I admire the sheer abundance of classic and modern cliches employed in this film. This movie follows James Wan's standardized horror template: initial character building moments giving way to subtle creepy sequences that soon abandon reason and credibility in a balls-out supernatural showdown. This movie sets up numerous potential victims, a veritable motley of waif like orphans to torment with no real attempt or need to distinguish between them. The director understand this, placing the main character in various degrees of physical handicap to make sure she's distinct from the others. There's a pleasant bleakness to proceedings, especially if you're forearmed with knowledge from the buildup films. You know bad things are going to happen, and no attempt is made to subvert your expectations beat by predictable beat. There's a ridiculously unsubtle sequence to link and launch this film into other franchises, and a post-credits stinger that only serves to induce rage. On the whole, its a visually pretty iteration of a tired formula, slightly better than its predecessor but pretty much exhausting everything you can do with this damned doll.
Annabelle Creation