11-1-2017

Got the Blus: How Annabelle: Creation Is Good News for Shazam

By Luke Y. Thompson

Annabelle: Creation is a good horror movie.

That may seem like a pretty non-controversial statement. But there are so many reasons why it could and should not have been, that it's kind of a minor miracle it's even passable, really.

Let us count the ways.

1. It's a prequel to a prequel. If you said, "Hey, let's go see a movie!" to your friends, and one of them went, "How about we see a movie that's a prequel to a prequel?" what would you say? After slapping them?

2. The first stand-alone Annabelle movie, itself a prequel to The Conjuring, was ridiculously bad. If you didn't see it, just imagine a mash-up of Rosemary's Baby and The Room. No kidding. But here's the problem...

3. The premise of Annabelle, as depicted onscreen, is really stupid. In real life, "Annabelle" was a Raggedy Anne doll around which bad things mysteriously happened. In the movies, Annabelle is a terrifying-looking (to the point of being unmarketable to kids, realistically) wooden doll, around whom bad things are done by a demon who's a naked dude with horns, painted black. Rather than blame Annabelle director John Leonetti for failing to make that less than laughable, we should bow down to Annabelle: Creation's David F. Sandberg for making the ludicrous concept actually scary.





4. It had the burden of continuity. The Conjuring franchise demands were that Annabelle: Creation help set up the next spin-off, The Nun, and tie directly into the last Annabelle film. Do this sort of thing cynically, and you get The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Sandberg does it organically, and still makes the best Annabelle movie of the three.

Sandberg's next assignment is Shazam a DC Comics movie with many of the same factors theoretically working against it, plus the burden of massive spectacle. On the basis of the Annabelle: Creation Blu-ray, we can rest easily. He's the right guy.

The director, self-described as "a weird Swede with resting bitchface," has gone out of his way to make the Blu-ray something that the younger version of him would want to own, and as such it's full of advice on how to direct (communication, mostly) and full-on acknowledgement of what he thinks works and doesn't. He's not always right -- the movie's best scare is one he still finds too cartoony, and a genuinely creepy ghost was mostly replaced by other characters to keep the narrative on track -- but he's extremely transparent on the commentary track, a narrated montage of deleted scenes, and a behind-the-scenes look at how he directed on-set (often in an animated Skeletor T-shirt, so props for that). Giving Anthony LaPaglia a lead role for the first time in forever was pretty cool of him, too.

James Wan hosts a featurette about the larger Conjuring universe, seeming to imply that all the spin-offs will eventually feed back into the larger narrative, so hey, bring on Annabelle Vs. Nun Vs. Red Herring Ghost! Two Sandberg shorts are also included: "Attic Panic" and "Coffer" feel mostly like proof of concept scenes to show he understands horror beats, but clearly they worked.

If you only see one Annabelle movie, make it this one. We've got a feeling you'll be seeing more than one David F. Sandberg movie in the years to come.

Images: Warner Bros.