Here is my review of the movie ANNABELLE, but first let me remove all the creepy dolls from the room. ANNABELLE Director: John R. Leonetti Starring: Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis and Alfre Woodard Grade: C Before I get this review underway there are two points Iād like to bring up. The first is that I am not a huge fan of horror movie prequel/origin stories, and I went into the screening of ANNABELLE with that prejudice, but I donāt believe it clouded my overall view of the film. The other point is that I would like to discuss my biggest disappointment in the movie, the ending. Obviously, this will be spoilerific, so I will write my review and follow that up with a look at the filmās story and the ending we were given. ANNABELLE is the prequel to the James Wan hit movie THE CONJURING, in which audiences were introduced to the demonically possessed doll, Annabelle. While THE CONJURING has an introductory scene that introduces the doll and the married, paranormal investigation duo, The Warrens, the audience never learns why the doll is evil or where it came from. ANNABELLE gives us that story. The problem I have, generally, with monster origin stories is that they tend to lift the veil on what makes the scary monster evil or monstrous. Most times, all it does is remove the very thing, the aura so to speak, that made the monster scary. In the case of ANNABELLE, that is not the problem as the doll is given a well designed origin that doesnāt betray what we know from THE CONJURING. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie doesnāt hold up its end of the bargain. Mia and John Gordon is a young married couple in love and about to have their first baby. Mia is a collector of vintage dolls, and on the same night in 1969 that a newscast reveals the crimes of the Manson family, she is given the doll we know as Annabelle as a gift from her husband John. On that same night, cultists have come to town with murderous intent and as weāve seen from the trailers, one of them is killed and bleeds onto the doll, seemingly attaching her ghostly essence/evil to it. Soon after these events strange things begin to occur, and as anyone would after a horrific experience where people are killed and blood splatters the walls, the Gordonās decide itās best to move out of the house. Coincidentally John, who is a medical student, needs to move into the city to be near his first residence assignment. It all works out in the end, right? The Gordonās move into an apartment building and itās here that ANNABELLE attempts to evoke some imagery from ROSEMARYāS BABY. While capturing the visual element of a tall, somewhat secluded, claustrophobic apartment building; ANNABELLE does not attempt to take advantage of that by actually secluding Mia and her newborn baby. In fact, the problem is that Mia has all the support in the world for what sheās going through because moving from the house doesnāt stop the paranormal activity, it seems to intensify them. This is where one of the main issues, for me, comes in. The movie should focus on secluding Mia from everyone emotionally as well as physically. Itās not enough that her husband works long hours because he is, quite literally, the most awesome husband ever. Earlier in the movie he correctly points out, very nicely, that starting a residence at the same time their first baby is about to be born causes some stress. He apologizes to his upset wife for stating the obvious! Whenever Mia needs help, John is there by her side in a flash. When Mia reveals to John, her priest and the bookstore owner she meets near the apartment building, that she is being haunted and that itās probably the doll, everyone believes her. No one thinks sheās crazy, no one doubts her story, and there is only one mention of post partum depression which is quickly apologized for and forgotten. Mia has the greatest support team in horror movie history. Eventually we learn what Annabelle is after, and that Mia has decisions to make to possibly end the visitation by Annabelle. Unfortunately, the wrong decisions are made and the ending does not serve the story. It feels like we were given a āhappyā ending. In this type of movie, where we know what happens to Annabelle, I think the writers/director have some freedom to tell a horror story where there isnāt a pleasing or happy ending (Iāll get into this more later). The acting is very good; the Gordonās are a believable happily married couple. Father Perez, as the family priest, is unremarkable as a character. The bookstore owner, Evelyn, is an added support for Mia but has little to do in the movie until the very end. The film is well shot, but there is a feeling of been there, done that. The music, the solid ghosts that reside in the background then quickly appear in the foreground, itās a very James Wan formula type of movie. While I understand staying with the aesthetic that was introduced in THE CONJURING, the movie comes off as James Wan lite, to its detriment. There are some effective jump scares, but the best ones were mostly revealed in the trailers leading up to the movieās release. Overall, ANNABELLE is a solid possessed doll movie, though there are a few plot holes and the ending takes the teeth out of the sense of terror in the story. Now about that ending...Itās time to get into the meat of the story and why the ending of ANNABELLE doesnāt serve the story. So, here is your SPOILER warning. Turn back now if you have not seen ANNABELLE. Letās get some of the particulars of the story out of the way before we get to the happy ending. Annabelle, we learn, is possessed by a demon that was called upon by the murdering cult couple from the beginning of the movie, and it is revealed that this demon is craving a pure (i.e. innocent) soul to consume. Obviously, the purest soul is Mia and Johnās newborn and super adorable baby. The haunting activity that happens is all designed to get that babyās soul. We later learn that a soul cannot be taken by the demon; it has to be offered to it. Problem #1: When Mia learns that the demon canāt take a soul unless itās willingly given, that turns the demon haunting into a giant long-term temper tantrum. The demon wonāt/canāt kill the baby or Mia, because that would mean their souls are not available. That means Annabelle spends its time playing records, throwing stuff around, making banging noises and pretending to scratch and scar Mia. But, essentially, Annabelle has no real power over Mia becauseā¦ Problem #2: Everyone is so awesome and supportive. There arenāt too many characters in the movie, but they all believe her claims that Annabelle is haunted or possessed, and that she is the target of these haunting. Where is the doubting character, the laugh in her face character, where is the isolation?! If youāre going to mimic ROSEMARYāS BABY apartment building seclusion, then you need to mimic the emotional isolation. Itās not enough that John works late hours, he has to be unavailable and callous to her description of the events inside the apartment. He canāt just be physically unavailable; he has to be emotionally unavailable. Heās already admitted heās under pressure. Now the baby is there, heās off on a residence for long hours and his wife is claiming that she and the baby are being attacked by a possessed doll. For the ending to work, for the decision that has to be made to work, Mia must be cut off from that support, becauseā¦ Problem #3: Mia has bookstore owner, Evelyn. Letās be clear, Evelyn being supportive and believing Mia isnāt the problem. The problem is that Evelyn is so obviously a red shirt. Alfre Woodard, because sheās a great actress, imbues Evelyn with a grace and sadness that goes beyond the script. Alfre elevates her part in the movie, but can only do so much becauseā¦red shirt. Evelyn being a red shirt is a problem becauseā¦ Problem #4: That ending sucked. All the haunting, all the reveals and all the red shirting done by Evelyn leads to Miaās choice given to her by Annabelle. She can, as a mother, offer her baby up to get rid of the demonic activity or offer her own soul in exchange for the life of her baby. So Mia has two choices, both of which are horrific but for the purpose of this movie and the audience, totally awesome and serves the story. Ending possibility #1: Mia kills her super cute baby, giving the babyās soul to Annabelle and sending the demon on its way, sated. This is obviously the most horrific ending, and I would never expect a Hollywood studio horror movie to end with a mother killing her baby to save herself. A little over the top perhaps, but it would have been a jaw dropping end to a movie that clearly needed, and deserved, a horrific ending. Ending possibility #2: Mia sacrifices herself in place of her baby. Mia canāt simply proclaim her own soul forfeit to the demon; she has to commit suicide to give her soul over. While teased, this is the ending that should have happened. The baby is saved, and thatās great. But Mia is dead; her husband in shatters, Annabelle has destroyed a family AND has a fresh soul to consume. Annabelle is an awful and horrific doll demon and deserves to be locked in the Warrenās basement for all time. This ending could have happened if Mia had been emotionally secluded and without a supportive husband or neighbors. This works because we know Annabelle goes on to haunt someone else and ends up in the Warrenās basement. The evil does not NEED to be defeated. Sometimes evil wins, itās ok to show that. Real ending: Evelyn takes Miaās place, and offers her own soul for the demon to take. The movie teases Mia killing herself, but John is there to save her. Of course he is because heās a super awesome husband who is always there to save and support his wife. While this should be applauded, this is a horror movie and being this awesome of a person just makes him a dick. While Mia and John console each other, Evelyn steps up and jumps to her death while holding Annabelle to satisfy the demonās need for a pure soul. Which begs a few questions. Does the demon not care whose soul it gets? Weāre told that the demon wants a pure soul, and that soul is either the babyās or Miaās. Why is Evelynās acceptable? If the demon doesnāt care whose soul it gets that kind of negates the weight of Miaās choice (even though she doesnāt go through with the suicide). She could have picked some homeless guy off the street, pushed the doll into his arms and pushed him out the window after filling him with enough booze to freely, albeit drunkenly, give up his soul. Having Evelyn, the red shirt, make the sacrifice brings us tooā¦ Problem #5: if Annabelle the demon wants a pure/innocent soul, how is Evelyn acceptable as a replacement for either Mia or the baby? Evelyn, as we learn earlier, attempted to commit suicide after the death of her own daughter. Doesnāt that attempt put a mark of non-innocence on her soul? This is where the ending doesnāt serve the story. Why would the demon accept Evelyn as a replacement soul for Mia or her baby. Thereās no reason to accept Evelyn at all, aside from the fact that the Gordonās survive the ordeal and can continue having a happy life free of any creepy demon dolls. As much as a movie that ends with a suicide can be, this is essentially a happy ending. The only characters we really care about, the Gordonās, survive and the red shirt dies. Aside from some minor complaints, I bought into ANNABELLE. As the movie crept closer to its ending and I started to think that maybe they would do one awful death to really shake up the audience, the rug is pulled out. ANNABELLE has the ingredients to be a great movie, but it didnāt quite nail the landing.
izzy806
pixelskylines
jacobvanloon
areudirty
andulkaphoto
ellievsbear
dededos
tangentwithtanner
