To be honest, I have not watched the first movie which is a spin off to the popular The Conjuring franchise. But hearing that Annabelle: Creation is a prequel, I guess I do not actually need to know what happened in the negatively received Annabelle (2014). Before watching the prequel, I did not have much expectations. I have seen David F. Sandberg's horror debut, Lights Out, and I found it to a decent horror movie. However, after seeing Mike Flanagan's disappointing take on Ouija, another horror movie franchise, my hope for good horror directors taking helm on horror franchises dimmed a little. So is Annabelle: Creation any good? Aside from conjuring an effective atmosphere and tension, it is generic and lacks of character's development and originality.
The story: It goes pretty straight-forward. A group of orphaned children stays in Dollmaker Samuel Mullins' house and discover a powerful and terrible force living in the same house. Most of the screen time show extended experiences with the evil entity and there are not many dialogues. Things proceed in a straight-forward way. The movie builds an urging tension before unleashing hell on its characters in the climax. The characters are molded to do a certain action that will motivate a horror scene. I admit that David can competently directs an effective horror scene and the movie is all about that. The dialogues during the day time act just as a breather before throwing the audience back into another terror-filled night. The jump scares are clichés and unnecessary. Acting by the young and older cast is alright. The score by Benjamin Wallfisch helps to enhance the mood.
Overall: It is decently shot horror movie but there are many flaws. After this movie, I hope David will go back to directing horror movies that are not based on anything. David has a good sense of holding tension but he needs a better script. Annabelle: Creation may be a crowd-pleasing horror movie but it lacks the originality to stand out from the huge pool of horror movies. It does its job in entertaining you but it is not enough to become memorable.
The story: It goes pretty straight-forward. A group of orphaned children stays in Dollmaker Samuel Mullins' house and discover a powerful and terrible force living in the same house. Most of the screen time show extended experiences with the evil entity and there are not many dialogues. Things proceed in a straight-forward way. The movie builds an urging tension before unleashing hell on its characters in the climax. The characters are molded to do a certain action that will motivate a horror scene. I admit that David can competently directs an effective horror scene and the movie is all about that. The dialogues during the day time act just as a breather before throwing the audience back into another terror-filled night. The jump scares are clichés and unnecessary. Acting by the young and older cast is alright. The score by Benjamin Wallfisch helps to enhance the mood.
Overall: It is decently shot horror movie but there are many flaws. After this movie, I hope David will go back to directing horror movies that are not based on anything. David has a good sense of holding tension but he needs a better script. Annabelle: Creation may be a crowd-pleasing horror movie but it lacks the originality to stand out from the huge pool of horror movies. It does its job in entertaining you but it is not enough to become memorable.