‘Annabelle’, directed by John Leonetti, delivers a prequel to an event in lasts years blockbuster horror film, The Conjuring. The event in question is the story of the doll we see in the beginning of ‘The Conjuring’, named Annabelle.

While not a crucial event in ‘The Conjuring’, we do have an introduction to Annabelle to help introduce to of the main characters of the first film, Ed and Lorraine Warren. Annabelle starts out with the same scene that the Warrens are introduced in, with two medical students explaining how the doll came into their possession and how it had been haunting them since they got it.

‘Annabelle’ then moves further back in time, to a point before the doll was possessed. A couple, Mia and John Gordon (Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton) have a child on the way and have filled out the baby’s room with typical baby toys, and lots of dolls. The most interesting (and creepy) being the life-sized dolls, with Annabelle at the center.

The Gordons are a normal family, with John working his way through med school and Mia as a stay at home wife. Their lives come crashing down as a cult tries to perform a demonic ritual on the couple, leading to the possession of the doll.

Annabelle cannot be released from her possession until it has what it wants, which is the central issue the Gordons have to figure out and work through with their preacher Father Perez (Tony Amendola) and a local bookseller named Evelyn (Alfre Woodard). Annabelle gained most of its pre-release notoriety through its association with ‘The Conjuring’. While the doll is an intriguing storyline to follow, it’s nothing near as interesting or terrifying as the plotline of ‘The Conjuring’.

Annabelle starts the movie off with a bang, diving into the horror of the cult’s violence and the initial showing of the doll’s possession, but it doesn’t live up to ‘The Conjuring’. I very much enjoyed ‘The Conjuringt last year, it kept me up all night, absolutely terrified to sleep!

Annabelle didn’t do the same; it didn’t have the same level of psychological horror, relying much more on fear of superstition and quick scares that putting you on the edge of your seat for a moment. It didn’t have you on the edge seat relentlessly, constantly scared for what the next scene would bring.

If you didn’t see ‘The Conjuring’ yet, or can separate the two movies enough to treat them independently, then you’ll enjoy ‘Annabelle’ much more than I did. The constant comparison for me made the movie fall short, but it was a decent horror movie nonetheless.