Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Annabelle: Creation Blu-ray Movie Review

The Devil Doll.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 25, 2017

Perhaps you saw one of the many articles that were trending around (and, frankly, after) Halloween about some poor little boy whose mother had dressed him up as Annabelle and then taken him to the dentist where, plopped down on the dental chair and obviously not happy to begin with, he was repeatedly photographed in a series of admittedly funny pictures by some bright adult, which were of course immediately posted to the internet and which predictably went viral. That little kid is a future candidate for some serious therapy, but by the time he’s ready for it, there may well be a whole universe of other bizarre creatures culled from the still relatively nascent franchise stemming from 2013’s somewhat surprising smash hit The Conjuring, so that this kid, now an adult, can torment his children with any number of other Halloween costuming choices. The Conjuring documented the (supposedly) real life adventures of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (played in the film by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), two ghost obsessed individuals who might be thought of as counterparts of Scully and Mulder in The X-Files, albeit shorn of that pair’s “official” link to the FBI (not to mention Scully’s skepticism). The Warrens had a long if controversial “career” looking into a series of purported hauntings, including the one that later gave birth to another cinematic franchise, The Amityville Horror, though The Conjuring focused on a situation that might have been called The Harrisville Horror. There has been a steady stream of debunking efforts lobbed against the Warrens, but with a large swath of the population resolutely believing that “the truth is out there” (so to speak), those efforts have hardly mattered, as evidenced by The Conjuring’s immense box office returns.

There has been no deficit of “possessed doll” entries on both the small and large screens, with everything from the “Living Doll” episode from The Twilight Zone: Season 5 to the somewhat similar “Where the Woodbine Twineth” episode from The Alfred Hitchcock Hour to Child's Play, among several others, springing instantly to mind. Those efforts were (obviously?) fictional, but Annabelle is evidently a real doll, one now housed in a museum devoted to the Warrens’ exploits, since evidently the Warrens themselves insisted it wasn’t safe to leave the doll out and about where it could wreak havoc (if you’re already giggling, chances are Annabelle: Creation is probably not the film for you).

Is it mere coincidence that the mother who gifted her daughter with the unforgettable Talky Tina doll in the Twilight Zone episode “Living Doll” was named Annabelle? That seems like an awfully “convenient” synchronicity when one begins to examine some of the efforts by those insisting the Warrens are creatures of “self invention”, along with their many tales of hauntings. Putting aside such qualms, though, may allow those who may have been impressed by The Conjuring but who were perhaps less impressed by either The Conjuring 2 or Annabelle to enjoy a reasonably effective fright fest which has a kind of underlying melancholy based around the idea of the mortality of children.

It’s perhaps just a little funny that Annabelle was itself a prequel, and now Annabelle: Creation steps back further to provide a prequel to the prequel, so to speak. Samuel (Anthony LaPaglia) and Esther Mullins (Miranda Otto) are a rural couple in the 1940s, supporting themselves and their beautiful daughter “Bee” (Samara Lee) with Samuel’s popular doll making business. A probably predictable tragedy robs the Mullins of their sweet little girl, but when a spiritual entity claiming to be Bee asks to take up residence in one of Samuel’s dolls, the couple agrees (wouldn’t you?), with the (again, expected) demonic aftereffects spilling out not just in that time frame, but over a decade later, when the Mullins open their home to a group of orphans (wouldn’t you?).

The bulk of the film takes place in that later (fifties) era, with one of the orphans, Janice (Talitha Bateman), drawing the “interest” of the possessed doll. Annabelle goes on a murderous rampage, as might be predicted, and the film wrings some expected angst out of sights like a crippled child attempting to get away from the marauding spirit. A concerned nun named Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) becomes the protective adult in the story once the Mullins have less than optimal interactions with Annabelle.

The story wends its way forward yet again in the closing moments to detail young Janice’s “transformation” into Annabelle Higgins, though that very transformation seems to defy the logic that Annabelle’s spirit is still housed in the doll (now in the protective confines of a museum), not a human. The film may not break any new ground, but it’s moody and arguably at least marginally more effective than its immediate predecessor. The Conjuring seems to be just getting going, franchise wise, and Annabelle: Creation ends with a “sting” of sorts previewing the next scary character to arise from the Warrens’ supposed exploits, The Nun (due in 2018).

Annabelle: Creation Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Annabelle: Creation is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brother Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Captured with Arri Alexa cameras and then finished at a 2K DI, Annabelle: Creation is actually pretty sumptuous looking quite a bit of the time on Blu-ray, courtesy of some really nicely evocative lighting techniques utilized by cinematographer Maxime Alexandre (there are some interesting interviews with Alexandre online where he discusses some of the strategies he employed on the film which I heartily recommend to the enterprising Googler). A lot of the film is almost sepia toned at times, but fine detail levels remain generally very high throughout the presentation. Some isolated moments have virtually palpable fine detail levels, as in some early views of the wooden "Mullins Toys" boxes that the dolls get placed into. Director David F. Sandberg evidently instructed Alexandre to create near "Cundey" levels of darkness throughout the film, and as such, there are moments when shadow definition is (perhaps intentionally) left on the opaque side. The brightly lit outdoor moments are often beautiful and offer both impressive depth of field and (again) generally excellent fine detail levels.

Annabelle: Creation Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Annabelle: Creation features a nicely nuanced if only occasionally really "showy" Dolby Atmos track, one that derives a lot of its immersive tendencies from "things that go bump in the night". A number of outdoor scenes also offer nice pinpoint placement of ambient environmental effects, including things like slightly wafting breezes that seems to hover in midair. While there are some traditional startle effects, a lot of the track is actually a bit on the restrained side, at least for a horror film, with somewhat long subdued sequences suddenly interrupted by more ambitious sound design offerings, something that gives the track a bit of a roller coaster feeling. Fidelity is great throughout, and dynamic range is also very wide taken as a whole.

Annabelle: Creation Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes Featurette (1080p; 12:04) includes some commentary voiceover.


• Directing Annabelle: Creation (1080p; 42:21) is a kind of interesting supposed "how to" offering from director David F. Sandberg, sprinkled with examples from his work on the film.


• The Conjuring Universe (1080p; 4:51) looks at this still developing franchise.


• Horror Shorts: Attic Panic (1080p; 3:10) seems like it might have been better titled Storage Unit Panic.


• Horror Shorts: Coffer (1080p; 3:09) teaches the evidently still unlearned horror movie lesson that when there's an unopened box/door/portal to another dimension in your room, just leave it alone.


• Director's Commentary

Annabelle: Creation Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly wasn't expecting much from Annabelle: Creation, and perhaps that's one key for the more demanding viewers approaching this latest installment in the ever expanding Conjuring universe. A lot of the film has an undeniably rote feel to it, but there are some genuine moments of anxiety, even if things tip over into needless Grand Guignol and/or melodrama at times (did we really need a late reveal showing one character with a Phantom of the Opera mask?). Technical merits are very strong and with caveats noted and expectations set appropriately, Annabelle: Creation comes Recommended.