The sequences are effective, but the plot needs development.
 Annabelle is the prequel to The Conjuring (2013) and follows a normal, church-going couple as they are suddenly terrorised by a haunted doll.
The first five minutes of the film are quite boring as it establishes the normality of the couple (Mia and John) who are also expecting their first child. However, after this, there is a very disturbing sequence where their neighbours are stabbed to death as they sleep. Mia and John wake up to the sounds of their screams and instantly investigate, letting the killers into their own home. This sequence is pretty effective and quite violent and kick starts the film as one of the killers commits suicide whilst clutching the doll.
There are some sequences in Annabelle which are quite effective but, a lot of moments here are essentially ruined by the over-production and the score; loud bangs and squeals in the music overplay any possible moments of fear. This is all supposed to encourage a jolt from members of the audience and it happens a lot throughout the film. Even though it does cause you to jump in your seat momentarily, the effect is very short and the silly loud noises ruin any of the creepiness in the film. This is unfortunate because there are a lot of scenes where a creepy atmosphere would work a lot better than a simple jump scare. The doll itself is very well done and looks so creepy you wonder why anyone would want to buy it in the first place.
One of the main issues with Annabelle is that the two leads are terrible. Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton not only have no on-screen chemistry together, their delivery on lines is awful, flat and very boring. A necessity in films is for the audience to care about the characters, in Annabelle this does not happen and you really don’t care if they die in the next scene or not.
Overall, Annabelle had some promising moments within it; the doll did have the ability to make your skin crawl and the lingering shots of it were very effective. Her slight change in appearance over the course of the film was very well done too; she steadily looked worse and worse and became even creepier looking than she did in the beginning. However, the emotionless cast, the unnecessary jump scares and the boring plot ultimately make this prequel not worth watching – even though it is so close to Halloween.
Verdict
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