I owe you folks some reviews.
Annabelle: Creation
I wasn’t expecting much out of this. I mean, it’s a prequel in a series which is a prequel,. That can’t be good. Right off the bat you’ve got an cliche intro., I just can’t see how it would be good.
But honestly, I have a really good time. Then couple with the dead daughter and other secrets open up their home to a set of orphan girls that have no where else to go. That could go a lot of ways, but I really like some of the turns it takes, including only a single grizzly death and a change of protagonist two thirds of the way in. This film is prepping us for scares but mostly gives us dread of what will happen. And they broke a few rules— including an attack outside in daylight. Every time I think it’s going to become same-old, it gives me a twist.
And for it being fun, it wasn’t that scary. A few jump scares and a bloody death but the rest is in my head. Well done thrills here.
4/5
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
The trailer put me off of this one. Babysitter goes into the basement that has been projected from movie one that NO ONE should go in and then the babysitter opens the case that NO ONE should open and IT HAS A SIGN THAT SAYS SO!!! Will I have to suffer through stupid people throughout this movie?
Turns out, the story of the trailer is simply misleading. There’s a babysitter, but she’s not the one who goes in the basement. And it turns out there is a decent reason for the girl who does go in the basement to go in there,. I am shocked to admit this, but there isn’t a stupid person in this entire movie (well, almost)! And even the people who act inappropriately, or who break the rules, they get redemption scenes.
It is a fun, kinda scary romp. I had a slightly better time with this one than Creation, but my daughter liked them a bit more the other way around. We both agree, though, that the first Annabelle movie was crap.
4/5
Frankenstein (1931)
Watching this with my daughter so she can catch up with a classic. And be prepared for Young Frankenstein.
There is just so much that is corny, you want to laugh at the whole thing. Gravediggers whose clothes are clean after their work is done. A father who thinks his son is in a windmill when he’s in a castle. No one really gets wet although it is constantly storming. And the intro preparing us for the HORROR.... You can’t help but laugh throughout half the film.
But the other half is truly dread-ful, horrible. And perhaps the silliness disarms me so I was unprepared for the horror, although I’d seen it before. The murders are effective, and I forgot about the rape. The final scene is quite effective as well. There is so much that is good that the mixed tone doesn’t bother me. Perhaps when I watch Bride I’ll like it better when I realize that the silliness is baked into the tone from the beginning.
But what destroys this fine film for me is my memory of Young Frankenstein, which I must have watched ten times as a child and teen. The two films are so close that it is difficult to see one without comparing. I can’t wait to show it to my daughter.
3.5/5