Annabelle: Creation Is One Of 2017's Most Interesting Creations

For Cinema moviegoers, generally the month of August for the summer box office is typically a dry month with the summer winding down as school vacations come to an end and students returning to complete another year. Studios typically use the months of August and September as dumping grounds for films, that studios don't have the most confidence in, and can potentially survive without zero competition from other big blockbusters. Despite a few exceptions in the month of August such as Guardians Of The Galaxy and Suicide Squad, August is a relatively slow month for movies to perform at the box office. In the case of this past August, Annabelle: Creation utilized it's slow box office month to it's full advantage, and managed to be quite successful in the long run without running into direct competition with another fall horror flick turned box office giant such as Stephen King's IT. While the first Annabelle film wasn't particularly memorable (It was satisfactory at best, but not good enough to warrant the kind of box office anticipation and hype the prequel had going in), Annabelle: Creation somehow manages to be a stronger horror film than that movie. garnering bigger box office and reviews, that soundly call it an improvement over it's mediocre predecessor. Having seen Annabelle: Creation now that it's officially landed on DVD this week, one can most definitely say that Creation is hands down the better movie as well as being more satisfying.

  

      Annabelle: Creation continues to prove that the box office for 2017 is being driven not by the big budget sequels to popular franchises, but a growing trend among films with smaller budgets making a surprise splash with audiences. Annabelle: Creation continues that trend as the films reception is warmer than the first film, which led to it performing much better than the first film. The prequel feels larger in scope, as well as being more confident in it's storytelling. The film never truly manages to be scary, but is creepy enough to draw audiences into it's story with it fast-forwarding a full 12 years after the tragic death of a dollmaker and his wife's daughter, with them welcoming a nun and  a group of several young girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon making them the direct target of the dollmaker's possessed creation called Annabelle. Right off the bat, the second Annabelle film is stronger than the first film largely due to its story. The first movies storyline was basic with Annabelle focusing on a couple experiencing terrifying supernatural occurrences involving a vintage doll after their home is invaded by satanic cultists. The first Annabelle's storyline is basic with the concept of a possessed doll being the most intriguing aspect of the story despite being done before with Chucky. The first film didn't really have many jump scares but it was watchable due to the concept and the creepy atmosphere it created.

      With Annabelle: Creation, it felt as if the filmmakers behind the prequel were taking notes on what worked with the first movie and what needed improvement. The story feels more fleshed out with the prequel, the production values more grand, and the atmosphere feeling more chilling with the actors delivering strong performances. The movie's pacing is very strong with the scares being well-spread out allowing the suspense and tension to slowly build for the audience. The film works best as a combination of a haunted house story mixed with a freakish doll, that looks and acts just downright creepy. For those who enjoyed the Conjuring films, this movie is another strong entry in the popular franchise as the film works best as a prequel to those films. For those who weren't particularly fond of the first Annabelle and are on the fence about watching the prequel, its most certainly worth watching as the whole film feels much stronger than the first and there's a much stronger confidence behind this story being told. The film tries less to scare its audience in comparison to the first movie, and relies more on mood to set everything up so when the scares do come, they are more effective with the audience desiring what happens next. What's most surprising about Annabelle: Creation, is how much stronger of a film it comes across in comparison to it's predecessor. The film works so well in telling its own story, that the audience doesn't necessarily need to watch the first film in order to get the concept at play here, although it would help with little bits of information given between the two films. It's almost as if the filmmakers are well-aware that the first film wasn't that great, and used this prequel as an opportunity to rectify that movies flaws. The key to this films success is how well it builds up the tension with its story as the mood and setting are perfect with the performances being brilliant. The young actresses are completely convincing here, particularly Samara Lee with Anthony LaPaglia giving a strong performance as the dollmaker/priest, Stephanie Sigman as Sister Charlotte, and Miranda Otto doing a terrific job with her small yet effective role as the dollmaker's wife Esther. The strong performances as well as the strong scriptwiriting, beautiful tension set-up, and David. F. Sandberg's impressive directing make this prequel what it is: One of the stronger horror sequels in recent memory as well as being one of the few that not only lives up to the first movie but surpasses it in quality.

      Annabelle: Creation is easily one of the best horror movies of 2017 as it manages to stake its own claim as being a worthy horror story without relying on the first movie to make it appealing to audiences. As far as finding issues with the movie, its hard to find any faults the movie has other than slow-pacing at times, and it not actually being scary, but comes off as being more of a personal feeling rather than a shot taken at the film itself. Creation does everything possible to make for a creepy experience with its audience, and here it does a very fine job at doing so. This is a well done horror flick, that's engaging from start to finish and very fun to watch with the Annabelle doll being creepy everytime it pops up on the big screen to scare audiences. The film deserves props for its brilliant build-up of tension and suspense as Sandberg appears to understand the creepy nature of its story much better than John R. Leonetti did with the first film. Creation is one of the rare prequels, that's smart and knows exactly what it wants to do in regards to terrifying it's audience. The DVD release of the film being around Halloween could not come at a more perfect time, as it gives audiences a unique opportunity to align it's story with the rest of the Conjuring franchise for Halloween. The film takes the demonic spirit concept that's obviously been done before and gives it a nice added touch. There is nothing in Creation that's truly original, but it utilizes all the familiar formulas and creates its own terrifying story, that also manages to be an awesome prequel to a first film that really doesn't deserve this kind of follow-up. Here's hoping that David. F. Sandberg returns to direct the next installment, as he truly seems to get the terror aspect of the story that revolves around a creepy doll. If you haven't seen Annabelle: Creation yet, its time to put one's shield down and let it creep you out for 109 minutes, while also showing how building up suspense and tension is properly done with solid storytelling.

                                                                                                                              Final Verdict: Buy It