainment and nothing more. Nothing deep here. Very little real here. It is based on a true story. However, based is a very loose word here. Three minutes is based upon a true story. Just good October fun.
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welshmichael9113 October 2014Annabelle is one of those horror movies that has the formula that we are all used to. A lot of jump scares. The acting wasn't great, but I did like the story. It had better cinematography that most horror films. There were a lot of shots that were pleasing to the eye. It is not nearly as good as The Conjuring, but its worth watching. The doll is pretty creepy throughout the film. The one thing that killed it for me is that you did not really feel attached to the characters. I think they could have done way better with the casting. In the end, you didn't really care what happened to them. Overall, Annabelle is not as good as The Conjuring. Wait till you can red box this one.
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memeishere21 October 2014I have disliked a majority of movies I watch, but not badly enough that I'm urged to write a review on it. This movie, however, irked me so badly that I feel the need. Let's start off by saying that the title of this movie is 'Annabelle', correct? Yep. So where is this doll the entire movie? Nowhere. That's right, this is where the plot falls apart and everything goes downhill from there. The doll is hardly in the movie at all. She moves a total of maybe two times (excluding the 'climax' of this movie in which she is overused). I had a very hard time finishing this over-hyped example of trying too hard to be original. The beginning is too slow and it doesn't get to the point until the movie is just about over as well. By the end of the movie, I just wanted it to end and was happy that they at least hadn't killed off the bookstore owner... and then there is yet another attempt at being original and failing miserably. This lady (who, by the way, had nothing to do with any of this) plummets to her death out the apartment window and gives her soul to a demon. It was this part that enraged me the most for the mere idea of killing a good character off when there was no reason to and another ending could have been made (because the director clearly wasn't actually making Annabelle off of the true story) is barbaric and uncalled for. I am disturbed with the outcome of this movie and, quite frankly, I didn't even want to award it one star, but there was no option lower, so I will state it here.
0/10 stars -
george.schmidt12 October 2014ANNABELLE (2014) * Annabelle Wasllis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, Alfre Woodard, Kerry O'Malley, Brian Howe, Eric Ladin. Very disappointing prequel to THE CONJURING giving the origin story of the titular possessed doll which depicts vanilla bland couple Wallis and Horton beginning their lives together with a baby on the way leading to echoes of ROSEMARY's BABY and an overactive sound track. Woodard actually looks beyond bored in a quick paycheck as the owner of a bookstore that specializes in the supernatural (and has a personal risk at stake).While cinematographer-turned-director John R. Leonetti takes the reins for the first time as helmsman from producer James Wan, the rote storyline by Gary Dauberman fails to keep a decent scare ratio nor a sizable body count as anticipated. Better off watching CHILD's PLAY or a true creep fest like "The Dummy" from THE TWILIGHT ZONE. One genuine jolt does not make a sufficient thriller by any means.