Annabelle: Creation (2017)
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A group of orphaned girls find themselves haunted by a demonic entity after discovering a mysterious porcelain doll.
The story
Twelve years after a couple loses their daughter, they open their home as a shelter for several orphaned girls. Among the girls is Janice, who is disabled by polio. Despite warnings to stay away from the daughter's former bedroom, Janice enters the room and finds a mysterious porcelain doll. By opening the doll's case, she unwittingly releases a powerful demon. The entity begins to terrorize the girls and the adults, creating a terrifying atmosphere of suspense as the group struggles to survive the supernatural presence within the house.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After the death of their daughter Annabelle, a couple finds a way to 'keep her' by housing her spirit in a doll, unknowingly inviting a demon. Years later, they open their home to house orphaned girls. A girl named Janice finds the doll and releases the demon. The entity takes various forms, including the appearance of the girl's former self, to hunt the inhabitants. It eventually possesses Janice, who then kills the father, Samuel. The mother, Esther, reveals the truth of their pact with the entity. After a series of violent encounters, the girls are moved to a new home, but the possessed Janice remains, eventually being adopted and becoming the 'Annabelle' of the original film. The story concludes years later when the grown-up, possessed Janice murders her adoptive parents.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 110
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- David F. Sandberg
- Writers
- Gary Dauberman · writer
- Cast and characters
- Stephanie Sigman · Sister Charlotte; Talitha Bateman · Janice; Lulu Wilson · Linda; Anthony LaPaglia · Samuel Mullins; Miranda Otto · Esther Mullins
- Genres
- supernatural horror; horror thriller; horror drama
- Themes
- possession; grief; parental desperation
- Tone and mood
- tense; suspenseful; scary
- Premise and plot tags
- prequel; haunted doll; demon; orphanage
- Franchise connections
- The Conjuring Universe
- Content notes
- horror
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who noted it as an improvement over its predecessor.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 62 · scale: 100 · review count: 29; CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 4 · scale: 5
- Production trivia
- The film was originally set for release on May 19, 2017, but was pushed back to August 11, 2017, to avoid competition with Alien: Covenant.; The film grossed $307million worldwide, pushing The Conjuring franchise past the $1billion threshold.; The director, David F. Sandberg, used a different approach than his debut, relying on the set and moment rather than extensive storyboards.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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