Merry Christmas! Here's a movie about a demonically-possessed doll! Show it to your kids if they complain about Santa not bringing them enough.(Please don't actually do this.)
I did not have high expectations for this movie, considering that it's a prequel to a prequel that was itself unnecessary, but they really pulled it out.
After losing their daughter to a tragic accident, Samuel and Esther Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto) open their home to a handful of orphan girls, presided over by Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman). Janice (Talitha Bateman) is recovering from polio so she can't join in playing with the other girls. She explores the house and comes across Bee's (Samara Lee) old room, and the doll locked away in a closet papered with pages from the Bible. Soon, Janice has changed and her best friend, Linda (Lulu Wilson) is worried. An ancient evil thought to be contained has reawakened.
The first Annabelle movie was really a let-down for the franchise and I was frankly surprised they were going to give it another go. This is miles away better, however. It is genuinely creepy, helped by the power of suggestion. You never really see the monster/demon/evil full-out, which is great because then your own brain supplies the details to make it even more horrible and it's budget-friendly. There's a sense of escalation throughout the film, leading to the finale which ties in to the first film pretty nicely. They didn't have to show as much as they did there, but I guess the filmmakers wanted to show how a cute blond child becomes a brunette/auburn adult. There's also a couple of nice tie-ins to the next expansion of the Conjuring-verse, The Nun. Which is another story I'm not sure needs to be told, but if it's as good as this one, bring it on.
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