Annabelle: Horror not up to the mark

Annabelle
Starring: Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard
Rated: 5.5/10
In this prequel to last year’s hit The Conjuring, one feels the director is trying to do a lot of things just to invoke fear in the minds of the audience. Usually, movie spin-offs attempt to up the ante but inAnnabelle, director John R Leonetti of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation fame have taken a low-key approach, with a cast of unknowns substituting for such estimable performers as Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga and Lili Taylor.
Set in the late 1960s, the story revolves around young married couple John (Ward Horton) and Mia (Annabelle Wallis). Mia is pregnant and her husband gifts her a large-sized doll she's been wanting to complete her collection. Before Mia gives birth, their neighbours are murdered by their wayward daughter Annabelle and her boyfriend, members of a Manson Family-type satanic cult.
In the film’s most blood curdling scene, the intruders break into John and Mia’s house, with the boyfriend shot dead by police and Annabelle slashing her own throat while clutching the doll. The rattled couple quickly move into a creepy apartment building in Pasadena, but the shift in locale doesn't prevent things from happening.
As far as horror stories go, Annabelle has all the ingredients to make it a hit but one gets the feeling that director Leonetti has gone slightly overboard.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 12 October, 2014

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