10 Horror Movies That Gave Fans EXACTLY What They Wanted (And They Hated It)

8. Annabelle Gets Her Own Spotlight

I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer
Warner Bros. Pictures

While James Wan's The Conjuring stands as one of the finest horrors of the past decade, one minor complaint that some had was the extremely minimal presence of Annabelle.

Ahead of the release of this 2013 picture, the Annabelle doll was front 'n' centre in all of the film's marketing. So, when this creepy little b*stard was featured in barely five minutes of The Conjuring, some were left feeling short-changed. Remedying this, the following year brought Annabelle her/its own self-titled movie.

Unfortunately, this first solo venture for the doll was a total dud. Set loosely six months before the Annabelle-centred flashback shown in The Conjuring, this 2014 offering focuses on a married couple, the Forms, and their new-born baby. When their neighbours are murdered at the start of the feature, the attackers end up in the Forms' home as the police arrive. After the police fatally shoot one of these assailants, the other - the daughter of the neighbours and ominously called Annabelle - slits her own throat.

Moving house, the Forms soon witness all kinds of spooky shenanigans loosely tied to the porcelain doll they thought they'd thrown in the trash. It'd turn out that the real Annabelle and her partner-in-crime were part of a demonic cult, and an evil presence resided in said doll. Sadly, this entire story was just, well, dull.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.