Ever since it hit theaters in August 2017, Annabelle: Creation has scared the pants off
millions of fans — and finally revealed just where that demonic doll from The Conjuring
really came from.
But if this horror origin story left you with more questions than answers, don't be afraid!
We've got everything you need to know about the film's ending and post-credits scenes…
unless you don't want to see spoilers for The Conjuring and both Annabelle films, in
which case this is your cue to cover your eyes and hide under the covers until the video
is over.
The doll is just a vessel
Annabelle might be inherently creepy, but before she became infested by an evil spirit,
she was just a very expensive, hand-crafted doll — and the part where she has a face
like something out of a nightmare?
An unfortunate coincidence.
The origin of Annabelle's evil comes when the Mullins invite the spirit of their deceased
daughter to live inside the doll, only to realize that the entity in that porcelain
body isn't a human ghost at all, but something ancient, powerful, and extraordinarily evil.
With the help of some Catholic priests, Samuel Mullins manages to trap the doll in a closet
lined with scripture, and he hopes that'll be the end of it.
But while scripture might keep the demon in, it won't keep curious little girls out, which
brings us to this:
Annabelle's first jailbreak
To atone for their accidental dealings with the devil, the Mullins generously invite Sister
Charlotte and her six orphans to come live with them.
The house rules are simple: do your chores, be polite, and don't open the evil closet
— yes, that evil closet.
Stop!
What are you doing?!
[Door creaking]
Horror predictably ensues from here, as the free-at-last evil spirit proceeds to terrorize
the household, possess Janice, and do away with both Mr. and Mrs. Mullins.
Eventually, Sister Charlotte saves the day by trapping both the possessed Janice and
the doll in the scripture closet and calling the cops — but when they show up, the only
thing in the closet is the doll… and the hole in the wall where Janice presumably blasted
through like the Kool-Aid man and made her escape.
Demon for adoption
Now occupying the body of an adorable child and calling itself "Annabelle," the demon
makes its way to an orphanage and is immediately adopted by the Higgins family — with whom
it lives happily ever after.
...Or at least until 1967, when we see a grownup Annabelle return home and brutalize her parents,
which causes a ruckus that wakes up the neighbors, who are of course the central characters of
the first standalone Annabelle movie.
Roll credits, and mission accomplished: you've just watched a terrifying origin story that
enjoys perfect continuity with the rest of the Conjuring universe.
Annabelle explained
You don't have to have seen the first Annabelle to enjoy the Creation origin story, but if
you did, Creation answers some important questions about the events from that film.
For one, we can safely assume that Annabelle, who was really a possessed Janice, didn't
take out her adoptive parents in a cultist attempt to "resurrect the Ram."
She is the Ram!
[Screaming]
So when Annabelle-slash-Janice offs her parents, slits her own throat, and bleeds into the
doll's eyeball, the demon possessing her moves back into the first vessel it ever occupied
— and sets its sights on a new human target.
The Ram clearly has a thing for kids, which may explain why it's so drawn to this porcelain
body; where a creepy doll goes, children are sure to follow.
The bigger picture
Let's not forget that Annabelle: Creation is a part of the larger universe of the Conjuring
films — and here's where things get interesting, because there's not just one evil entity in
this movie.
The demon we're calling the Ram was still imprisoned inside the doll in the closet when
Janice had her first few brushes with the supernatural, which means there must be another
demon in the Mullins' house.
Which one?
We'll give you a hint: If it grabs you like an evil nun, and dresses like an evil nun,
and pushes little wheelchair-bound children into barns like an evil nun, it's probably
an evil freakin nun — also known as Valak, the demonic entity whose sister act will headline
the next film in the franchise.
It's not clear yet whether the Nun is specifically connected to the Ram that possesses the Annabelle
doll, or whether she would've showed up to help any evil spirit that had gotten itself
trapped in a closet.
But with a creepy post-credits scene in Creation that acts as a teaser for the Nun's stand-alone
film, we can be sure that in the tangled web of the Conjuring universe, everything is connected.
"Please, from the start."
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