Annabelle - 9/10

Directed by John R. Leonetti - Written by Gary Dauberman

This film continues the story that started in Annabelle: Creation. We follow the story of a pregnant couple who live next door to Annabelle's (Janet's) adoptive parents, as seen in the previous film. The final scene of Annabelle: Creation is portrayed at the beginning of the film but from the perspective of this couple. Once Annabelle and her accomplice murder her parents, the scene continues with the two of them intruding on the couple's house where they attempt to harm the couple and succeed to an extent before police arrive at the residence and end up shooting Annabelle and her accomplice. Her accomplice is later revealed to have been her boyfriend and the police believe that they were in some sort of cult that worshipped Satan and were attempting to summon an evil spirit.

The pregnant wife (Mia) collects dolls and ends up receiving the Annabelle doll from her husband as a gift. After accepting the doll into their house, and Janet and her supposed boyfriend are shot dead in the house, strange things start happening around the house. Before her death, Janet showed a great interest in the doll and ended up dying holding it in her arms. This prompts the couple to throw the doll away but getting rid of the doll tends to be more difficult than it seems (who could've seen that coming). Getting rid of the doll shows great use of logic by the characters but seems to have enraged the spirit as more malicious events start happening around the house. These supernatural events seem to only happen to Mia, showing yet again that the spirit aims for the more vulnerable person as is seen in all other Conjuring films up until this film. Interestingly, as soon as the events reach this level the Husband (John) gets an opportunity to work in Pasadena and the couple move out of the house where Mia was experiencing the frightful events. This adds an interesting element as most people have the opinion that they would move out of the house if they started to experience supernatural events in it. The film challenges this showing that evil is not always so easily thwarted. At the same time that the couple move, Mia gives birth to her baby daughter (Leah). When setting up their new home and unpacking all of their belongings they discover the Annabelle doll in one of the boxes and Mia decides to keep it, unreasonably.

Apart from deciding to keep the doll the couple tend to show good logic throughout the film which is always more enjoyable for me as it shows confidence in the content and writing. The couple is portrayed as being in an extremely healthy relationship where they are very in love. This makes it easy to become invested in their lives. Its more difficult to relate to John than to Mia as he is not present a lot in the film and tends to just believe his wife when she says that strange things are happening in the house which feels more like a rush to reach the pinnacle moment at the end of the film but I guess it isn't completely unrealistic as it is based on a true story.

The film has a very old-fashioned style which gives it a similar vibe to movies like Rosemary's baby (a classic), which is just good execution by the director due to the year that the film is based in. There is an effective flow in the storyline even though some parts seem rushed and skipped over to favor scenes with the mother and her child. And, of course, the film ends with a necessary cliff-hanger providing foreshadowing to the next film in the series. That being said, the ending is satisfactory.