Conduit Demon: Take 27!

OK! It may not be 27 films in the latest conduit demon phase of horror film making, but it sure as hell feels like it! Annabelle: Creation would have been a very good horror film if it had come out 10 years ago, as it is we find ourselves treading familiar ground and relying on the usual horror film making playbook for our thrills.

Anyone such as myself who is bothered by pediophobia, automatonphobia and pupaphobia will surely be chilled to the bone here, for the makers push it to the max, with fine results. However, once that aspect is stripped away and the sound and visual horror staples grow tired, we are left hankering for a glorious final quarter of film to terrify us - which sadly doesn't materialise as we then get conduit demon 101.

In the pluses column there's a superb tie-in to the real Annabelle doll, an adherence to story as fact shrewdly inserted, and the acting (with young Lulu Wilson bright again as she wanders in from Ouija: Origin of Evil) is more than adequate. Sound mix rocks, as does the photographic shadows and shimmers, rendering the production technically good. If only the writers had been a bit more bolder and imaginative...

Much better than Annabelle (2014) (which isn't hard really), "Creation" is above average fare for casual horror fans with the fears previously stated. Hard core horror nuts, however, are likely to be very jaded come the end credits rolling. 6.5/10