The Annabelle doll in New Line Cinema’s supernatural thriller “ANNABELLE,” Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures / The Hollywood Archive.
For the sake of this article, Killer toys are themselves fictional characters usually based on toys, dolls or puppets that have been possessed by demons, monsters, ghosts, supernatural creatures, dark magic or in the case of “Small Soldiers”, military technology. These are usually children’s toys that come to life to commit violent acts.
The concept of toys coming to life is a common and historical concept in children’s literature, and this idea has been adapted into numerous horror films. The 1978 film “Magic” starring Anthony Hopkins, represents a key inspiration for subsequent films. In that film, Hopkins is as a combination magician and ventriloquist with a possessive, jealous and foul-mouthed dummy named Fats.
While the subgenre’s best-known films are the “Child’s Play” (1988) film series starring ‘Chucky’, other notable killer toys/dolls films include the “Puppet Master” series (1989), Poltergeist (1982), Demonic Toys (1992) and the classic TV film, “Trilogy of Terror” (1975).
Which brings us to a new offering in the genre from Warner Bros. / New Line Cinema, “Annabelle.” This supernatural thriller begins before the evil was unleashed in “The Conjuring.” as the film is a spinoff of “The Conjuring” focusing on the origins of the Annabelle doll found in that film.
About the Film:
John Form ( Ward Horton) has found the perfect gift for his expectant wife, Mia (Annabelle Wallis) – a beautiful, rare vintage doll in a pure white wedding dress. But Mia’s delight with Annabelle doesn’t last long. On one horrific night, their home is invaded by members of a satanic cult, who violently attack the couple. Spilled blood and terror are not all they leave behind. The cultists have conjured an entity so malevolent that nothing they did will compare to the sinister conduit to the damned that is now…Annabelle.
“Annabelle.” Opening October 3, 2014, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.