ANNABELLE: CREATION || Coming off the success of last year’s horror film Lights Out, director David Sandberg takes over the “next chapter in The Conjuring universe” with the Annabelle prequel titled Annabelle: Creation. Surrounded by a little controversy at the moment, however, the entire Conjuring series is being put into question as author Gerald Brittle, who wrote a book on the Warren investigations back in 1980 titled The Demonologist which followed the case work of the paranormal investigators and was said to have sole rights to their story before Warner Bros. started making movies about them. He is now claiming $900 million in damages, even going on to say that the things in the movies are completely untrue and not consistent with the stories laid out to him for the writing of his book, calling into question the validity of the Warrens’ stories. None-the-less, with the trailer coming out, it looks like the show will go on.
First off, let me say that the bumper introducing this trailer is one of the most original ideas I’ve seen put to use in these opens, with Annabelle being made and put into a box that says “Official Trailer” on it. So many times these bumpers feel completely unnecessary and even sometimes give away big bits of the trailer, but this was a great introductions. This prequel sees the origin of Annabelle, created by a dollmaker who has lost his daughter. When the couple gets a chance to bring their dead daughter back, her spirit is connected to the physical doll so that she may live forever. With a nun and her orphans moving into the home, there are plenty to experience the creepiness of the doll. With no real connection to The Conjuring films at this point, we’ll see what Sandberg can do to revitalize this particular story, as the original Annabelle was not quite up to snuff. But it seems to be the way of Hollywood lately to bring successful directors on to direct sequels to horror films that miss their mark the first time (i.e. Mike Flanagan directing the Ouija sequel).
Release Date: August 11, 2017
Directed By: David F. Sandberg
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
