"Annabelle" a mere review of horror cliché
Annabelle
Run Time: 98 minutes
Overall Grade: D
The standards were high for the prequel to The Conjuring, but Annabelle fell short of those standards. The film’s genre is placed under “horror” when it should be placed under “horror-comedy”. If you are looking for a classic thriller that has the potential to give you nightmares, this is not the film. The doll, which is creepy all on its own, outshines human co-actress Annabelle Wallis (insert joke about names here) in performance. This is not saying much, since the doll’s creepiness comes from the way the film was edited. The doll fell short of expectations as well, as it sits on a shelf or on a chair for most of the film, making you think it’s going to blink or start walking at any moment, which would have worked in its favor. There is no imagination to the plot, since everything that is seen in Annabelle has happened in multiple horror films before its time. It is very predictable and incredibly cheesy. The film is edited to create the story and attempts to get the audience on board with the characters, but the relationship from audience to characters is demolished within the first half hour. The scenes become predictable, as most events are repeated throughout the film, and extremely clichéd with obviously staged scares taking place. The characters become just characters, and unlike real people in a real-life situation, as films are supposed to make you feel. For what seemed like a promising premise with the possibility to inject some much-needed fresh blood into the genre, the film is a poorly reimagined copy of the hundred other films that have come before it. Annabelle is an obvious money-maker and lacks the substance of a good horror film. Too bad Hollywood will be wasting money on three more spinoffs.
