Annabelle

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: John R. Leonetti/Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard and Tony Amendola

Annabelle is a spin-off of 2013's The Conjuring; one of the very few excellently-crafted horror films I've seen in recent years. In that film, Ed and Lorraine Warren (well-played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who are real life paranormal investigators and collectors of cursed artifacts, figure prominently. An object they made a part of their sinister collection is a doll that also appeared in the film; one with a very creepy and unprepossessing face named Annabelle. Ed and Lorraine do not make an appearance in the spin-off, but the doll assumes a more significant role; one quite unnerving and ultimately frightening.

Director John R. Leonetti, who acquitted himself exceptionally well on The Conjuring as cinematographer, draws from horror cinema's bottomless bag of scare tactics and liberally borrows elements from a host of other films to tell his own. I have no problem with sampling and borrowing and out-and-out theft if the filmmakers can make old seem new. Leonetti ably succeeds; sustaining an atmosphere of dread and suspense without leaving one feeling manipulated and mentally-mugged.

Annabelle Wallis (her first name a eery coincidence, eh?) and Ward Horton play married couple Mia and John; a young-ish couple more or less starting out who are expecting their first child. While Mia stays at home, her husband spends his days working toward his residency. The couple is quite unextraordinary; church-going, bland and harmless. They are a Norman Rockwell portrait of domestic tranquility; one that contrasts sharply with the Manson family T.V. news item Mia watches one evening while she sews. The contrast seems to be some kind of commentary on the ideal of family in American culture; where the sunny notion of 1950s' domestic bliss is at almost hysterical odds with reality. This blemished concept of family is one of the more significant themes in Annabelle. The Manson news story not only establishes time and place in the narrative but also serves as sinister foreshadowing.

As a gift to Mia, John buys a doll for her collection which she places on the shelf.
One night, while the couple sleeps, Mia hears a commotion coming from the home next door. As she looks out of her window into the window of her neighbor's bedroom, she is witness to a horrific murder as their fellow, church-going friends are stabbed to death by a madman. Rousing John from slumber, Mia remains in the house while her husband runs next door. In the squirmy vulnerability of her wait, Mia hears a woman whisper "I love your dolly." Mia turns to see a scary-looking woman holding her doll and while her attention is riveted on the woman, she is attacked from behind by the man she saw attack her neighbors. In the midst of the violent struggle, the man stabs Mia in her swollen abdomen; jeopardizing the baby's life. John returns to fight off the man and before the woman can further menace the couple, she is shot dead by a cop who arrives on the scene. As the woman lay dying with the doll in her arms, a trickle of her blood seeps into the doll's eye socket.

In the days following the traumatic event, Mia recovers in the hospital; her unborn child miraculously unharmed. When she returns home, strange things begin to happen inside the house, specifically with the doll. And as stranger, more disturbing incidents begin to unfold, it becomes increasingly clear to Mia that the doll carries some kind of curse. She asks her husband to dispose of it, which he does.

Shortly thereafter, Mia and John learn that the couple who murdered the neighbors and invaded their home were members of a satanic cult called The Disciples of the Ram. From a T.V. news report, Mia also learns the woman who dripped blood onto and into the doll's body was named Annabelle Higgins, who murdered her own parents with her boyfriend's help. After a frightening occurence involving a fire, which starts after a container of Jiffy-Pop explodes on the stove when the knobs are mysteriously turned on, Mia persuades her husband that they move.

After John and Mia relocate to a new residence in an apartment building, she finds the doll is among the items moved from their old home. Rather than discard it, Mia decides to keep it (very puzzling decision). And after the strange and frightening incidents begin to reoccur, Mia and John seek out the counsel of their priest (Tony Amendola) who informs them dolls can be conduits for malign spirits, though he suggests their tormentor is more a demon than ghost. Mia re-establishes contact with the detective in charge of the Annabelle Higgins case and discovers the couple were seeking to sacrifice someone with the intention of summoning a demon. Eventually, it becomes evident to Mia that Annbelle Higgins' spirit is inhabiting the doll.

When the priest attempts to place the doll inside the sacred confines of his church, he is violently repelled, which leaves him hospitalized. A friend of Mia's named Evelyn (Alfre Woodard), who owns the bookstore next door to her building, learns of her problem and has her own violent run-in with the demon after trying to come to Mia's aid. This leads to a climax that borrows heavily, if not completely, from The Exorcist.

One could almost check off the countless horror movie allusions and stylistic nods that contribute to Annabelle but they are appropriated with skill and imagination.

Some shopworn elements of the horror genre just won't die. Once again, a character in a horror movie thumbs an old book on demons and witchcraft to learn more about the nether-creep menacing her (I wish I could find these books; they always look very interesting) and an arcane symbol (always a symbol!) left on a wall in Mia's home turns out to be the demon's sigil (we've never seen that before, have we?).

The movie also has its share of lapses in logic but overall, it is satisfying horror film and a worthy "prequel" to The Conjuring.

Annabelle Wallis deserves the lion's share of credit for making the film work. She plays Mia with restraint, never succumbing to the hysterics of horror movie acting. Her performance lends the film a great deal of credibility.

In the final shot, we see the doll resting safely (we assume) in Ed and Lorraine Warren's collection. Will other artifacts inspire more films? Could be fun. In the meantime, if you happen to be at a garage sale, you might want to resist the homeowner's eager and insistent exhortations to buy a doll. It just might save your life.