Annabelle - Film Review

Annabelle is the latest offering in the long-running line of horror thrillers inspired by the Japanese New Wave Horror era of the late 1990s and early 2000s that saw the release of films such as Ringu, adapted in the US as The Ring, Dark Water, Pulse, Audition and Ju on; the original version of The Grudge. Australian-raised James Wan took the Western horror genre and gave it all new life with 2004’s Saw, a film whose story and tone borrowed heavily from the Japanese New Wave. It’s no surprise to see Wan’s name on the credits of Annabelle, as this new film is a follow-up to Wan’s massively successful horror offering from 2013, The Conjuring.

Annabelle is set in the same universe as The Conjuring, serving as a prologue to the events that would take place in Wan’s film. The screenplay, by specialist horror scribe Gary Dauberman, takes place in late 1969 and cleverly weaves into its narrative the fear that gripped Los Angeles in light of the Tate-LaBianca committed by Manson Family members in August that year. The story introduces a young couple, Annabelle Wallis as Mia & Ward Horton as John, who are devoted Catholics expecting their first child. Mia and John’s life is thrown into turmoil when their next door neighbours are murdered in a frenzied attack by two intruders. John is attacked by one of the intruders when he goes to his neighbour’s to investigate, but the other intruder, a female, manages to slip into Mia and John’s house. The woman, who seems possessed by some unworldly force, tells Mia that she likes the antique doll that John has bought her as a special gift to help finalise her collection. The woman is soon joined by her cohort and the pair viciously attacks Mia. John, realising his wife is in mortal danger, rushes back to their house to save Mia. By this time, the police have arrived and shoot the male attacker. The female attacker rushes into the adjourning soon-to-be baby nursery and commits suicide; her blood running from a gaping neck wound down into the eye socket of the antique doll. From this point forward in the story, some serious demonic intimidation takes place.

It’s hard not to compare Annabelle to The Conjuring because of the narrative link between the two films and, unfortunately for this latest movie, it’s never quite as menacing or atmospheric as the latter. Despite a good set-up and use of the historical references, Dauberman’s script is unable to sustain its intensity and relies too heavily on clichéd narrative tropes to drive suspense. In the time-honoured tradition of the “lone female going somewhere alone in the dark”, one set-piece sees Mia leave he new-born baby alone in their apartment to and put some cardboard in the couple’s basement storage lock-up. Even movie-goers not familiar with the horror genre will find it difficult to believe that the character, after several extremely unusual occurrences in the couple’s apartment, would leave their child alone and venture off alone … Having said that, the ensuing scene in the basement and malfunctioning lift will give viewers pause to think next time they’re alone in a lift as to what they may be confronted with when the doors open!

As far as performances go, Annabelle Wallis & Ward Horton are a cute couple up on the screen, but are pretty wooden in their delivery. They play their characters with a mixture of nerdy cluelessness that wears thin after it becomes clear that they’re in real danger. Annabelle Wallis picks up the tempo in the final act; benefiting greatly from the arrival of Alfre Woodard’s character of Evelyn. Woodard brings a combination of jittery resignation to her part that help to legitimise the torment that Mia has been suffering. Tony Amendola as Father Perez comes in and out of the story but plays a role in helping both John and Mia to try and understand what they are truly battling against. TV character actor Erik Ladin is the film’s other most notable actor in the role of Police Detective Clarkin. It’s only a small role, but his character plays a vital expository role in helping Mia to understand the background of the attacks from the beginning of the film and their connection to events later in the story.

Experienced cinematographer John R. Leonetti takes the directing reign on Annabelle, having served as Director of Photography on The Conjuring for James Wan. Leonetti’s inexperience as a director goes some way to explaining the woodiness of his two leads, but his framing of scenes is excellent and he, along with cinematographer James Kneist, manage to get the most out of their set-ups. Annabelle’s film editing is somewhat of a let-down, as Leonetti and Film Editor Tom Elkins miss some opportunities to ramp up the scare-factor. One sequence with Tony Amendola’s Father Perez could have been one of the great car ride sequences, but it falls flat as the shot selections and pacing are too short and sharp to build the kind of nerve-twisting tension that Dauberman’s screenplay was aiming for. One of the highlights of Annabelle is its desire to depict the late 60s as faithfully as possible and it’s a credit to the whole production that the film achieves a level of visual authenticity that makes it stand-out in this department.

Annabelle will, without doubt, have its fans. The film’s connection to The Conjuring will make sure of that. It’s a solid piece of horror-suspense film-making that delivers enough scares to make it worth the price of a movie ticket without being a truly great entry into the genre.