Focusing on the creepy doll from “The Conjuring” who scared millions, this spin-off tells how Annabelle came to be. The director capitalizes on the childhood fears we have overcome and makes us remember why we tried so hard to conquer them in the first place. Although many will put on a tough act, I couldn’t help but jump at the unexpected parts. The haunting moments lingered for me and, as you leave the theater, you may be a little spooked.

Pulling in $37.1 million in only the first weekend, Annabelle has obviously made people curious enough to find out how this doll started off its hauntings. The main characters of the film are Mia Gordon (Annabelle Wallis) and John Gordon (Ward Horton), a couple in the 1960s, who are expecting their first baby. Though Evelyn (Alfre Woodard) is a lady who takes interest in helping their family when things go wrong, the plot is mainly focused on Mia and how badly the evil spirit, Annabelle, wants to possess her soul.

The movie begins with the couple’s neighbors talking about their daughter. She ends up being vital to the storyline. I wish the writers would have given a little more of a backstory on her. They just brought her into the movie really fast. I guess it was a good technique to keep people wondering what they might have missed.

Odd things soon begin to happen in the Gordon’s house, eventually pushing Mia over the edge. They move after a huge fire is mysteriously started and the baby is born.

I don’t blame her at all. If any of that stuff happened to me, I would be long gone and never go anywhere near that house again.

Even after moving to another town, the creepy doll seems to follow the family. Mia seems to be the target of the continued hauntings. She becomes paranoid enough to start looking into the cult that their former neighbors’ daughter was a part of and comes to the conclusion that the spirit is after her new baby.

Everything is not as it seems though, and the spirit eventually manipulates her into falling into its trap.

I did get a little confused at the ending because in “The Conjuring”, which takes place before after this movie, the doll was haunting another couple so it makes me wonder if there is going to be another movie made that fills in the story from there. I sure hope so, I would love to see what new hauntings happen because of the doll.

Although this movie is supposed to be based off of a true story, I think the makers made a smart decision by changing some parts of it like for example, the doll itself.

The doll used in the movie is creepy and old. In reality, they used a doll that looked nothing like the real doll for the sake of kids and scaring the viewers. The real doll was a plain Raggedy Ann doll. It looks completely harmless but is said to have done the actual things that the movie portrayed. It was a good choice to change to a scary looking doll because I sure wouldn’t have been scared with a cute one.

Director John R. Leonetti, who also directed Insidious and The Conjuring, has experience with scary movies. He’s no stranger to knowing how to play on people’s fears and I believe this movie did exactly what a horror movie should.
The film does seem a little too scary to be true but nevertheless, it was truly frightening. People who said it was going to be like the Chucky movie and not scary at all were the ones jumping and closing their eyes during the movie.

I’m the type of person who doesn’t get scared easily, but I definitely did feel a little scared after the movie. Like I said, it didn’t last for too long but long enough to make me wonder if there were any spirits around me when I got home.