Annabelle and reviews...

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  • Annabelle and reviews...

    Ok. I'm first in line to admit that your basic horror movie isn't very often going to be Silence of the Lambs/Rosemary's Baby quality. However, I also think most people don't necessarily *expect* that when they settle in with some popcorn to be scared in the dark.

    We watched Annabelle last night and while it was on, I was actually thinking it was better than I had expected. I looked at the reviews and I was floored. Really? 29%?
    And when I started reading a lot of the reviews, it seemed like they were attacking the movie for being ... a horror film. Basically attacking it for being what it was.
    The bulk of the negative reviews say things like:
    "it's hard to differentiate it from any other domestic horror movie that's ever come out."
    or
    "Watching Annabelle is like watching a movie you've seen a dozen times before, just with different actors and slight variations on the same scare tactics."

    The positive reviews address the same issue - it just happens that they liked it.
    "We could chat all day about how "Annabelle" lifted (even stole) bits from better films. But, that would take away from the net effect of this evil doll movie. "Annabelle" is a very good horror film, originality be damned."

    Interesting one: "The Polanski rips begin with the obvious (having a couple named Mia and John, as in Farrow and Cassavetes, is about as blatant as you can get) and continue throughout, to an annoying degree."

    Could it be that expectations were too high? Once you're similar to another film, there's no way to avoid comparisons so your carob chocolate will never be good because it's just plain not chocolate? (Carob chocolate IS NOT chocolate...)

    This one was also interesting: "Though it features a plucky female protagonist, "Annabelle" still possesses the same medieval attitude toward women as "The Conjuring," reducing the gender to the extremes of self-sacrificing mother and malevolent toy."

    I kind of feel like between my expectations for the movie (looked mildly entertaining for a horror movie to watch with my teen) and their expectations (needs to have some kind of weird new take on female protagonists? Must be compared to Rosemary's Baby?) are kind of making me really not trust reviews.

    Granted, I don't watch tons of horror movies, but I know what I like and what I don't like. I'd never compare this to "Chucky" as these guys did, and personally, I didn't think The Conjuring was all that insanely amazing compared to Annabelle. ALSO, for this last reviewer to be all upset about "medieval attitudes toward women" -- it's based on "true" stories and the ghostbusting of Lorraine Warren. What does this guy want?

    Am I over-thinking? Should I have a beer?

    What really gets me is that they seem to be attacking the movie for being what it is. It's like attacking a rom com for being a rom com, or attacking a sports movie for having the guy overcome obstacles and people cheer in the end. You can do all kinds of things within that - sometimes the guy wins, sometimes the guy loses. But to attack art for being what it is seems like not what you're supposed to be reviewing about.
    I dunno...

    (Reviews are all from Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ann.../?page=5&sort=)
    Last edited by cvolante; 09-10-2016, 12:12 PM. Reason: citing reviews...
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