Welcome to the Attic, don’t play with the dolls here.

This past weekend I saw Annabelle in theaters with my boyfriend. I had been dying to see it since I heard it was coming out, and my hopes were extremely high. Needless to say, I went in with expectations that one should never bring into a horror movie. However I am happy to report that this one not only met my expectations, but far exceeded them.

I’d like to start off by pointing out that what you see in this trailer, is a TINY portion of the movie, and the storyline. Thank God they took on the tactics of The Conjuring and kept the vast majority a secret. We don’t need to see it all in the trailers, thank you very much. I am beyond thrilled that this trailer showed scenes from the first 15 minutes or so, and that’s it! You have no idea the ride this movie is about to take you on…

I, like everyone else, was expecting to see a possessed/killer doll flick, that is so far from the truth. Yes, Annabelle is possessed and she even moves on her own, but this delved so much farther into the realm of demons and the devil himself, an approach not taken by that many movies. It reminded me of the Exorcist at times, but the greatest comparison I can think of is that of Rosemary’s Baby. Now I gotta start off here by saying I don’t even like that movie. I know, that’s like sacrilegious when you’re a horror fan, but it’s true. I found it to be too slow of a start, and once it did start it wasn’t scary.

Now this is where Annabelle wins out in comparisons. It does start a bit slow, to be honest, but when it decides to kick things into full gear it not only scares you but slaps you across the face. I have only felt that scared by two other movies in my life, The Exorcist, and The Conjuring. I won’t give away the story, but let’s just say it’s scary as shit, and gets so far under your skin you’ll be thinking about it when you lay down to sleep that night. I absolutely LOVE how they took a real life murder story (again, no spoilers) and tied this into it. It’s pure genius. I don’t know how, among this generation of remakes and reboots, can such a throwback to classic 70s horror suddenly appear, but it’s a Godsend.

Every piece came together brilliantly. The cast was amazing, and I personally didn’t recognize anyone. That’s not to say they weren’t talented, they were, but I love sometimes getting lost in characters I don’t see as anyone else in my mind. And when they are recognizable, it’s TOUGH to make you forget that. The design of the apartment was amazing, as it made you feel vulnerable and exposed at all times. And the building felt like a throwback to Audrey Rose or Rosemary’s Baby. The score was fantastic as well, very shrieky and unnerving much like The Exorcist.

I’ve always told people that for me, The Conjuring felt like it was FROM the 70s, not just that it was set in that period. I recently read that it was actually first pitched, and some form of the screenplay was written, back in the 70s, so I have to wonder if they took that and just stuck with it. Maybe intentional, maybe not, but I think they had to see that success and how it was different from other modern horror films. It struck a chord because it felt like discovering a movie made back in the heyday of horror, and I have to believe they intentionally applied that style to Annabelle. I seriously cannot describe how thrilled I was to be scared shitless in this day and age. It makes me proud to see filmmakers going back and usings classics as inspiration, and I hope to see much more of this soon.

Stay scared,
Dark Princess