When James Wan’s The Conjuring was released to critical acclaim in 2013, it also sparked huge success at the box office grossing over $318 million worldwide on a $20 million budget. A majority of horror films end up spawning unnecessary sequels, but there was a different case as Warner Bros. and New Line decided to greenlit Annabelle, a prequel focusing on the origins of the titular character that happened to be the doll that infamously appeared in the beginning of The Conjuring. After failing to recoup the clever thrills that were portrayed in The Conjuring, it led a lot of people being turned off by the idea of an Annabelle franchise and the studio decided to go back to the pages to tackle the character’s origins in another prequel. Hollywood loves handing cash to studios to do prequels and sequels to films and I was dreading the idea of Annabelle: Creation existing.

Helmed by Lights Out director David F. Sandberg and produced by Wan, Annabelle: Creation follows a doll maker Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife Esther (Miranda Otto) as they take in a nun (Stephanie Sigman) and a group of orphaned girls, twelve years after the loss of their daughter. When Janice (Talitha Bateman), one of the orphans, accidentally stumbles across an Annabelle doll hidden in the old bedroom of the deceased daughter of the Mullins, a terror begins to haunt the girls and the origins of Annabelle get delved into, which is something that was not explored properly in its predecessor. While the stakes are higher and the horror is there, Annabelle: Creation still feels as generic as the plethora of horror that has been cramped out within the last decade.

I feel that this film surpassed my expectations vastly, as I did not have much hope for it and that is coming from someone who really enjoyed Lights Out from 2016. After reading the very positive reception Annabelle: Creation had received since its premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival, there was a part of me believing that this would end up being the levels of Split and Get Out, the two strong mainstream horror films of the year thus far. Now that is not to say that this is a bad film, it is just to say that the stakes in Annabelle: Creation did not feel high until the film’s final act. The final 30 minutes left me breathless and gasping for air, which was something I wasn’t expecting to receive, especially since the first half contained too many jump scares. The bleak cinematography from Maxime Alexandre and the skin-crawling score from Benjamin Wallfisch are high when it comes to the pros of the film, with both reminding me of the well-handled shots and music from both of Wan’s Conjuring films. All of the performances are strong, with Bateman shining and showcasing a bright future for her as a young actress, as she mirrors the late Heather O’Rourke, who broke fame in 1982 with Poltergeist.

My interest was definitely there throughout Annabelle: Creation‘s 109-minute running time, but it was annoyed when a majority of the film was predictable. We live in an age where we have received many horror films in the last few years that contain mostly unpredictable moments, such as both Conjuring films, The Witch and It Follows. Everything that happened in the first half was not of any surprise to me and that is a disappointing statement, especially when you want there to be more horror films that are actually terrifying and not following the same tripes as others. We do not need another The Bye Bye Man or another Rings, but instead we need another The Babadook or Oculus. I have full faith that Sandberg is a talent to look out for in the horror world, but this was definitely a downgrade from Lights Out, as the pacing was dreadful and the predictability was high for the beginning of Annabelle: Creation.

The foundation of the infamous titular doll is something that was explored well in this film, but it could have been portrayed in a stronger fashion this time around. Luckily, Sandberg knew not to fall on the levels of Annabelle helmer John R. Leonetti and make this his own thing, similar to what Mike Flanagan did when tackling Ouija: Origin of Evil, an acclaimed prequel to a critically panned horror picture. With the performances and cinematography being strong, as well as the final act, Annabelle: Creation is one of the better continuations of recent memory. Unfortunately, the storytelling was under flat direction and it led this to be a disappointment to someone who admires the first two films in The Conjuring series. To conclude, I will say that the final shot of Annabelle: Creation is one of the more clever moments of any horror film I have seen in recent memory.