Annabelle 2 : La Création du mal

Annabelle: Creation is a massive step-up from Annabelle. With great performances by the young cast, and some excellent scare sequences, Creation has more than enough to keep you up at night.

Many good horror movies rely on a gimmick - the clap clap from the first Conjuring, Freddy existing only in your dreams from Nightmare on Elm Street etc. - and clear rules that the monster/creature/killer follows. The gimmick entices the viewer and gives us a hook or perspective on the story and the rules creates the foundation of this world and this is where Annabelle struggles.

First of all there's no clear hook or gimmick and much like how the second Conjuring decided to throw in the crooked man this movie decides to throw everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. It's also very unclear what the rules are since the "presence" (we'll call it that) is sometimes prohibited by mere physical obstacles but teleports around at other times as well as somehow being in two places at once with no explanation. I'm fine with a creature essentially teleporting but you can't mix and match features the way they do in this film without it losing some of what makes it endearing.

The child actors are mostly fine as are the whole crew but the writing does little to necessitate such a large amount of kids. We get to know very few of them and it's not like they're treated like cannon fodder for the presence either. Actually I think having so many kids somewhat subtract from the horror since I subconsciously know that are major studio won't run around killing children in their movies.

The ending of the movie is perhaps the worst part. It doesn't work because of three reasons. Since there's no set rules there's no clear end game scenario and the horror just kind of fizzles out because the run time needs it to, secondly the very last part of the movie just don't make sense to me and thirdly the beginning of the first Conjuring movie don't add up after what is set up in this movie.

With that said you'll get a few scares out of Annabelle: Creation and it's a perfectly passable horror movie that is going to rake in money and put further faith into The Conjuring cinematic universe even if it does very little to add any depth to said universe.

It's nice to watch a horror film where it gets better and better, and this one is going in the right direction.

The Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto) suffer a tragedy when the daughter Bee is hit by a passing car. Twelve years later, they open their home to abandoned girls. Janice is handicap and Linda is her best friend. There are four other girls and Sister Charlotte. Their world is turned upside down after Janice finds the doll Annabelle locked in the closet.

This is a nicely made horror movie. It has nice set pieces and individual scenes. The doll and the entity serve as nice horror villains. Whether I like or love this depends on the girls. The young actresses are fine but the characters need more individuality to stand out. Janice and Linda are the main lead. While they have more screen time, they should be given even more. One of them should be in every scene. The horrors are too scattered among the girls. It would be more horrifying if Janice and Linda suffered while the others disbelieve. That should hold out as long as possible. The other girls lack individuality which make them too much like cannon fodder. I do grow to care for the girls but it should happen sooner. Overall, it's better most horrors and it's well executed.

I didn't expect a sequel to a movie I loathed to be watchable, let alone sort of fantastic, but here we are and I'm ready to say that Annabelle: Creation is a surprise in many ways. A lot of the scares work and I got a few chills here and there. Even better, many of the characters are somewhat interesting and easy to root for. I doubt it'll become some classic in the years to come, but I'm almost positive it'll be put on that rare list of movie sequels that are better than the originals.