Former toy maker Sam Mullins and his wife Esther are happy to welcome a nun and six orphaned girls into their California farmhouse. Years earlier, the couple lost their 7-year-old daughter Annabelle in a tragic car accident. Terror soon strikes when one of the girls finds a seemingly innocent doll that seems to have a life of its own. – Warner Bros. Pictures

Today I actually feel like a movie critic. AMC Stubs gave their members the opportunity to see an advanced screening of Annabelle: Creation, I was lucky enough to get tickets for it. So thank you AMC for making me feel like a real movie critic.

Annabelle: Creation wasn’t on my list of most anticipated summer movies but it should have been. Annabelle: Creation was fantastic, I can’t remember the last time I was as scared as I was watching this movie. I haven’t seen the first Annabelle but I guess that doesn’t matter because this is a prequel to that one which is a prequel to The Conjuring. Gosh, that’s confusing. Apparently the first Annabelle is garbage which makes me wonder why they would make a prequel. But oh well because Annabelle: Creation is terrifyingly good.

David F. Sandberg directed this film and it was written by Gary Dauberman. I have no idea who Gary Dauberman is but I am a big fan of David F. Sandberg. Sandberg directed Lights Out last year. Horror has been and is one of my favorite genres. I have recently gotten sick of horror movies because of all the garbage that has been coming out. I’m looking at you Paranormal Activity 67 and Blair Witch. But I was pleasantly surprised last year with Lights Out. I have hope for the horror genre. Anyways because Sandberg directed Annabelle: Creation, I was interested to see it. I very much like Sandberg’s directing style. He is very good with horror, there are a lot of peripheral shots which add to the horror. There is something scary about seeing a demon out of the corner of your eye. In general though there are just really good looking shots in this movie. I have high hopes for the future of David F. Sandberg and his films, especially Shazam.

The directing is good and so is the cinematography but how’s the story? Don’t worry it is good too. Annabelle: Creation was scary and of course there were jump scares but this film didn’t rely on the jump scares the story itself was actually scary. The plot was very good. There’s a brief little origin in the beginning about the real Annabelle and the doll but they never elaborate on what’s going on. The whole movie I was wondering what Annabelle’s deal was, what prompted her “heel turn” she seemed like a sweet girl. The movie waited to tell the end to fully inform us as to what was going on. After the first scare in the movie, which was terrifying by the way, my heart didn’t stop racing. This movie was very stressful and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I can’t remember a movie in recent years that has scared me this good.

Another thing Annabelle: Creation has going for it is, good characters. Often times in horror movies, characters are just there to die. They don’t get any development and you really don’t care about them. I found myself really caring for the two main girls in this movie. I even cared about Annabelle in the beginning. In general most of the characters felt real and I cared about them.

This movie isn’t turning the horror genre on its head or anything but damn it is scary good.

I give Annabelle: Creation an 8.5 out of 10, would watch again.

I went in to this movie without watching any trailers and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’d recommend doing what I did but if you don’t want to listen I added a trailer below for you.