Annabelle: Trilogy Review

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No one likes creepy dolls in their house because they tend to be possessed by evil supernatural creatures eager to wreak havoc on whomever is unfortunate enough to find themselves in their vicinity. Well, Annabelle doesn't care what you want; and if you try to run, her demon buddy will drag you right back so he can eat your SOUL! I've watched all 3 Annabelle movies and here are my reviews. Warning: SPOILERS.



ANNABELLE (2014)

Mia just loves antique dolls and so she's delighted to have Annabelle in her home. Unfortunately, the neighbours' psychotic daughter who joined the Children of the Ram returns home to kill her parents and accidentally bleed on the innocent doll, thus transferring a demon that will torment Mia, her husband John, and their baby daughter Leah. The only way to make him go away? Give him a soul, preferably little Leah's...


[Confession time: I watched this back in June 2023 and didn't bother re-watching it, so will be taking this review from what I wrote on Twitter at the time.]


This reminded me of The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It - a nameless demon looking for a soul, an unspecified ritual, and a Children of the Ram mention. This demon was more active, though, even if the movie would, of course, never let things go as far as Mia actually killing Leah. Ironically, Evelyn, the new neighbour who helps the main couple deal with the supernatural threat, had a deeper story than the leads. Still, much like in The Devil Made Me Do It, all the characters felt lifeless and the movie as a whole was bland. Also, while it was named after her, creepy doll Annabelle wasn't used that much.



VERDICT

Very disappointing.



ANNABELLE: CREATION (2017)

Samuel Mullins is a dollmaker who lives with his wife, Esther, and a daughter, Annabelle, whom they call Bee, in an isolated farmhouse. His most recent creation? Annabelle, the doll we all know and fear. Shortly after, Bee dies in an accident. 12 years later, the Mullins agree to let Sister Charlotte and the girls from St Eustace Home for Girls stay at the house. Among them are friends Linda and Janice, who slowly begin to experience supernatural phenomena, and whatever is behind it, has set its sights on Janice...



Far better than the first one, this prequel of a prequel has the distinction of being one of the few movies where the non-possessed people are creeped out by the spooky doll even before weird things start to happen. The fact that Annabelle was being kept in a secret locked closet with the walls covered in Bible pages and crucifixes, in Bee's room, which is itself filled with dolls and puppets, probably helped. In fact, the whole house, with a nearly silent Samuel and a reclusive Esther, is pretty spooky even without any demons sneaking around; there's even a creepy scarecrow in the barn. The Mullins are sympathetic, but only up to a point. It's easy to see why desperate parents would beg for a chance to see their dead daughter again and not care who had answered their prayers, but after the yet unnamed demon reveled itself and scratched out Esther's eye, it makes no sense for them to not only invite several people into their home, but also not check the secret closet regularly just to make sure everything was still okay. Yes, the Church blessed it and it's been more than a decade without any supernatural manifestations, but come on. When Linda tells Samuel about Bee and the doll, he just tells her Janice must stay away from it! Of course, by then, Not Really Bee had already spat her demonic goo into Janice, so there wasn't much anyone could do, but Samuel's general inertia was pretty annoying. He really should've paid more attention to that closet, because now that the demon has a new vessel, it appears he and his wife are no longer needed. He's the first to go, and it's a rather crunchy death. Not Really Bee has a bloodier ending planned for Esther, who ends up crucified on the wall... with half of her body missing! I wasn't expecting that much gore. It's nice that the demon was given some kills, though he gave up on the scarecrow way too quickly.



The ending connects to the first Annabelle, but it doesn't make much sense for the demon to be inactive for so long. At least it's what it looks like from the family photos showing a smiling Annabelle/Janice until she's older. And if Janice was possessed when she killed her adoptive parents, why didn't she use her demonic powers when she attacked Mia and John? What also doesn't make sense is saying that people must agree to give up their souls in Annabelle, and then have Janice be forcibly possessed. However, that concept seems to be limited to the first prequel. There's also a link to The Nun (reviewed here), with Sister Charlotte showing Samuel a photo from when she went to a convent in Romania and Valak is visible in the background.



VERDICT

Inconsistencies aside, Annabelle: Creation is surprisingly good. There are lots of spooky moments and Annabelle gets to be her creepy stalker self. Sister Charlotte, Linda, and the other girls all surviving was hard to believe, but the Mullins' graphic deaths compensated for it.



ANNABELLE COMES HOME (2019)

Ed and Lorraine have just had Annabelle blessed and locked in a glass case they got from a church, so it should be okay to leave their daughter Judy at home with only her teenage babysitter to watch over her. However, with Mary Ellen comes Daniela, who blames herself for her father's death and wants to use the Warrens' collection to contact him. There's also Bob, the boy Mary Ellen has a crush on and who shows up to woo her. Naturally, it doesn't take long for Annabelle to be free and bring forth more malevolent spirits linked to other cases handled by the Warrens...



In theory, this should be a good movie, but for some reason, the people behind it decided to turn it into children's horror. Well, sort of, because there are nursery rhymes more violent than this. Turns out Annabelle, the doll, is a beacon for other spirits, which will allow for other leftovers from previous cases to start manifesting after she's set loose. So, Annabelle will be forced to share screentime with the Ferryman, a spirit with a thing for coins and coffins, a Hellhound, a murderous wedding dress, a haunted samurai armour, a TV that shows the future, and several more artifacts that will rattle and move in the background. Unfortunately, quantity doesn't mean quality, and it's hard to take any of these threats seriously when they're unable to harm 3 teenagers and a preteen. Annabelle isn't even the creepiest one here - that honour goes to the Ferryman, even if Mary Ellen easily escapes him. The samurai armour, with the echoes of its bloody past was quite sinister, too, though it doesn't really do anything but stand around spooking people. Just to give anyone reading this an idea of how ineffectual these spirits are, Bob manages to stop the Hellhound from attacking Judy by... hitting it with his guitar. It's a Hellhound, FFS. The wedding dress briefly possesses Daniela, who manages not to stab anyone, and is exorcised through a video of Ed performing an exorcism. I thought holy water and an actual crucifix were important, but apparently not. Meanwhile, Annabelle focuses on Judy, and her demon, who was victorious in the previous 2 movies, tries to eat her soul... only to be defeated by a single crucifix to the forehead, and Annabelle ends up locked in the case again. This is just embarrassing.



VERDICT

Annabelle loses her bite in this bloodless offering. It becomes clear halfway through that the characters are safe, which undermines the occasional spookiness. No one even gets maimed. What an odd direction to take the Annabelle spin-offs, especially after Annabelle: Creation. Even Annabelle (2014) had some proper deadly demon action. I initially called this YA horror, but some YA books/movies are way more violent than this, so it didn't even get there.



RANKING

Annabelle: Creation isn't just the best of the 3 movies - it's also a good movie in general. I wasn't a fan of Annabelle, but it's a lot closer to what a movie about a demon-attached doll should be than the lame Annabelle Comes Home. I'm curious what will happen if there's a fourth movie. Will it take Annabelle back to her more murderous roots, or will it carry on with this tween horror thing?



By Danforth

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