Summary

“Annabelle,” directed by John R. Leonetti, serves up a chilling tale where a creepy doll does considerably less than your average haunted antique—mostly sitting around while demonic chaos ensues. In this spin-off from “The Conjuring,” a young couple finds themselves terrorized by supernatural forces linked to the world’s eeriest doll after a violent cult incident. The film attempts to weave tension and horror through dimly lit scenes and sudden loud noises, but often feels like it’s just going through the motions—a bit like the doll itself, which manages to be both omnipresent and underwhelmingly inactive. If you’re in it for deep, narrative-driven horror, you might find “Annabelle” a bit stiff. But hey, if passive-aggressive porcelain scares are your thing, you’re in for a treat!

Theories, Speculations, & Questions

Annabelle Origins:

Annabelle’s timeline:
Here’s a simplified timeline of Annabelle’s cinematic story:

• 1943: Creation of Annabelle – The doll is made by dollmaker Samuel Mullins. After his daughter Annabelle’s tragic death, the grieving parents mistakenly invite a demonic entity to inhabit the doll.
• 1955: First Haunting and Possession – The Mullins open their home to orphan girls. One of them, Janice, unleashes the demon. The entity targets Janice, leading to her possession.
• 1955: Adoption of Janice – Now possessed, Janice is adopted by the Higgins couple and rechristened Annabelle.
• 1967: Annabelle’s Rampage – As an adult, possessed Annabelle kills her adoptive parents. She continues to wreak havoc, including an attempt to claim a neighbor’s baby.
• 1967: The Doll Reemerges – Annabelle commits suicide while holding the doll, seemingly returning the demon to it. This doll is later sold to a mother in an antique shop.
• 1968: The Warrens Intervene – Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take possession of the doll, recognizing its danger.
• 1968: Secure Containment – The Warrens store Annabelle in a specially sanctified case to prevent further hauntings.
• 1972: Haunting of the Warren Home – Annabelle stirs up supernatural chaos in the Warrens’ home, but is eventually re-contained.

Nature of Annabelle’s Powers: She can float!

What’s the True Story? Yes! Supposedly this is based on a true story. The real Annabelle story involves a Raggedy Ann doll bought for a college student in 1970. After experiencing strange occurrences, the owners consulted a medium and learned that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle Higgins who reportedly died on the property where they live. However, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren later determined that a malevolent demon was manipulating the doll. They took Annabelle to their museum, where she was regularly blessed to keep the evil at bay.

Outstanding Questions

• Changing Demons: The demon is different from the conjuring – did they switch? New demon came to town.
• Evelyn: Can some one explain to us why Alfre Woodard cared about this family so much… that she would give her soul to a demon in her dead daughters name? Kinda of a bummer of a “life’s purpose” if you ask me.

Shadow’s Commentary

• No good scare scenes: Honestly, the biggest emotional response we got was when the books were falling off the bookshelf around that baby and this really just taps into our fears of not baby proofing.
• Ugliest doll: Aint no way people are buying this doll. Look we get it, this is a scary movie, but no way this doll is being put into a child’s room. Even at the end it is insinuated that this will go to a nurse to help cheer up children… mean while she is busted, torn up, bruised and ugly
• The husband: He’s nice but… He just went to into the neighbor’s house after she heard a scream? Gutsy they didn’t seem that close. Then pretty soon after the cult members broke into their home he was off on a business trip and she was due any moment. I mean if there ever was a time to stay home..
• Doll Scare: There were so many shots where I was waiting for the doll to do something and low and behold she just sat there like a doll.
• Changing Demons: The demon is different from the conjuring – did they switch? New demon came to town.

Annabelle Review

Audience reactions to the Annabelle films are mixed, with some viewers finding them genuinely scary while others criticize them for cliché jump scares and weak storytelling. Overall, the movies receive varied reviews, often comparing unfavorably to other entries in The Conjuring universe due to perceived gaps in acting quality and plot coherence.

Our shadows say this movie is just not very scary, not very interesting, and only slightly hilarious.