…in comparison to The Conjuring — with its fantastic cast of actors and its sub-text of research and years of pain — Annabelle pales.

A none-too-exciting prequel to last year’s overrated The Conjuring, Annabelle plunders elements from its genre predecessors including the Child’s Play series featuring that demonic doll.

Annabelle is not terrible, but it’s not very good either. The premise is flimsy and the leads are tolerable, but the film never manages to rise above mediocrity. There isn’t much suspense and the scares are minimal.

All in all, it could have been a decent but unremarkable prequel. Instead it ends up being mostly worthless.

All the things that should happen when you have a doll like that in the house do happen- strange sounds emanate, doors close on their own, sewing machines operate automatically. All that might give a momentary scare but on the whole it doesn’t engross you.

s. Some of the scenes might give the faint-hearted sleepless nights. But, if you are genuinely willing to get scared, you can give Annabelle a miss.