I thought the Conjuring was terrible. This is...OK?There's not much to say: it's a generic horror movie of a kind we've seen a thousand times. Very on the nose and the mystical black lady doesn't help.It's not easy to really root for Mr and Mrs Wholesome USA...And another thing: the original Annabelle is way scarier. Admittedly this Annabelle is the more creepy looking in her own right and I would NOT like to go to sleep in a room with her in but when contextualized into a horror movie, scary looking things are not scary. You need to use harmless looking things. So the used Raggedy Ann concept would have been much better.

This movie goes in line with such horror classics as Barbaras Baby, the Exorcist, The Omen etc. It takes the time it needs to fully develop characters, to make you feel for them (if that is in your capability) and fear for their sake. It's classic, sometimes subtle horror, with really well placed jump scares (and I've watched a lot of horror movies). It's definitely not a splatter nor a thriller nor a teeny-screamy, so don't expect one. This is a movie of a young family that is haunted by evil. The characters a believable, good-hearted and intelligent, and a hard crack for the evil forces that haunt them. It's ending doesn't come as such a surprise - thus only 9 stars - but it will keep watchers on the edges of their seats anyway. I'd recommend it for mature viewers, that love classic horror.

Released back in 2014, Annabelle is a movie that got a lot of attention in the horror genre. Based off the story of the original Annabelle doll, locked away in a museum for the occult, director John R. Leonetti brings to life one of the most iconic haunted doll stories known in history. I am utterly terrified of dolls, and I think that might have been why I found this film as scary as I did. I was surprise to find it had quite a low rating on IMDb, especially with the sequel just coming out before I watched the film. I fully believe this deserves a slightly higher rating than what it got.First of all, Annabelle Wallis was an absolutely amazing actress and stole the show completely. She did a spectacular job and she was easy to relate to; it was easy to feel the fear she was going through throughout the film – especially the basement scene. Following Annabelle, I am more than eager to go through her filmography and find more of her acting skills. She was just wonderfully talented.Unfortunately, this film does rely on a lot of old tricks of the paranormal genre. The seeing things, the writing on the wall, the demon chase up the stairs, and although terrifying, I would have loved to see more from this that wasn't the same as everything else in the genre. I feel like the directors and script writers could have done a lot more development with this. I am aware they were following the original real life story of Annabelle, but they could have enhanced it, made it a little more scary and not just another trope.There were cons and pros about this, and unfortunately, there were quite a few more cons than there were pros. However, this was still quite a good horror film, for the current age, and I'd definitely recommend this to those who enjoy being spooked.

I did watch this film several years ago but I had to re-watch it to make some pieces together after Annabelle: Creation.Actually, I like this part better, though I can not say that Creation is worse. I just think that this one was more entertaining and had some really scary scenes, unlike Creation.I also felt like some parts of this film were missing. The murder scene of their neighbors (done by their daughter) which is also used in Creation is kinda unexpected and when you think about it - kinda improbable. Especially what they were to do next. I guess there are many small details in this one and later in creation that does not really fit... but overall when you watch the films, you don't think about them.The librarian was an interesting character. I can not stop thinking of her role in Desperate Housewives.All in all, not bad. Rating: 6,6.