Annabelle (Movie Review)

 ***There will be spoilers in this review***

Summary: 

Members of a satanic cult invade the home of a man and his pregnant wife and turn a vintage doll into a conduit for ultimate evil. 

Opening scene:

We get the same flashback from the conjuring about the 2 nurses experiencing paranormal activity when one of their moms gift them the Annabelle doll. 

I am thoroughly impressed with this movie. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. It has all the right elements from the sound, music, script, characters etc. Everything was really well thought out and I truly appreciate that in a movie. 

I love watching horror movies, especially, if there is a supernatural element to it. However, I've come across a lot of them that were complete garbage. Either the story is rushed or there's no plot or the acting is extremely terrible. But this movie really ticked all the boxes for me. I had this constant sense of dread and foreboding. I held my breath and at times a little scream escaped my lips. The camera work was phenomenal as well. Made me feel like I was right in the middle of it all. 

One of the most jarring scenes was the doll levitating in the air with the demon standing right behind it. That shit scared me so much because it was so unexpected. The other one was when Mia was in the storage area of the apartment complex and the demon was hunting her up the stairwell using the darkness to hide itself. Looking into the dark and seeing an outline is so creepy. 

I love that they briefly mentioned Ed and Lorraine, especially, with how closely they are to this story. I definitely appreciate the homage to the first movie. 

I liked the story but not particularly happy with how things ended. Despite knowing this evil entity wanted a soul they gave it exactly what it wanted. The demon made Mia believe that it stole her baby and wanted her soul in exchange. Evelyn, a friend of the couple's sacrificed herself saying her daughters spirit saved her for this moment which I call bullshit. No daughter would stop a mothers suicide to just allow her to sacrifice herself only to be condemned for an afterlife of suffering and eternal damnation. 

I also liked that the final scene was the Annabelle doll being sold in a shop and a mother comes in saying she is going to buy the doll for a daughter who's a nurse. I love when things come full circle. Makes it for a more fulfilling ending to a story. 

Rating:

I am going to give this movie 4.5 stars on 5. I really enjoyed this movie aside from that weird ending. I'm not thrilled with the prospect of the story saying you've gotta give in to evil because that's the last thing you should be doing but overall awesome movie.