Parents' Guide to Annabelle: Creation

Director David F. Sandberg takes on this fourth film in the Conjuring franchise, and although it offers little that's new, it's so skillful and spirited that it works. Sandberg (who also helmed the clever Lights Out) proves that tried-and-true tricks and scares continue to be effective if they're performed with artistry and enthusiasm. It helps that spooky dolls are, like spooky clowns, a sort of horror mainstay; they'll always be scary. Sandberg sets up shop in a remote farmhouse, filled with dark rooms, a dumbwaiter, a stairway lift, doll parts, and a creepy barn guarded by an old scarecrow. He smoothly glides his camera through it all like a nightmare that's happening in front of us.

Annabelle: Creation does use plenty of familiar gimmicks, such as the thing that scuttles toward the camera, the thing that turns suddenly toward the camera, and the thing that's yanked away into darkness. Many of the scares are jump-shocks, but the amazing sound design also helps build a bracing sense of dreadful suspense. The characters don't always do the smartest thing at the right time, but, for the most part, they are forgiven; they can't have seen very many horror movies and so be expected to know what to do.