DIRECTOR: David F. Sandberg LEAD CAST: Anthony
LaPaglia, Miranda Otto, Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Lulu Wilson, Samara
Lee SCREENWRITER: Gary
Dauberman PRODUCERS: Peter
Safran, James Wan EDITOR: Michel
Aller MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Benjamin
Wallfisch GENRE: Horror
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Maxime Alexandre DISTRIBUTOR: New
Line Cinema LOCATION: California,
USA RUNNING TIME: 1 hour 50
minutes
Technical
assessment: 3
Moral
assessment: 2
CINEMA rating: V14
Dollmaker
Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and wife Esther (Miranda Otto) live a happy
life with their daughter Bee (Samara Lee) in a picturesque country home. Their life
crumbles when Bee dies in a road accident. In grief, the couple invokes the
spirits to get glimpses of Bee, unintentionally conjuring evil forces to infest
Annabelle, the doll Samuel was making at the time of Bee’s death. A priest
locks Annabelle in a chamber, only to be unbound 12 years later by curious
Janice (Talitha Bateman), one of the orphaned girls under the care of Sister
Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) who are welcomed by the Mullins to their home. Janice
becomes possessed and her friend Linda (Lulu Wilson) tries to free her by
throwing Annabelle in a well, but evil has been unleashed and Janice sets out
to wreak horror and blood in the household.
Hands-down
to the film’s meticulous production design. The old Victorian country house, costume,
makeup and music, with the 1940s song You
are My Sunshine that unfortunately becomes associated with horror, all make
for an eerie setting. There is gore alright, but what makes the film petrifying
is the effective use of slow panning of the camera to extreme close-ups,
lighting, haunting imagery with ascending music and sounds, and the characters’
penchant for whispers. Even with numerous allusions to the 2014 film Annabelle, this prequel which is the
fourth in the Conjuring franchise is
easily comprehensible for first-time viewers. The film’s letdown is in the
story, dialogue and characterization. One would think that a child’s
inquisitiveness can be quashed by grotesque dolls and creepy movements in the
dark. But the orphans are unperturbed and they wander about. Samuel is shallow
in his grief, and Esther’s character is wasted the whole time behind the canopy
of her bed.
The
film unpeels a most vulnerable emotion—grief—made more painful because it involves
the loss of a child. The devil seizes the opportunity and the parents realize
all too late that instead of holding on to God who is faithful to tide over His
children in their sorrow, they have bargained with the devil. The film’s message
is clear: do not cavort nor collude with any spirit, because that is an open
invitation to the devil. There are subthemes of good throughout the film: deep
faith, honesty, friendship, and charity. Nonetheless, the film is disturbing. For
all its cinematic value, juxtaposing innocent children with evil is still
unnerving. The devil is real, and the film leaves no doubt about it. Why
Annabelle/Janice kills only two people when she could have killed all is not
the question. What is appalling is that she kills only the parents, and in such
gruesome way. Even with the priest saying towards the end that the doll is now
empty of any evil force, succeeding scenes show otherwise: Janice escapes, is
adopted and later slaughters her adoptive parents (plot of the 2014 Annabelle) and the demon nun appears in
a convent in Romania (plot of The Nun,
the next film in the Conjuring series).
