Annabelle: Creation (2017)
Annabelle: Creation: This One’s Actually Good | 3.5/5
Written by Noah Dietz: 4/12/2025
It's been almost nine full years since I watched Annabelle: Creation for the first time. I had been dragged there by a friend for what turned out to be a great year of horror for me. I likely wouldn't have seen Hereditary on opening night (or in theaters at all) if she hadn't dragged me out, and for that I'm grateful.
The irony that my second experience with any of the films in The Conjuring universe was one of the other best entries is not lost on me. While anyone can argue the “dead girl possesses a doll and haunts her family’s house” genre is a pretty well-trodden path, the setting here works for me. A lot of elements of this remind me of Curse of Chucky, which is the correct way for a doll story to play out, in my opinion. If you’re going to be inspired, you may as well be inspired by the all timer of the doll field.
Though we thought we saw the inception of the Annabelle doll being possessed in Annabelle, this story shows us a little more of the backstory. It wasn’t the cult activities starting the possession, but in fact two grieving parents thinking they were inviting their dead daughter back into their lives.They realize their mistakes and make an attempt to contain the spirit in a closet papered with pages of the bible and blessed by a priest. After some time, though, the demon attached to the doll wakes up when they take a group of orphans into their homes.
Many of the performances are impressive, given a majority of our cast are children. Indeed, with how impressive many of them are, it makes Anthony LaPaglia's stonefaced, emotionless performance as Sam Mullins even more disappointing. It truly feels like the only connection he had to making things work was in the opening of the film, and afterward he wasn’t able to convey the grief his character was meant to hold. Moments where he’s the shining star exist, but unfortunately most of his time is a little too wooden … No pun intended.
A keen eye will be rewarded while watching this one. Whether it’s the intentionally highlighted shadow of Valak in a photo of some Romanian nuns as a small teaser for the next film or just seeing Annabelle’s ghost lurk in the background, you’ll find plenty of little things to look at over the course of the film. While I missed it the first time around due to a lack of knowledge, we’ve got the demon who appears in the 2014 Annabelle as well. I wish this was what more of what we got from The Conjuring sequels that are out there. This is a story that stands on its own with small easter eggs.
Maybe it’s just because I’m watching all of these in a lot together, but the fact that this is the second best film of the entire Conjuring world is astounding. With a couple exceptions, this generally knocks it out of the park, and I wish more of the rest of the films would deliver like this one does.