Making a Deal with the Devil in Annabelle: Creation: A Film Review

*there are spoilers here.

Director: David F. Sandberg.

Writers: Gary Dauberman and Gary Dauberman.

Cast: Anthony LaPaglia, Samara Lee and Miranda Otto.

The supernatural world created by The Conjuring film franchise is a terrifying one. The back stories from the three films (The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016) and Annabelle (2014)) form the backdrop and are acknowledged in Annabelle: Creation and what's next may well put all the films into a darker perspective. Much like Paranormal Activity, the supernatural beast everyone wants to know more of is being revealed slowly. In this film series' case, Valek is like Tobey. When considering how the lore portrays this demon sometimes appearing in the form of a child riding a two-headed dragon, this movie is not too far off the written canon. Works that reference him include the Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy and Pseudomonarchia Daemonum by Johann Wier.

This critic assumes that this creature is the best this sequel to a prequel this movie's ensemble of protagonists have to face. As the film began, I knew Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) is no Andre Toulon of Puppetmaster (1989) fame. He is a dollmaker with no sinister intent living in the outskirts of an unknown California town circa 1945 and it was at this time when he planned to make an exclusive line of porcelain figures. But when tragedy falls upon the family (his young daughter is killed in a road accident), he quits the business and both he and his wife fall into a deep depression. They mourned for too long and a decade later, thought turning their home into a shelter for a displaced group of children (their orphanage was closed) can bring light back to their lives. Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) is their caregiver.

A familiar demonic face.

One of the girls, Janice (Talitha Bateman) senses where they are going is different and her BFF Linda (Lulu Wilson) eventually agrees. The jump scares are well placed. The house they go to live in and its Gothic style ambiance and '50's era set decoration sent shivers down my spine.

Sadly, the movie moved downhill when the "claim your soul" line was used. Now, if it was explained in context to answer the fact the Mullins wanted their daughter back from the dead and will do anything for her return, I could get it. But when the line was screamed indifferently, I would rather watch a movie about Robert Johnson making that deal with the devil at the crossroads. In folklore, his supernatural contract explained how he can deftly play the Blues. Some answers are revealed, but I felt the information was flat and uninspiring.

Whatever Samuel and his wife did to contact this evil, this film left me asking questions. A glaring detail is missed about how the era post World War II embraced spiritualism. As some families lost loved ones during the conflict, a segment of those grieving parents and wives joined his movement to make contact with the deceased. I would not be surprised if the Mullins did the same. While they said prayers, others took to table tipping and the ouija board. The scenes that connected this film with The Conjuring universe lasted for about ten minutes. An appearance from The Nun is suggested and she may well have taken an interest in what is transpiring a country away.

When this prequel series is meant to give the doll the spotlight, these other evil entities should not be aware of what each other is doing. Unless they have a mutual agenda, like turning the human world to hell so they can run amok (rather than stuck in another dimension), just what they do independently does not require cameos; they are unneeded to advance the story. This movie suffers from two possible appearances, including Bathsheba Sherman. I have to watch this film again with a pause button to double check on this detail, but I'm fairly sure that was her during act three of the film. If one entity is from a nursery rhyme (Crooked Man), another wanting to live on earth (Ram) and the demon nun (Valek) is a passing figure, I'm waiting for the day producer James Wan announces his version of the Legion of Doom to rival DC Comics.

This spin-off series seems to suggest quoting from the Bible does nothing to stop these dark forces. It can put them at bay, but not send them back from whence they came. That is why The Demon Nun is everywhere. Plus, invoking the name of God hardly helped anyone trying to escape the terror nestled in the Mullins' house. While I appreciate the fact this movie is not your typical scenario of meeting the paranormal and dying, just who shall return means waiting for the inevitable part three to this spinoff, or waiting for the Warrens to lead the next paranormal case. I doubt the Doris Blither Case (The Entity) in Culver City, California will get remade, but with Hollywood, they always run out of fresh new ideas.

Overall: 6 out of 10.

28DLA writer Ed Sum runs his own website here: Ed Sum at Otakunoculture

The first film (Annabelle, 2014, on VOD):




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Posted in: 2017,Annabelle,Conjuring,haunted house,james wan,movie,movie review,New Line Cinema,Possessed Dolls,story,supernatural,theatre