Horror is an odd bird. As much as the genre gets unfairly
maligned for quality reasons, it does, admittedly, squeeze out more hack
sequels than any other cinematic subset. Take Annabelle for
instance, the quick, slapdash cash-grab of a prequel to James Wan’s The Conjuring. It’s not particularly egregious, just bland and
uninspired. As opposed to The Conjuring 2, the proper
follow-up, where the filmmakers took their time and made a movie that’s
actually good, some may argue better than the first. All of this adds up to
many folks being surprised that Annabelle: Creation, a
prequel to the prequel, is actually a solid horror joint.
Remember that evil doll from “The Conjuring”? It’s the kind
of hellish looking children’s toy that you think no one would ever possibly
give to a real child because just looking at that nasty smile would give it
nightmares. Obviously, the first thing you thought walking out of James Wan’s
film was, “that creepy doll needs its own movie,” right? Didn’t everyone think
that? It sure seems that way, because that’s exactly what we now have with the
prequel “Annabelle.” And if you think making a feature-length movie out of the
backstory of a sinister doll—from the director of “The Butterfly Effect 2” no
less—might be stretching the concept a bit thin, you are correct.
