The problem with being genre obsessed (Annabelle: Creation, 2017)

I don’t know how shit the toys must have been in the 40s for children to think porcelain dolls are fun to play with.

I’m too far down the rabbit hole for anything remotely Hollywood to give me the creeps so going in to a packed theatre when ‘Annabelle: Creation’ (2017, directed by David Sandberg) premiered I knew I wasn’t going in to jump out of my seat.
Sitting in the theatre I was surrounded by people covering their eyes and gasping at the numerous horror tropes, but what was that that feeling creeping up my neck if not fear? Was that…envy? 

Envy of the thrills the others were having.
Sometimes I wish I could swap brains with someone who doesn’t regularly watch horror or doesn’t have my exact compulsion to watch anything and everything macabre, just so I could experience being shocked and scared. 

The irony is that we who watch movies to be scared ultimately stop being scared the more we watch, this desensitization to what is scary can sometimes leave us unfulfilled. Hollywood big budget thrillers with jump scares is just not going to do the trick anymore. Whereas the average movie goer whose only experience of horror is these big screen premieres gets their fix.

So, the question is: is Annabelle: Creation scary? The answer is ‘yes’, it had a horror movie concept with decent pacing and slightly less predictable jump scares then usual. Judging by the screams and gasps of the crowd in the cinema- Annabelle: Creation was terrifying.

The next question is a little more personal: if it was scary, did it scare me? That answer is ‘no’, it did not make me jump, it did not creep me out, it did not have me on the edge of my seat and I am still not scared of dolls at all.
But is that the movies fault? I think it isn’t, I think the blame lies with me and my constant devouring of the horror genre just to satiate my morbid curiosity.

Just because a doll is ugly doesn't make it spooky

Now, let’s talk about the movie. Like the title suggests Annabelle: Creation is about how the infamous doll came to be possessed by an evil entity. A group of orphans are taken in by a couple whose house is also supposedly home to their dead daughter’s spirit via an ugly-ass doll, however shit gets real when the whole house becomes terrorised by “Annabelle.”

I would however, like to make my opinion clear: a horror movie which doesn’t scare does not mean it is automatically a bad movie. 

There are a range of things which can make a movie bad such as terrible cinematography, weak plot and underwhelming acting- none of which Annabelle: Creation had.

I found the acting of the cast to be very solid, especially seeing as half of them were children- they were believable and not over the top; what more can you ask for? The scenes of the farm house and surrounding fields were shot beautifully with warm hues and were effective in communicating the isolation if the characters.
The movie dealt out the typical horror tropes you would expect to see, along with pretty good pacing and effective use of mounting unease and surprise. I felt like these surprises were well used and not cheap or over the top. There was even a slightly self-deprecating, comical tone with a few faux jump scares which relieved the tension.

So, my options are: quit cold turkey, no more horror films and wait for big films like the ones in the Conjuring universe to be the most extreme horror films I see. Um, no, no that isn’t an option, this genre is already my life.
Or, I can keep chasing that elusive sense of fear and ferociously consume as many different movies as I can. Some will be shit, some will be predictable, some will be so ludicrous they will make me doubt if I should keep going.
Some, though, some will be magnificent, some will fill my stomach with dread, some will make me keep running my fingers through my hair which I do when I’m anxious, some will make me laugh gleefully at their extremes they will go to, some will make my mouth hang open or make me sit there for a long time afterwards no knowing how to feel.

Some films, may even scare me.

I give 'Annabelle: Creation' a 6.5/10