Evil doll has new target in trailer of new 'Annabelle' film

MANILA -- The creepy official trailer of "Annabelle: Creation" has just been revealed by New Line Cinema.

The follow up to 2014’s hugely successful "Annabelle," which scared up nearly $257 million at the worldwide box office, "Annabelle: Creation" is directed by David F. Sandberg, who also did "Lights Out" and is once again being produced by Peter Safran and James Wan, who also partnered so effectively on "The Conjuring" movies.

Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, who soon become the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle.

"Annabelle: Creation" will open in local theaters on August 10.

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Review: Creeps still there in 'Conjuring 2'

"The Conjuring" (2013) was one of the best horror films in recent memory. It told of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren helping the Perron family of Rhode Island with the spirit that haunted their farmhouse. It was a story formula that perfectly lent itself to possible sequels, and now, just three years later, here is the first one.

(Read the full review of 'The Conjuring' here.)

The setting is 1977 in a simple townhouse in the borough of Enfield in London, England, where the Hodgson family (mom Peggy and her four children) lived. The second daughter Janet is seemingly being possessed by the malevolent spirit of Bill Wilkins, the previous owner of the house. The church of their community seeks the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren to investigate the case and help free the poor family from their ghostly tormentor.

There were so many parallelisms between the first "Conjuring" movie and this one in terms of story outline. Ed and Lorraine were investigating the "Amityville Horror" house, while the London incident was happening. The central victim family also had a distraught mother with four young vulnerable children. Eventually, the Warrens get called in to help get rid of the demons, at great peril to their own lives. It was good to revisit the Warren's museum and seeing its prize exhibit Annabelle again.

If there was anything cheesy about it, I'd say it would be every time a CG demon was shown for a prolonged period of time. There was one prolonged scene where Lorraine was being taunted by a female demon dressed like a nun. While the ominous buildup to an attack was very suspensefully edited, it ended in a rather hilarious manner which made me laugh. There were many horror movie cliches as well, like people approaching a ghost they see, instead of running away from it. It is crazy why they do that. (But then again, we probably won't have a horror movie if they don't.)

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga were credible as Ed and Lorraine, as they vacillated between faith and skepticism in this case. For one remarkable scene, we get to see Wilson play the guitar and sing an Elvis love song in full. This is the first time I've heard him sing since his turn as Raoul in the film version of "Phantom of the Opera."

Farmiga was really very good playing a medium going in and out of her eerie visions, without the excessive hamminess lesser actresses may resort to. Young Madison Wolfe gave an affecting performance as the possessed girl Janet.

Director James Wan is really an expert in the jump scare. We still get startled every time the demonic face was shown in a flash with a loud sound cue, even if we expect it. This one felt like a combination of various story elements from "The Exorcist," "Insidious," "Sinister," "Drag Me to Hell," yet executed in its own novel way.

The first "Conjuring" had this memorably crazy game called "Hide and Clap" which provided some really spine-tingling scary moments. This sequel did not exactly have something distinctly its own, but the creeps were mostly still there. 7/10

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Review: 'The Conjuring' is intensely malevolent

This movie is set in 1971, when Roger and Carolyn Perron and their five daughters move into a rundown country house in an isolated area in Rhode Island. Almost immediately, strange events begin to happen to them.

The ghostly manifestations started benignly, with creaky opening doors to unexplained bruising. But as days passed, the attacks become increasingly violent and physical.

Carolyn desperately seeks the help of noted supernatural investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. What they discovered in the Perron home is a dark spirit more hateful than anything they have encountered before. They need to work against time in order to prevent deadly events that happened to the previous occupants of this cursed house. In this extraordinary case, the Warrens had to resort to the most extreme measures they know in order to save the tormented family

Unlike other films boasting about being based on a true story, this one actually convinces you that the horrific events shown in it happened in real life. A lot of this was due to the very authentic production design bringing us back to the early 1970s. The musical choices were atmospherically apt and unsettling.

There was also the topnotch acting from the cast, which is unusual for a horror movie. The expertise and compassion of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who played the Warrens, were very realistic. The chemistry between them was palpably sincere.

Ron Livingston, Lili Palmer and the five young actresses who play the Perron daughters all played naturally well as the victimized family. I would not be surprised if Farmiga and Palmer pick up acting nominations for their performances.

Director James Wan (who had also brought us "Saw" and "Insidious" before) throws every horror gimmick and cliche at us here, but somehow still makes everything felt remarkably fresh and original. There was some welcome humor to lighten some of the intense dread and tension that builds up within the film. The deliberately slow pace felt interminably long in some eerie scenes which will make you squirm in your seats There are scenes which can make you jump. The editing of the film was very effective in this regard.

As good as this film was, there were some minor things that did not feel right. The creepy poster and even the pre-credits scene will make you expect something, but the rest of the movie was totally about something else.

There was a subplot about Ed and Lorraine's daughter which was very well-executed with some of the film's scariest scenes, but this ultimately led nowhere, except maybe a possible sequel, which is something I would look forward to.

Overall, watching this film will really immerse you into the intense malevolence that terrorized the Perron family. Many creepy images you see will stick with you for a long time. All the hype was accurate this time. This IS one of the best horror films in recent years. 8/10

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

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