Let's get something out of the way: Ed and Lorraine Warren were grifters and charlatans who made money off the suffering of real people. Did they sincerely believe the bullshit they were peddling? Almost certainly. But that doesn't excuse what they did, among which was capitalizing on the infamous DeFeo murders of Amityville, New York to make the claim that the house was haunted by an evil presence that had caused the family's oldest son to murder his entire family, and later driven out a family that had subsequently moved into the empty house. The Conjuring films were at least partly an attempt to whitewash the Warrens' reputation as ghost hunters and paranormal investigators while also emphasizing their Catholic beliefs. But as the franchise expands beyond stories about the Warrens themselves to tell stories about the various artifacts and hauntings they supposedly have come into contact with, I think there's the real potential to tell some interesting stories from across the mid-20th century. With The Nun and now Annabelle: Creation, I've only seen two of these spinoff films so far, and I've yet to see that potential completely realized, but hope springs eternal.The Annabelle sub-franchise focuses on a possessed doll that eventually came to be interred in the Warrens' occult museum. In the real world, this doll is a simple Raggedy Ann; in the film franchise, it's instead a more traditional porcelain doll, albeit one with a rather creepy countenance. Annabelle: Creation serves as a prequel to explain how the doll came to be, originally being created by a toymaker in rural California in the 1940s. It's very much a Catholic horror story: after the tragic death of the toymaker's daughter, he and his wife wished to any power that would listen to bring their child back, and got more than they bargained for. Eventually the Church had to be called in to stuff the demon that answered the call into a doll, which is kept contained in a closet lined with Bible pages. (Specifically, from the book of Lamentations.) They do their best to keep the evil locked up, but when a local orphanage goes under, they invite the orphan girls and their nun minder to stay with them in the vain hopes of doing penance, only for a curious child to let the demon out after all.
While Annabelle: Creation largely serves to give an origin to the Annabelle doll (why didn't the Church just take it away for a more thorough exorcism? why just stuff it in a closet in the daughter's bedroom?) it's also pulling double duty as a vehicle for some child actors to play budding scream queens. Other than the main character, who winds up possessed (and years later commits the murders that kick off the original Annabelle film) nothing bad really happens to the kids or even their minder. It's a surprisingly low bodycount, with only the couple being killed off (and their daughter, even though that was just a tragic accident.) Nevertheless, there's a lot of fun scares as the demon displays a twisted sense of humor and a predilection for theatrics. Talitha Bateman and Lulu Wilson as the two main characters are great actors for such a young age, though on the other end it's nice to see Anthony LaPaglia still getting work. There's also good cinematography throughout, as well as clever use of sound (I particularly like the ongoing trick of a ringing bell, originally
used by the disabled wife only for the demon to incorporate it into its
scares.)
I haven't seen the Conjuring movies, so I couldn't tell you if the claims of them being more "old-school" are true or not. But I can tell you that Annabelle: Creation is somewhere in the middle. While there is a strong old-school sensibility for most of the film, it's also a bit jumpscare-heavy, and makes the (in my opinion) fatal mistake of showing the demon's true form a lot. I'm a big believer in never showing the monster until just the right moment, if at all, and Annabelle: Creation violates this rule. It's still an okay film, but unlike The Nun, I think this particular movie mostly only works if you're already a fan of the Conjuring-verse.
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