Movies
[Review] ‘Annabelle’ is Not Really About the Doll
Annabelle, the standout in James Wan’s The Conjuring is back, in her own, eponymous film. And while Annabelle really had no place in The Conjuring, she doesn’t really have a place in Annabelle, either.
Young expectant couple John and Mia are clean-cut and annoyingly perfect, which only makes me eager to get to their inevitable suffering. Luckily, I don’t have to wait too long. Their next-door neighbors, an older couple with whom they go to church, lost their daughter two years prior when she ran away and joined a Satanic cult. One night, John and Mia wake to screams from next door. The Higgins’ daughter has returned, and she kills both of them. Then she and her crazed boyfriend attack Mia and John. The boyfriend stabs Mia in the belly before cops get there and shoot him dead. The daughter has locked herself in the nursery. When the cops break in, she has killed herself, clutching one of Mia’s beloved dolls. This is the Annabelle doll and guess what? The daughter’s name is Annabelle. And some of Annabelle’s blood has been absorbed into the Annabelle doll.
Mia and the baby are okay, but are put on bed rest until she delivers. John, a med student, isn’t home much, which leaves plenty of time for Mia to be haunted: things move, doors slam, all the usual haunted stuff. Mia doesn’t want the Annabelle doll in the house anymore, so John throws it away. A pack of Jiffy-Pop on an unlit stove sets the whole house on fire, and sends Mia to the hospital once again. She delivers a healthy baby girl (unfortunately named Leah) and demands that they move. John obliges, and somehow the Annabelle doll shows up at the bottom of one of their boxes. Mia decides to give the doll a second chance and puts it back in the nursery. Of course, the haunted happenings follow them to their new abode. Luckily Mia befriends a neighbor with a tragic past, who helps her realize that the Annabelle doll is trying to corrupt Leah.
The third act of Annabelle becomes quite ridiculous. As I was describing the plot to my husband, I had to stop in the middle. “This sounds even more ridiculous when I say it out loud.” No spoilers, but it all kind of falls apart in an effort to make sense. Everyone is looking towards self-sacrifice in order to solve an absurd situation and past transgressions.
For a movie about a doll, the doll is not the focus. The Annabelle doll (which is more terrifying brand-new) is given no backstory. What kind of doll was she? Why was she so rare, so sought-after by collectors? Annabelle was just a doll (a nameless one at that) until human-Annabelle killed herself and transferred evil into her. There are no details on how she did that, and the why is sketchy at best. The doll itself is not evil. She doesn’t move on her own or chase after people with a knife. Human-Annabelle could have just as easily “possessed” a toothbrush or a rug.
There is a definite Rosemary’s Baby vibe that I think writer Gary Dauberman and director John R. Leonetti are trying to go for. There is the obvious Satanic possession, the meek pregnant woman, and the era. But pushing it over the edge are the character names: Mia and John (Rosemary’s Baby starred Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes). And while it may be a tenuous link, Mia is watching news reports about the Tate/LaBianca murders and the arrest of the Manson family. (One of the Manson victims, Sharon Tate, was married to Roman Polanski and pregnant with his child. Polanski directed Rosemary’s Baby.)
I will say that Annabelle offered some good scares. Nothing astonishingly new or unique, but effective – which is surprisingly hard to do, it seems. It was a mildly fun, mindless two hours. But all in all, I think you would be happier just watching The Conjuring again. The Annabelle portion of The Conjuring was far spookier and more cogent than the entirety of Annabelle.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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