Annabelle: Creation

n Annabelle: Creation, several years after the tragic death of their young daughter, a doll maker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shut-down orphanage into their home. They soon become the target of the doll maker’s possessed creation, Annabelle. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary with Director David F. Sandberg, the featurettes The Conjuring Universe (HD 04:51) and Directing Annabelle: Creation (HD 42:21), horror shorts Attic Panic (HD 03:10) and Coffer (HD 03:09), deleted scenes (HD 12:04), and a digital copy.

The 2.40:1 1080p AVC picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, upconverted to 2160p with greater resolution and luminance, was photographed digitally with the Arri Alexa and Red Epic camera system and sourced from a 2K master Digital Intermediate format. Picture quality is excellent, with a rich and warm color palette and spot colors that pop. Earthy hues around the mountainous surroundings are naturally rendered. Bright highlights enhance the excellent contrast. Deep black and revealing shadow delineation are exhibited throughout, enhancing the horror and terror. Resolution also is excellent with fine detail exhibited in facial features, skin pores, hair, clothing, and object textures, including fine wood grains and house furnishings. Fleshtones are naturally rendered in various lighting designs exhibited in the stylish production. This is a terrific-looking picture that is very atmospheric and chilling, often with reference-quality imagery. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack is quite dynamic, shifting from quiet moments to intense sonics. Bass extension is deep in all channels, with engerized sub-25 Hz .1 LFE effects that enhance the terror. Atmospherics are effectively delivered to enhance realism. Sound effects also are very effective in eliciting a sense of terror, with robust transient accents. Surround extension in all four surround channels is aggressive and at times very directionalized, enhancing the feeling of a dynamic soundfield. In some scenes, there is a very good sense of height as well. The orchestral score is well recorded and spooky that aggressively extends to the surrounds. Dialogue is intelligible throughout with good spatial integration. This is a wonderful holosonic® soundtrack with great low-frequency sound effects and aggressive surround envelopment that exemplifies the use of the 7.1 format (Gary Reber)