“Annabelle” is a movie about a doll named Annabelle who kills people. That is the premise, and the film spends nearly every minute trying to make it feel scary. It fails. The result is a film that feels less like a horror movie and more like a slow-motion pitch for a sequel.
The plot is simple. A couple, John and Mia, buy a vintage doll at a yard sale. They bring it home, and soon strange things start happening. The doll is possessed, and it starts killing people. The film strips the story of everything that made it interesting.
Trailer, via Warner Bros. UK & Ireland.
The Doll’s Face
The doll itself is the centerpiece. It is a porcelain figure with a painted face, and the movie treats it with great reverence. The problem is that reverence never translates to fear. The doll looks creepy, but it never feels like a threat. It is a prop, not a monster.
The film tries to build tension through close-ups of the doll’s face and shots of it moving on its own. None of it lands. The doll’s movements are clumsy, and the effects look cheap. In a film about a killer doll, the doll should be terrifying. Instead, it is a joke.
Death After Death
The people around John and Mia die one by one. Each death is staged in a similar way: a sudden attack, a scream, a quick cut away. The deaths are meant to be shocking, but they are not. They are dull.
The film also includes a subplot involving a priest and a nun who investigate the doll. This adds nothing. The priest character is supposed to be a wise mentor figure, but he is a talking head with no personality. The nun exists only to be threatened by the doll. Neither character contributes anything to the story.
Tone Trouble
The tone is inconsistent. Some scenes are meant to be tense, others are meant to be funny. The film does not know which it wants to be. One moment it is a horror movie, the next it is a comedy. This confusion is the film’s biggest weakness.
The dialogue is flat. Characters talk about the doll in vague terms, and no one ever asks the obvious question: why not just throw the thing out? The film expects the audience to accept that a doll can kill people without explaining how or why.
Sequel Setup
The film is clearly designed to set up a sequel. The ending is a cliffhanger that leaves the doll alive and ready for the next chapter. This is a shame, because the film is weak enough on its own that a sequel would be even worse.
The setup for the sequel is so obvious that it feels like a cheat. The filmmakers are not interested in finishing this story. They are only interested in selling the next one.
What the Film Gets Wrong
“Annabelle” is a failure on every level. It is not scary, it is not clever, and it is not fun. It is a hollow exercise in jump scares and cheap shocks. The film wastes its premise, and it wastes the time of anyone who watches it.
There is a reason the movie has a low score. It is not a matter of taste. The film is simply bad.
“Annabelle is a haunted doll movie that fails to scare.”
The film is best described as a missed opportunity. The real story behind the doll is fascinating, and the film could have done something with it. Instead, it chose to make a generic slasher movie with a porcelain face.
The film has a score of 3.7 out of 10.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
