Annabelle (2014) Review | FilmGamesEtc

Last year’s ‘The Conjuring’ from experienced horror director James Wan was an atmospheric haunted house outing which occasionally relied on horror movie tropes to execute on its scares. Ultimately, the reason I considered that film a worthwhile entry into the horror movie pantheon was because it surrounded its (scarce) jump scares with atmosphere, character and a story that went beyond objects moving around for inexplicable reasons. In ‘Annabelle’, John R. Leonetti (frequent James Wan collaborator and director of photography for ‘The Conjuring’) frames a handful of jump scares with a deftness that comes from familiarity with the genre. Unfortunately, he also happens to capture bland actors scarcely emoting in front of bland sets as they go through the motions of a rote and predictable supernatural story where objects and sometimes people are pushed around for inexplicable reasons.