Annabelle is a prequel of sorts, but manages to avoid some of the inevitability and predictability problems of a prequel by not really being about how the doll wound up in that display case. The Warrens aren't even in the film -- which is good from narrative standpoint (but probably unfortunate from a quality standpoint, as the two actors starring in this new film aren't nearly as talented as Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson). Instead, this movie tells the story of how the doll first became creepy. (In a supernatural sense; the thing was evidently manufactured with that "I'll swallow your soul" facial expression.)
The writing of Annabelle is fairly solid. Though the pace does lag a bit here and there throughout the first half of the movie, the back half does make up for it. And throughout everything, there is -- as in The Conjuring -- a solid understanding of how to deploy a scare. There are a number of good bait-and-switch moments, where you think you know where to expect the scare, only to have it be somehow different than you anticipated. The movie also uses suspense to earn its purely startling moments; the only moments when something suddenly "jumps out at you," it comes as punctuation to a slow buildup of tension.
What's hit and miss is the acting. As I alluded to earlier, the actors playing Mia and John, the main couple at the center of the story, don't seem quite up to anchoring a movie. The appropriately named Annabelle Wallis gives good scream and panic, but comes off a bit wooden in other scenes. And Ward Horton has an unfortunate undercurrent of smarminess that makes his character seem a bit shifty at times, though this is definitely not the intention.
But there are a pair of solid, working actors in the two major supporting roles that help lift the proceedings. Alfre Woodard -- of Scrooged, Star Trek: First Contact, and more film and television appearances than most people could count -- plays a book store owner that befriends Mia. Woodard skillfully conveys her character's dark past, and layers in enough texture that the audience has some doubts as to what her role in the story might be. Meanwhile, Tony Amendola -- another veteran of dozens of projects, most recognizable to sci-fi fans from repeated Stargate SG-1 appearanaces -- plays the priest at the couple's church. He manages to get through all the expected "priest in a horror film" beats without making them seem too stale.
All told, The Conjuring was still probably a better movie than Annabelle. But if you liked one, it's hard to imagine you wouldn't like the other. I give Annabelle a B-.
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