Annabelle: Creation is the most recent installment in James Wan’s The Conjuring collection, which at this level is virtually the horror style’s reply to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wait, wasn’t an eponymous origin story about this possessed porcelain doll simply launched in 2014? Yes, however that wasn’t the actual actual Annabelle.

Set sooner or later within the 1950s, Creation manages to each largely sweep its 2014 predecessor out of the canon and slot itself neatly into the bigger lore of Wan’s collection. We be taught right here that the nightmarish determine was initially crafted by doll maker Sam Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) for his younger daughter Bee (Samara Lee)—and Bee, after all, is a nickname for Annabelle. Twelve years after his daughter’s premature passing, Sam and his mysteriously disabled spouse (Miranda Otto) absorb a nun named Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) and a bunch of orphan women within the hope of discovering a goal to their lives. Unfortunately, curious younger Janice (Talitha Bateman) seals everybody’s destiny by opening the home’s one forbidden locked door—the door to Annabelle’s room—thus releasing the doll trapped inside and all of her evil powers.

While the plot is skeletal and the character growth isn’t fairly sufficient to engender any actual empathy within the viewers, the scares are strong. This is due partly to director David F. Sandberg, who made his horror debut with 2016’s Lights Out. While he’s nonetheless discovering his directorial footing, Sandberg supplies Creation with the identical uniquely artistic camerawork that made Lights Out such a thrill to look at; his use of sunshine and shadow skillfully evokes old-school thrills (in spite of everything, what’s scarier than the unknown that lies within the darkness?). The unsettling rating (and its occasional absence) additionally contributes to creating the bounce scares further jumpy, whereas Wan’s penchant for freakishly flexible demonic creatures (and the eerie file music all of them appear to like) seems like this franchise’s spooky watermark.

In truth, Wan’s signature motifs are interwoven with enjoyable little Easter eggs that delve into the mythology of your complete collection (blink and also you’ll miss a nod to The Conjuring’s evil nun, Valek, who’s going to get its personal origin story subsequent yr). The set design can also be brilliantly creepy: The Mullins’ sprawling, bucolic farmhouse manages to look comfortably acquainted whereas nonetheless feeling unsettlingly extreme and foreboding, juxtaposing cozy quilts with grotesquely hanging doll components and garishly tinted stained glass…and crucifixes. Crucifixes in all places—and for good purpose.

Story-wise, this movie is nothing to put in writing dwelling about; there are some head-scratching plot holes that can disrupt the suspension of disbelief of even essentially the most genre-loving devotees. However, it does current a decidedly higher clarification for the nightmare-inducing porcelain doll than its Satanic-cult-centric precursor, and when you’re searching for a great dose of heart-pounding thrills, Annabelle: Creation is price a visit to the theater.