12 Interesting Facts About Annabelle

Interesting Facts (6)

#001
Ellen DeGeneres recognized the apartment building in Annabelle as her former home only after guests promoting the film appeared on her show; she noted the apartment was creepy even before Annabelle showed up.
INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED
Share Report
#002
The sound cues for the neighboring apartment in Annabelle were lifted straight from Rosemary's Baby.
INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED
Share Report
#003
John Leonetti directed Annabelle, but James Wan personally shot the elevator scene.
INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED
Share Report
#004
To promote Annabelle: Creation, Warner Bros. held a short film contest called My Annabelle Creation. The winner received only $100 and a meeting with director David F. Sandberg, while the studio retained the rights to the winning story idea for up to 3 years.
INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED
Share Report
#005
Contains a major spoiler — show
Annabelle: Creation required reshoots because its final act wasn't working. Mrs. Mullins was originally meant to return as a possessed corpse, threatening Linda in the dumbwaiter and the girls in the barn, but the scarecrow and the horned demon took her place.
INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED
Share Report
#006
Contains a major spoiler — show
The film nods to the cult classic Rosemary's Baby (1968), in which Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes play Rosemary and Guy, a young couple moving into a new building. Annabelle's leads are named Mia and John, and their newborn daughter is Leah, the name of one of the neighbors Rosemary and Guy meet in their building. Both films stage a dramatic elevator scene. Annabelle takes place in 1969, Rosemary's Baby in 1966. In 1969 actress Sharon Tate, eight months pregnant, was murdered by the Manson Family; she was married to Roman Polanski, who directed Rosemary's Baby.
INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED
Share Report

Characters & Cast (1)

#007
The face of the "Annabelle" doll was modeled directly on the face of the "corpse" in the "A Drop of Water" segment of Black Sabbath (1963), starring Boris Karloff.
CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED
Share Report

Easter Eggs & References (2)

#008
Annabelle's leads, John and Mia, take their names from John Cassavetes and Mia Farrow, the stars of Rosemary's Baby, and their daughter Leah shares a name with a neighbor in that 1968 film.
EASTER EGGS & REFERENCES · SOURCED
Share Report
#009
Contains a major spoiler — show
(around 1h 30m) When the woman in the thrift store buys Annabelle at the end of the film, the camera pans across the room to show a Raggedy Ann doll sitting opposite her, likely a nod to the original Raggedy Ann doll the film was based on.
EASTER EGGS & REFERENCES · SOURCED
Share Report

Deeper Meaning (1)

#010
Contains a major spoiler — show
The symbolism is unclear, but Mia visibly wears green throughout the time her house is plagued by the Annabelle doll. By contrast, she wears blues before the attack and browns and neutral tones after the climax.
DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED
Share Report

Life & Family (2)

#011
The real Annabelle was a used Raggedy Ann doll that Donna's mother bought at a hobby shop. It became known for leaving notes on parchment when none was in the house, and for attacking a friend named Lou, leaving mysterious claw marks on his chest. The filmmakers chose to design a more sinister porcelain doll instead.
LIFE & FAMILY · SOURCED
Share Report
#012
Donna, then a college student, received the real Annabelle doll from her mother in 1970. She and her roommate Angie noticed the doll moving slightly, and within a few weeks it was moving from one room to another while they were out.
LIFE & FAMILY · SOURCED
Share Report