Annabelle Creation

You ever have those moments when you find yourself looking at something you know you shouldn't because it will make it very difficult to fall asleep or use the potty in the middle of the night?  Horror films involving dolls have that effect on me.   There is just something about the soulless eyes of a doll that make me think if I look at it long enough, its going to say "Hi my names Chucky!", then he jumps up and starts smacking my face like Batman smacking Robin.

I was one of the few people who enjoyed the first Annabelle movie because it provided creepy-doll-pee-my-pants scares, but I acknowledged it had major flaws.  What really separated the first Annabelle movie from the second is the change from using jump scares to using the far more effective slow burn scares.  At different times of the movie I found myself plugging my ears like I was at a nickelback concert, because that devil-doll was running all about the house so quickly I could never identify where she was at, and minutes would go by before I found any resolution.  Slow burn scares are far more effective because they build up a sense of dread for the viewer, and provide more time to get emotionally involved with the characters so when they kick the bucket you're far more horrified.

Annabelle Creation is a part of a promising cinematic universe that, in my opinion, rivals other more popular universes such as Marvel or DC.  I haven't seen the NUN yet, but if this movie is any indicator where the series is going then I'm already psyched!

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Split

 

For as long as I can remember, I have been a fan of M. Night's films.  Like a loyal family member I felt like I was there for him when nobody else was, like going to see the mediocre big budget films that made him one of the jokes of Hollywood.  It became so bad that I could hear people groan in the theater when they witnessed a trailer for a movie that is written/produced/directed by that man, and that happened with "The visit" as well... until the movie was released.  Now it seems like my man M. Night has found his groove again with a solid horror/thriller that is even better than his comeback  film from a couple years earlier.

Much like the lovechild between Psycho and Red Dragon, this movie is a psychological horror and sometimes body horror film that tells the story of a man with Disociative Identity Disorder (DID) who abducts three girls and holds them in his creepy cell as food until his new 24th personality emerges.  This 24th alter known as the "beast" is brought up several times as the movie progresses as this personality that's going to  eat the girls as soon as he arrives.  With that in mind, the tension in the movie builds and builds for Anya and the other girls as they strive to find a way out by working with some of the abductor's personalities while avoiding the dangerous ones.

James McAvoy as the villain with DID and Anya as the final girl carry this movie and steal every scene they're in.  I'm not going to give anything away, but lets just say that many of the other people are a means to an end, and are merely those characters in any horror film that make stupid decisions that people (like me) find joy in witnessing.  Go see this movie, and beware the beast!

4/5 stars