cinemacl🎃wn’s review published on Letterboxd:
A spin-off of The Conjuring that also serves as a prequel to the events that unfolded in that 2013 feature, Annabelle is an absolutely bland, banal & boring example of its genre that doesn't pack an ounce of old-school thrills that James Wan's film revelled in and only exists to cash in on the original's success.
Set in the late 1960s, the story follows a young married couple who begin experiencing supernatural occurrences in their household shortly after their home is invaded by satanic cultists. Moving to a new location to start afresh, they soon realise that evil has followed them to their new home through a vintage doll.
Directed by John R. Leonetti, the film is lazily narrated from start to finish and only gets more tedious as plot progresses. The supporting characters are poorly written but the leading ones don't pack compelling arcs either. The scares are few n far in between, and most of it is poorly executed. After all, just about all of them are easily predictable.
Camerawork is uninspired, failing to establish an uneasy atmosphere except for the elevator segment which, as it turns out was directed by James Wan. Despite its 98 minutes runtime, the film feels quite overlong. Music fails to bring an ominous vibe into the narrative, and as far as performances go, the eponymous doll does a better job than the entire cast.
On an overall scale, Annabelle is a tediously directed & terribly scripted spin-off that fails at whatever it was trying to accomplish, and is a forgettable entry by all means. Even the scenes involving the porcelain doll fail to conjure the same level of interest that the original did in its limited screen time. A cheap, formulaic & disposable cash grab, Annabelle is disappointing on all levels.