Annabelle: Creation

I went in hesitant with the knowledge that the conjuring universe is mixed in quality, but I was pleasantly surprised.

To start with this had the scariest scene of a horror (at least in my opinion), the first half of the film in particular being much scarier than I expected. This film felt like a breath of fresh air (while making me breathe much heavier ,it must be said) , where many horror films fall on the jumpscare trope this found original ways to find and develop fear. Granted the film had plenty of jumpscares it did not feel pushed or over the top. The actors were fantastic and my surprise in learning how young some of them were just exemplifies this. Meanwhile, the titular character was great as a source of fear.

During the course of the film I kept tally of how many times I could predict what was going to happen ,and although many of the plot points and scares I predicted the film still felt unique and the scares were just as effective. The film is not exactly realistic but if you have that expectation perhaps you shouldn't be watching a film about a doll coming to life.

The perfect example of Sandbergs great direction is expectation, throughout the film you are met while fearful expectation of what is going to happen but it remains cleverly crafted. An example of this is many, many times when you expect a jumpscare or scare of some sort and nothing happens, instead silence and this play makes this horror feel modern and unusual. What more can you want from a horror?