‘Annabelle: Creation’ Director David F. Sandberg On Connecting Those Dark, Terrifying Dots

The story that branched off from James Wan’s The Conjuring (2013) has literally given Annabelle a life of her own, first with the 2014 offshoot film named after that cursed and possessed doll. Now, a new film brings the doll back to the big screen, but how does Annabelle: Creation fit into the franchise that introduced her and the offshoot film that made her an icon in her own right? Director David F. Sandberg answers that and other compelling questions about his latest box-office smashing horror hit.

Spoilers Ahead As The Origins Of Annabelle: Creation Are Explored

While 2014’s Annabelle was a prequel offshoot to The Conjuring, it wasn’t really the origin story that horror fans had expected, when they flocked to theaters. Now, as L.A. Times reveals, we are finally getting that story — and then some. Annabelle: Creation introduces us to the very beginning, when the Annabelle doll was manufactured in the early ’40s as a part of a limited edition collectors item. Only 100 similar dolls were created.

The dollmaker, Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia), is shown devoting great care and a love of his craft in creating Annabelle, painstakingly assembling, refining, and painting the doll.

Later, Samuel and his wife, Esther (played by Miranda Otto), suffer a family tragedy, bringing an end to the dollmaker’s passion for life and art. It isn’t until many years have passed that the couple once again open up their doors and their hearts, but, this time, it’s to a group of unsuspecting orphans.

It doesn’t take a leap of the imagination to guess what happens next in Annabelle: Creation. While the doll torments her new house full of defenseless children, one handicapped orphan, Janice (Talitha Bateman) may be the only one capable of stopping Annabelle from spreading her reign of evil.