Annabelle

For those of you, like me, that found "The Conjuring" to be one of the scariest horror films in recent memory, you'll probably be intrigued by a prequel that highlights just one scary piece of that film, ANNABELLE.

This film details the back story of how this creepy Victorian doll became an evil addition to any playroom. A young couple is decorating their home, getting ready for their first child. The husband buys Annabelle to complete his wife's doll collection in the nursery (next time go with a stuffed animal).

When the couple is witness to a murdering rampage by a satanic cult next door in their idyllic neighborhood (think Manson family madness) that spills over into their own home, a killer's blood spills into the doll and it takes on a scary life of its own.

It's a tribute to the filmmakers that Annabelle never becomes Chucky, but simply inspires enough strange happenings and evil presence to provide some fun shocks, thrills and scares.

This is one of those films where the husband leaves the wife alone so many times after the damn doll has attacked her, set the house on fire and caused assorted mayhem that you start to wonder if the husband and the doll have something working.....

This is an old school horror movie, with 99% of the scares coming from noises or a person suddenly standing where the filmmakers know you will be looking. In that respect I'll give it some props, but it's a mere ghost of a reflection of the terrific "Conjuring" and barely scares up a C.

That one scene with the fast moving little neighbor girl that morphs into the satanic killer woman, that one will get you! If only the other hour and a half lived up to that fleeting moment.