‘Annabelle’ – A spooky gal but definitely lacks character

‘Annabelle’ – A spooky gal but definitely lacks character

RICKY MILLER

Entertainment Editor

Dolls creep me out.

The same goes for clowns or any other inanimate object sporting a face.  I just don’t like them.

“Annabelle,” for all intents and purposes, is a prequel to James Wan’s intelligent horror-suspense entry, “The Conjuring.”  I gave that one a grade of a B- when it came out last summer.

I’m sorry, but any movie with ridiculous scenarios just annoys the bejesus out of me.  That also goes for all those Japanese and Chinese flicks involving ghosts, the undead and the like.

One flick, however, that scared me half to death was Neil  Marshall’s “The Descent,” in which a group of young naïve girls go spelunking and encounter some netherworld zombies.

Sure, this flick has some genuine boos and scares, but I’m just not a fan of the genre.  I have said before that I don’t want to waste my life or time invested in characters only to see them meet their end via some stupid, inane or preposterous measure of unnecessary death.

I know a lot of people enjoy horror movies, but to use a cliché, they are not my cup of tea.

Eerie is another word that comes to mind when writing about this topic.

Annabelle is a doll that always has the same expression, one that is altogether spooky.

Oddly, Annabelle Willis plays Mia, who is married to John (Ward Horton). They are expecting their first child.  John gives the doll simply known as Annabelle as a sort of newlywed gift.

When consulting the priest, Father Perez (Tony Amendola) at the local church, he explained the doll was used as a conduit to try to branch out of this world into a spirit world.

Director John R. Leonetti tosses in quite a few McGuffins to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.  Looking back at his résumé, he has the experience since he was a cinematographer on director Wan’s aforementioned “The Conjuring,” as well as “Insidious” and its sequel.

I looked for someone else to cover this movie for me, but I manned up and took this assignment for myself since I enjoyed “The Conjuring.”

One movie however, I will not be seeing is something called “Ouija.”  I’ll admit it when I’m a wimp and this is one I will not be seeing.

I’m sorry, but there are some images that this pristine and well-kempt body will not be watching.

I don’t want that in my viewing memory bank.

  Grade:  C