Annabelle

That creepy grinning doll from The Conjuring gets its own origin story in this disappointingly banal supernatural spin-off. John Form (Ward Horton) buys a vintage figure decked out in a wedding dress for his expectant wife (Annabelle Wallis) on the day their neighbours are killed by satanic cult members, who also invade the Form's house. Spilt blood seeps into the doll, possessing it with an evil spirit and causing deathly havoc to such usual suspects as the local concerned priest and the occult-savvy bookstore owner. Directed by Conjuring cinematographer John R Leonetti and scripted in a surprisingly perfunctory manner, Annabelle is helped initially by its late-1960s setting, but the fear factor decreases rapidly after the well-staged Manson-esque attack. After that it goes through the formulaic fright motions, ticking off all the expected shocks in order, as the silliness intensifies. It's certainly not in the Chucky devil-doll class, or even close to producer James Wan's own Dead Silence.