Sunday, October 8, 2023

October Horror Challenge 2023 #31: "Annabelle"

This movie is "based on a true story," but it takes a truckload of artistic license with that supposed true story. One of the things they changed is the doll. The original Annabelle doll was a Raggedy Ann doll, which if you've never seen them those are creepy enough on their own. This is what they look like:

Creepy, right? i had one of these when i was a little girl and I swear the damn thing moved by itself while I wasn't in the room. I think the filmmakers thought they had to make Annabelle look scary, or scarier at least, so they gave her this horrifying visage that's on the doll everyone associates with these movies. The problem is, I don't know why anybody would buy a doll this ugly. Seriously this thing is horrifying even if it does nothing but stay seated by itself. I try to keep an open mind, and I remember what Stephen King said about how movies are always fiction, no matter whether they're based on a true story or not, because the medium of film fictionalizes things since there were no cameras there in real life (and this film is far from real life) so I'm going to see if I can appreciate the movie on its own merits without worrying about the backstory.

So this movie is about a man and his pregnant wife who move into a new house, and he buys her the world's ugliest doll as a housewarming present. Gee, thanks honey. Just what i always wanted. Soon tragedy strikes, and the woman and her unborn child find themselves fighting something evil that appears to be connected to the doll. Her husband doesn't understand her moodiness (I would be moody too if I had an evil doll stalking me) so he isn't much help. He tries calling a priest to give thek spiritual advice when he should be asking for an exorcism. Creepy things start happening around the house, with appliances turning off and on by themselves and the doll Annabelle seeming to move around by itself. Once the baby is born, the creepy stuff keeps happening, Soon the wife finds herself researching demonic cults in an effort to understand what's going on and what's up with the evil doll she has in her home. As the horrifying events escalate, the husbandfinally clues in that somethings wrong, and the wife must take action to save herself and her baby, but will it be too little, too late?

if i were the main character of this movie, the movie would be five minutes long, because as soon as anything even remotely scary started happening, I would be getting rid of that evil little doll. Hell, it would be no minutes long, because I wouldn't let that thing in my house in the first place. Seriously, does anyone else think that doll is horrific looking? it's described in this movie's synopsis as "a pretty doll in a beautiful white dress," but that thing ain't pretty. And if your name was Mia, would you name your daughter Leah, so your names could rhyme and you could feel like you were living in some kind of demented Dr. Seuss book. Just some little things that bugged me while I watched this movie. I had time to get irritated by those little things because this movie was so boring to me. I'm terrified of creepy dolls, so it doesn't take much for them to scare me, so I don't understand why this movie didn't scare me, but it didn't. Mom and dad are ok actors, and the baby is cute, but i never felt really invested in their plight. It'snothing i haven't seem in every other evil doll movie I've seen. the best thing about this movie was the steak nachos I ate while I was watching it. I just can't with this one. i avoided watching it for years, and i should have avoided it longer.

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