A date with Annabelle (and Hasbro)

It's October and The Conjuring spin-off Annabelle finally made its theatrical release in my country the very first day the month started. Unfortunately, I was in a predicament where I'm down with a bug and I had to undergo training for another spiel in my job. Not really a hassle, but I really prefer watching movies in the big screen during the day in a day-off but I work on a graveyard shift and for this week, I only have one day off and it's gonna be overnight so yeah, beats much of the purpose.

So I had to improvise; the day I start taking in calls again will start at 1 Am at a Friday night (which is technically a Saturday shift) and my training prior to that day ends at 9:00 PM, so that means I had the whole day to myself before I sleep for the afternoon, more than enough to go to a mall and watch this movie.

Got around my favorite mall about 10:10, ten minutes after it opened so the place is pretty barren. The ticket booth isn't even open yet so i strolled around looking for some other mall junk to stare at and/or buy; lately (thanks to this furry webcomic that I became an instant fan of), I got into collecting Transformer toys again. A little bit of history about me and Transformers: i was addicted to these things! I recall every occasion may it be my birthday, my Christmas or even as a get-well gift, I always got robots, particularly Transformers. Of course I outgrew them, at least for a few years, until I was inspired to start my collection again thanks to a cartoon Skunkette nerd who, for those unfamiliar with the comic, also has a passion for collecting these toys. Eitherways, I stormed the toy stores and hobby shops and though I've seen a few that I would like to add in my batch, they were a little steep with the price (and those that I could afford that day were too crappy for my taste) so I fought temptation to buy any of them...

...Only to have me spending half of my pocket money on My Little Pony comics. Yeah, still 1/16th brony at heart, though I have to admit I don't use their screencaps as often as i did before on this site. Perhaps a waning interest for the fandom? Could be, but I'll let time do the telling.

So one trip to a Japanese-themed fast food joint later, the ticket booths are finally opening up and i got mine before two large group of noisy teenagers fell in line. Like, really loud. God forbid they'll end up in the same theater but yeah, they ended up sitting behind me and next to me. What the fuck, Jeebus?

So yeah, the movie: personally, Annabelle was a tad generic. If you'd seen a haunted house movie, then you already saw Annabelle. Much like the Warren's description of the doll, Annabelle was just a tool for the evil to pass through and though I would like to see some creepy doll action, i guess demonic hauntings and babies nearly getting crushed by books can be fun too. Acting-wise, Annabelle Wallis did a fair job as a mother in peril though there were a few times where I just don't know where her character was going. Much of the plot revolves around her plight and fight against a force so evil that not even a priest can stop it. (Still wondering what would have happened if they tried blessing the house and/or the doll. If it was anything like the swarm scene from the original Amityville Horror, that would have been awesome!)

Overall, I'm not too disappointed, just wished it was as exciting as the movie it spun from but, hey, it wasn't James Wan behind this film, it's John R. Leonetti, the cinematographer behind The Conjuring, Insidious and Piranha 3D, directing an original story by Gary Dauberman, who in turn, I personally never heard off. (Looking into the films he wrote, I can see why) The film had its fair share of workable scares and jumps, and Leonetti's eye for great camera shots are ever present, but I would really prefer seeing a movie based on the REAL Annabelle haunting, the ones involving the two nurses and those who encountered the doll's strangeness with them rather than what some might regard as a less-family oriented version of The Poltergeist.

The film ran for an hour and forty minutes, which is not bad considering the movie's fast pace. I ended up sleeping the moment I got home, preparing for another 9-hour verbal beating from customers who're expecting their money