Annabelle: Creation, the fourth movie in The Conjuring series and a prequel to Annabelle (2014), lands in our cinemas this weekend having already confounded expectations on its United States launch last week. The movie pulled in around US$40 million (Dh146,920,000) on its opening weekend, beating initial predictions and taking the number one slot at the box office. Perhaps most surprisingly, however, the film has also attracted wide critical appraisal compared to its predecessor which, while commercially successful, was criticised as a lazy, cheap attempt to spin a bit more profit from the James Wan-created horror franchise. Wan still produces here, though directing duties are handed to David F Sandberg, director of the 2016 breakout horror hit Lights Out.
The film’s star Stephanie Sigman plays Sister Charlotte, a nun who tries to keep her orphaned charges safe from the demonic doll of the film’s title. Sigman says: “Of course you always hope people are going to like any movie you make. But it was a surprise how warmly this has been received so far. You never really know how the response to a film is going to be, so you just have to go in and play your part because you have no control over anything else – how the movie’s going to come out, how it’s going to look or any of that. You just have to go in and give your performance and just hope the reactions are good.”
Annabelle: Creation is the first time Sigman has appeared in a horror film, although with past roles in movies and shows including Narcos, The Bridge and Shimmer Lake, it's fair to say she has a CV with a leaning to the darker side of the entertainment spectrum. She admits that she finds darker roles more fun to take on as an actress, although she insists that appearing in a horror was not something she had on her agenda prior to Annabelle.
“I’m not really a fan of horror. I scare really easily so if I’m going to watch horror it has to be with a group of people,” she says. “Even though I’m in this I still had to force my managers to sit through it with me when it was finished because I was so scared. I never really expected to make a horror movie, but I’m really pleased with it now I have. I think we’ve made not just a good horror movie, but a good movie.”
The latest Annabelle movie comes in the middle of something of a golden era for horror – movies like Lights Out, Get Out and It Follows have achieved that rare horror double of critical and box office success over the past couple of years.
Sigman has her own ideas about why the genre remains so enduringly popular: “I think horror makes people feel adrenaline and reminds you you’re alive,” she says. “When you’re scared in a movie you are just totally in that moment. We lead such busy lives today and we’re always thinking about what’s going on and what’s coming next, but when you’re watching something that scares you you’re truly in that moment and can let everything else go.”
It is fortunate then that Sandberg has looked to old-school horror as the basis for this film. Good old-fashioned jumps and psychological tension are his main weapons, rather than the gimmicky feel of the previous Annabelle movie. Indeed, the film is probably closer in tone to Wan's classy original Conjuring than either that movie or 2016's The Conjuring 2.
Sigman adds that, as a relative newcomer to Hollywood (Lights Out was his Hollywood debut, based on his own, 2013, Swedish short), Sandberg brought a refreshing feel to the set: "A lot of what he was doing on set he was doing for the first time and he had a really fresh perspective," the actress says. "He was really happy to just let us improvise, and if I had questions about the character or the story he was really good at answering, or just saying, 'Don't overthink it, just do what you would do naturally'. It sounds really simple but it is easy to overthink and complicate things that really should be easy and simple."
Sandberg's approach seems to have turned heads in the right places. In July he was signed up by the DC Cinematic Universe to direct the Shazam movie, due in 2019. Sigman admits that, so far, she hasn't held any talks with the director about reuniting in the DC Universe but, unsurprisingly, she says she would be open to offers: "I really don't know what they have in mind for the DC movies or what the characters are, we didn't talk about it at all," she says. "But yeah, sure I'd be open to it if they wanted me – who wouldn't? And David was great fun to work with, I'd love to work with him again, so we'll just have to see."
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Read more:
Fears about parenthood inspired horror movie
Film review: Get Out is a truly terrifying film that deals with racism in a clever and absorbing way
Film Review: Under the Shadow is an incredible achievement
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The biog
Name: Samar Frost
Born: Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: Singing, music and socialising with friends
Favourite singer: Adele
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPayal%20Kapadia%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Kani%20Kusruti%2C%20Divya%20Prabha%2C%20Chhaya%20Kadam%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202-litre%204-cylinder%20turbo%20and%203.6-litre%20V6%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20automatic%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20235hp%20and%20310hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E258Nm%20and%20271Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh185%2C100%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
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%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20S%20Frederick%20Starr%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Oxford%20University%20Press%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20290%3Cbr%3EAvailable%3A%20January%2024%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million