Taglines: Before The Conjuring, there was Annabelle.
John Form has found the perfect gift for his expectant wife, Mia – a beautiful, rare vintage doll in a pure white wedding dress. But Mia’s delight with Annabelle doesn’t last long. On one horrific night, their home is invaded by members of a satanic cult, who violently attack the couple. Spilled blood and terror are not all they leave behind. The cultists have conjured an entity so malevolent that nothing they did will compare to the sinister conduit to the damned that is now… Annabelle.
New Line Cinema’s supernatural thriller “Annabelle” begins before the evil was unleashed. She terrified you in “The Conjuring,” but this is where it all began for Annabelle. Capable of unspeakable evil, the actual doll exists locked up in an occult museum in Connecticut — visited only by a priest who blesses her twice a month.
Annabelle is an American supernatural horror film directed by John R. Leonetti, produced by James Wan, and written by Gary Dauberman. It is both a prequel to and spin-off of The Conjuring. The film stars Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, and Alfre Woodard. The film was released worldwide on October 3, 2014. Annabelle premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on September 29, 2014.
About the Story
The film starts with the same opening scene from The Conjuring, in 1968, in which two young women and a young man are telling Ed and Lorraine Warren about their experiences with a doll called Annabelle they believe to be haunted.
In 1967, John and Mia Form are expecting their first child. John gives her a doll that she has been trying to find. Mia loves it and puts it with the rest of her doll collection, saying that she “fits right in”. At night, Mia hears a murder occurring at their neighbours, the Higgins’, and is attacked by a woman holding the doll and a male accomplice. John and the police arrive and kill the man while the woman kills herself. She leaves a bloody symbol drawn on the wall and a drop of her blood falls on the face of the doll in her arms. A news report shows that the assailants were Annabelle Higgins and her boyfriend. They had murdered her parents and are said to have been part of a satanic cult.
Thinking the doll is involved with the mysterious happenings, Mia asks John to throw it away. Later, Mia gives birth to a healthy baby girl named Lea. The family moves into a new apartment. Mia unpacks her dolls and finds the one which they had thought discarded, now known as Annabelle.
As expected, more strange activity plagues Mia and her new baby. She contacts the detective, who informs her of Annabelle and her boyfriend’s history in a cult that seeks to summon a demon by claiming a soul. Mia goes to a bookstore run by a woman named Evelyn and determines from a book that the presence haunting her wants Lea’s soul. The couple contacts their church’s priest, Father Perez, who takes the doll with him to church.
The ghost of Annabelle attacks him with a demonic-looking creature, and the doll disappears. Evelyn tells Mia that she had a daughter named Ruby that was around Mia’s age when she died in a car accident caused by Evelyn. She was so distraught and guilt-ridden that she attempted suicide. However, she claims to have heard Ruby’s voice telling her it wasn’t her time.
Perez warns John that it was indeed Annabelle’s spirit that caused his injuries, and that she will take a soul that night. John rushes to warn Mia. In the apartment, the demonic presence pushes Evelyn out of the apartment and taunts Mia. Mia attempts to kill Annabelle and the demon then asks for Mia’s soul instead. John and Evelyn break open the door to find Mia ready to jump out the window with Annabelle in her hands. John saves Mia; Evelyn takes hold of Annabelle and decides to make the sacrifice, knowing this is the way she can atone for Ruby’s death. She jumps out of the window and is shown at the bottom of the apartment building, dead next to Annabelle. Lea is then found safe and sound in her crib.
Six months later, the Forms have moved on and have not seen Annabelle since then. Elsewhere, the mother of one of the girls in the opening scene purchases Annabelle as a gift for her child. The ending text states that the real Annabelle doll resides in a case in Ed and Lorraine Warren’s museum and that it is blessed by a priest twice a month to keep the public safe from the evil that still resides in the doll.
Annabelle
Directed by: John R. Leonetti
Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard, Eric Ladin, Kerry O’Malley, Shiloh Nelson
Screenplay: Gary Dauberman
Cinematography by: James Kniest
Film Editing by: Tom Elkins
Costume Design by: Janet Ingram
Set Decoration by: Lia Roldan
Music by: Joseph Bishara
MPAA Rating: R for intense sequences of disturbing violence and terror.
Studio:: New Line Cinema
Release Date: October 3, 2014
Visits: 144
