Audio By Carbonatix
Annabelle, an effective prequel to horror pastiche The Conjuring, surpasses its
predecessor simply by virtue of occasionally being scary.
Both films are overreliant on deafening sound effects and sideeye glimpses of underwhelming
ghosts. But Annabelle‘s scare scenes are better paced and more thoughtfully lensed. Its hokey,
funhouseworthy spooks a satyrlike demon and nightieclad cultist aren’t more frightening, but they
are presented in a superior light.
The films are stylistically similar but are only narratively related by a common prop: a haunted, Lady
Elaine–esque doll.
That goofylooking toy is one of several formerly inanimate objects that pick on expecting couple John
and Mia (Ward Horton and Annabelle Wallis) after Satanic cultists attack their idyllic suburban home.
Even after moving to a new apartment, Mia fears for her unborn daughter’s life when she’s summarily
assaulted by everything from a creaky rocking chair to a black baby carriage.
Annabelle‘s percussive series of jumpscares rarely feels monotonous thanks to helmer John
R. Leonetti’s assured direction. With a lot of help from cinematographer John Kniest, Leonetti (Mortal
Kombat: Annihilation, The Butterfly Effect 2) admirably sets up terror that the film usually
doesn’t fully pay off, like an early jolt when Manson Family–style fanatics are shown massacring
John and Mia’s nextdoor neighbors through adjoining bedroom windows.
Both killers and victims overact abysmally, but Leonetti’s suspenseful choreography and Kniest’s low-
contrast, motionsmoothed digital photography make the scene feel like a voyeur’s nightmare.
Annabelle‘s similarly inelegant, but surprisingly unnerving.
