'Annabelle: Creation,' is a terribly pedestrian effort, filled with many cliches of the horror genre, but somehow turns out better than it should have been, especially the final third of the movie.
David F. Sandberg's first film "Lights Out," was a low budget gem, that played on mental illness as much as it did scare the heck out of you and he adapted that strength to the final act.
Screen writer Gary Dauberman gave us the usual horror tropes, early tragedy, big creepy house, scary doll, scarred mother, depressed father, bunched together with Sister Charlotte and her group of orphaned girls.
Sandberg did his best to keep it eerie even if the two biggest stars were severely underused. Anthony LaPaglia's role was nothing more than to grunt stupid things like, "don't go in that room" and "you mean, she went in that room!" Miranda Otto's character had a similar fate but she did the most with very limited screen time.
"Creation" is ultimately saved by the terrific performances of two young actresses who kept you engaged in the entire movie.
Lulu Wilson as "Linda" and Talitha Bateman's polio stricken "Janice" were excellent in their portrayals of orphaned girls forming a lifelong bond of friendship and then trying to save each other from Annabelle's wrath.
