Review of Annabelle: Creation (2017) by Cdougall — 17 Aug 2021

Annabelle: Creation, for me, is by far the best installment in the Annabelle franchise and is one of the scarier movies in the Conjuring universe. The writing and directing are above average for the franchise and universe which all help to deliver a strong horror film.

Creation serves as an effective prequel to the not so good movie that came out a few years earlier, and through this avoids the “sequel is worse” trap. Creation isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s way better than Annabelle and injects new energy into the Annabelle movies and Conjuring universe at large.

There are some truly terrifying moments in this movie and ones that you may not see coming, giving this movie a few surprises along the way. The use of sound really amplifies this at a few moments and succeeds in making you jump in your seat a little bit.

There is a big sense of mystery throughout this movie that contributes to the anxiety of it since we don’t fully know what’s going on for a large part of the movie. When everything gets explained, the movie culminates nicely and gets a lot scarier for both the viewers and the characters.

The explanation is pretty good too and gives context for a lot of what we see in the movie. The characters in this movie aren’t perfect with curiosity/stupidity, but they do tell other people about what’s going on and try their best to resolve the issues of the movie, even if those efforts aren’t terribly successful in the end.

Creation manages to rise above cliche jump scares on many occasions which allows it to be interesting and intriguing at times and more than just your average horror flick. The script and directing allow this movie to do some cool stuff which I really appreciated.

Being that this movie is part of a bigger universe, the ending explains parts of its predecessor and gives you that big “ah-ha” moment that you’ve been waiting for as you’ve been watching the movie.

Creation is a great example of how the Conjuring universe has done a decent job of actually being a universe by giving backstories for many of its components and connecting the movies within it to each other.

There are a few moments in Creation that don’t make too much sense and that could’ve been executed a bit better, and there are a couple of cliches, but overall this is a solid installment in the Conjuring universe and a big improvement on the film that came before it.