Annabelle: Creation

Stars: Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Lulu Wilson, Philippa Coulthard, Grace Fulton, Lou Lou Safran, Samara Lee, Tayler Buck, Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto, Mark Bramhall

Director: David F Sandberg

As friends of Chucky and his ilk will tell you, devil dolls are a horror movie staple, made all the more popular these days because of splendid movie magic that makes the murderous figurines all the more terrifying (and, on occasions, rather more credible than their flesh-and-blood co-stars, too).

Here the demonic doll introduced by James Wan in 2013's The Conjuring and who returned the following year in Annabelle is backs in a sure-fire shockfilm effectively created by screenwriter Gary Dauberman to flesh out (probably the wrong phrase to describe a living doll) the backstory, revive a patently profitable franchise and provide the producers with a box-office success.

Mission accomplished for horror film fans and for normal filmgoers with a taste for terror.

Alan Frank

USA 2017. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Colour.
104 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 3, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 13 Jan 2018

DVD review