Friday 10 October 2014

"Annabelle" (The Guardian 10/10/14)


Annabelle **
Dir: John F. Leonetti. With: Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard. 98 mins. Cert: 15

Creepy-faced mannequin Annabelle, the Satanic conduit of choice for last year’s rattly old horror junkshop The Conjuring, here lands her own none-too-original origin story, which cribs from Rosemary’s Baby in tormenting 1970s newlyweds with the spirits of Charlie Manson copyists. (Everything’s secondhand.) Director John Leonetti, cinematographer first time round, knows which buttons to push – shots of fingers nearing sewing machine needles to get everybody edgy, sudden shrieks and thunderclaps for popcorn-scattering – but he’s working around an underwhelming star turn. Annabelle, who takes an hour just to stand upright, will go down as the laziest devil-doll in movie history; compared to her, Chucky’s a Harvard MBA prospect. 

Annabelle opens in cinemas nationwide today.

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