The Conjuring, of which Annabelle: Creation is a spin-off, was an unexceptional supernatural horror that shamelessly mined the many clichés of the genre in a desperate search for frights. Likewise, this 'origins' flick is a collection of well-worn scary movie tropes that is unlikely to impress seasoned horror fans. I've lost count of how many creepy doll movies I've seen over the years, and this one does very little new with the idea.

Annabelle is the name given to the fugly doll which acts as a conduit for a nasty demon that causes trouble for a group of nuns and girls who come to live in a farmhouse orphanage. It's a generic, lazy story full of gaping plot holes, lapses in logic and glaring inconsistencies, told with little flair or originality by director David F. Sandberg, who helmed the marginally better Lights Out.