Annabelle

Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "Before 'The Conjuring' there was 'Annabelle' ".

This sort-of prequel/spin-off to "The Conjuring" revolves around the eerie doll named Annabelle, which featured briefly at the start of that film. Set in the late 1960s, at a time where people rarely locked their doors, young couple John and Mia Gordon (Ward Horton and Annabelle Wallis) are expecting the arrival of their first child. Mia is an avid doll collector and is thrilled when her husband buys her an old porcelain doll, that she'd been after for a while (not sure why anyone would want to own such a butt ugly, creepy looking doll, but anyway...).

That night, they're attacked in their home by members from a bizarre cult, who are subsequently shot dead by the police. Shortly afterwards though, strange things begin to happen in their home. They notice the rocking chair the doll is sat in moves on its own. Strange noises can be heard in the house during the day and the doll appears to change positions.

When a fire mysteriously starts in their kitchen, they decide to move to an apartment block, only to find that the ghostly goings on follow them and get progressively worse. Including the visiting priest getting beaten up by an invisible force, and it seems that someone or something is after their newborn child. Supposedly based on a true story (yeah, right), this is actually a completely fictional back story about how the Annabelle doll became possessed, before it ended up in the hands of the student nurses featured at the start of "The Conjuring".

If you enjoyed "The Conjuring", you should enjoy this. But don't go thinking that any of these events are real.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• The real Annabelle doll, which currently resides in the Warren's Occult museum, was actually a fabric "Raggedy Anne" doll. Not a porcelain doll, as portrayed in the film.
• Alfre Woodard did not watch "The Conjuring", to prepare for the film. Instead, she researched the real life Annabelle case.
• The films budget was $6,500,000.
• US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres used to live in the apartment that they used in the film. She commented on her show that when she saw the film, she kept thinking the location seemed strangely familiar, until it finally dawned on her why that was.
• The character of Mia Gordon was named after actress Mia Farrow, who starred in "Rosemary's Baby". A story about a pregnant woman who's child is possessed by the devil..
• The attack on John and Mia and their neighbours by cult members was based on the real life attack of Roman Polanski's house by followers of Charles Manson's cult. There are actually news reports about the Manson cult in the film, so the reference is rather obvious.
• The elevator scene was directed by James Wan, who also directed "The Conjuring"
• The nurse holding Mia's newborn baby is the same one who brings the Annabelle doll to the Warrens at the start of "The Conjuring".
• The real story of the Annabelle doll was that it belonged to a medical student, who'd been given it as a present by her mother. However, she would return home each day to find it in a different position, and it would sometimes be holding a handwritten note for her. However, the dolls previous owners were never attacked by cult members and there was never any poltergeist activity as portrayed in the film. The backstory in this is entirely fictional and in all likelihood, there's enough doubt about the dolls 'actual' activities to conclude that it was probably the work of practical jokers.

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