English assignment 1

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: ONG JIA MIN
STUDENT ID NO: 0318003
FILMS SELECTED: HORROR FILM
WORD COUNT: 727
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 5TH DECEMBER 2014

2. Horror movies and thrillers fall into a similar category in the film industry. They
are both directed and produced to stimulate one’s emotion; mainly causing
anxiety and fear. Generally, the plot of these two movie genres involve the
intrusion of an evil force or events, sometimes of supernatural friction or even
twisting among mystery of serial killers. The recent released of the prominent
movie Annabelle (2014) and Sinister (2012) possess the characteristic of the
movie genre discussed above.
Annabelle is a Supernatural horror film directed by John R. Leonetti and
produced by James Wan. The backstory of the doll was in the possession of
paranormal researchers Ed and Lorrain Warren. The origin story includes a
fictionalised explanation of how a demon became attached to the doll. The doll
came to be named after a deceased young girl named Annabelle Higgins. Sinister
is also a Supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by C.
Robert Cargill. The differences between Annabelle and Sinister is that Annabelle
was all about a strong and evil demon soul eager to attach into an innocent
mortal’s body by possessing onto a doll and stimulating its prey’s soul to give up
his/her body. Whereas, Sinister is about “Mr.Boogie” who plays a serial killer
motive by encouraging the youngest child in the family to kill their entire family
members and realm the children. The creepiest idea in this film is the
documentation of the murder done solely by the kids at a very young age.
In the darker side, the movie Annabelle imposes religion into their content and
conspiracy thus it revolves around exorcism as a way to inhibit the paranormal
activities. While, Sinister comprises a minor strategy of mystery implemented on
the main character (the child’s father) to discover piles of spooky video
recording of past few slaying case by children. The play in these two movies are
considerable different but the result of their expression throughout the story line
bring viewers the same reactions.
The movie Annabelle is based on a real life story back in the 70s. The actual doll
according to the Internet looks pretty much like a normal doll but the doll used
in the movie exaggerated to have acquired an innocent but disturbing figure.
However, the horror effect is enhanced by the camera angles, sound effects and
the fast switching scenes. The movie plot and the original story had been rewrite
and recast to develop a greater impact on the viewer’s experience. While,
Sinister is a friction story, the writer uses his imagination to lead and stimulate
watcher’s reaction of fear and horror.
Spirits and ghost are not seen in the movie Annabelle. However, a human like
demon are imply to further excite the experience of their clients who are the
audiences. Nevertheless, abnormal activities scenes are strategically to further
promote the movie. Whilst, the villain of Sinister which is the serial killer – “Mr.
Boogie” are dressed up unnervingly and plays an important role in the scary and
petrifying part of the movie.
In the movie Annabelle, the demons that possessed on the Annabelle doll wanted
to take over the baby, so eventually the baby needs to die. While, the mother is
trying to protect her child so she would rather sacrifice herself and jump down

3. from the building so that her child won’t need to be sacrificed. But in the end,
both of them didn’t get to sacrifice themselves yet another character in this
movie sacrificed. Someone has to die and only one person will need to sacrificed.
While the movie sinister, “Mr. Boogie” courage and gives motive to the youngest
child of the family to kill the whole family. Everyone have to die except for the
youngest child because they got brainwashed from “Mr. Boogie”. The differences
are in the movie Sinister, you’ll see lots of people dying in many ways. Each
family has their ways to die and there are 5 families included with their family.
While Annabelle only one people need to be sacrificed and no one else need to
die.
Last but not least, there are a lot of differences between these two movies such
as Annabelle was all about dolls and Sinister was all about Mr. Boogie Man. It’s a
different concept horror films, but producing and aiming the same target – to
frightened people so that the film will get famous.
727 words

4. CITATION
John R. Leonetti (Drector). (2014). Annabelle (Film). New Line Cinema: Warner
Bros.
Scott Derrickson. (2012). Sinister (Film). United Kingdom: London FrightFest.