Annabelle: Creation - The Conjuring Universe
Quick Background
Annabelle: Creation takes place in the year 1955, and was released in 2017. Although this was the fourth movie released for “The Conjuring Universe”, it is the second movie chronologically. I would like to say that the cast is amazing, Anthony LaPaglia who plays Mr. Mullins the doll maker is perfectly stoic, and Miranda Otto who plays Mrs. Mullins his wife is just wonderful. I love her in everything she does, as Aunt Zelda in the Netfilx series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and as Eowyn in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. She brings that same fire to the screen here. Ok and now I have to rein in my fangirl moment.
About This Movie
No actual spoilers here. This movie helps us go back and understand how something like Annabelle came into our world. It opens on a happy scene of a doll maker playing hide and seek with his daughter Bee, and his wife joins in on the game. At the beginning of this scene we also see him making a THE doll and branding a box with a logo and the limited edition “__ of 100” and then he puts in the number 1. Unfortunately this isn’t a happy movie, and shortly after this happy scene we see the Mullins loose Bee in an accident.
After twelve years they open their home to an orphanage and take in a nun and six girls, one of them is on crutches due to complications from Polio. This is Janice, she and Linda are the youngest and are very close, nearly sisters. The other 4 girls do not tend to include them in anything. As they arrive at the house, we find out that Mrs. Mullins is ill and hidden away in her bedroom, however the girls have full access to the rest of the house. That is until Linda finds the only locked bedroom on the second floor. Which Mr. Mullins pops in to frighten her and explain that that door will always remain locked.
Janice awakens that night and enters the locked room, whose door is somehow ajar. She finds a key to a hidden closet and proceeds to open it. And here is where I will simply say and then the fun begins. Obviously behind this locked door is Annabelle although she is in almost perfect condition.
From here the scary just does not end. And the entity seems to hone in on Janice. So that I don’t ruin anything, you know no spoilers, I will say that it becomes pretty clear what is going to happen (except for the twist at the end) but the scares are on point. While mayhem is going on we find out from Mrs. Mullins how this all began, and that she isn’t actually ill but deformed and broken because of the entity.
Yay or Nay
This movie is definitely in the YAY file. Possibly the saddest evil origin story about a grieving family taken advantage of. Usually I’m warry of movies with child actors because they can be hit or miss, but these girls blew me away. This movie not only helps explain Annabelle/the entity, but it sets up the next movie. I think that is what I love about this series of movies, they bleed into each other. Makes for very easy binge watching.
So pop the popcorn, grab your favorite candy, and beverage, and enjoy the scares!