An All New Game: The Hunger Games

 The Hunger Games is a 2008 science fiction novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games is an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death. 

 The Hunger Games takes place in a nation known as Panem, established in North America after the destruction of the continent's civilization by an unknown apocalyptic event. The nation consists of the wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts united under the Capitol's control. District 12, where the book begins, is located in the coal-rich region that was formerly known as Appalachia.
 
As punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol, in which a 13th district was destroyed, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by an annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, an event in which the participants, the "tributes", must fight to the death in an outdoor arena controlled by the Capitol, until only one individual remains. The story is narrated by 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th annual Hunger Games in place of her younger sister, Primrose. The male tribute chosen from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a former schoolmate of Katniss who once gave her bread from his family's bakery when her family was starving.
Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where their drunken mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, victor of the 50th Hunger Games, instructs them to watch and determine the strengths and weaknesses of the other tributes. "Stylists" are employed to make each tribute look his or her best; Katniss's stylist, Cinna, is the only person at the Capitol with whom she feels a degree of understanding. The tributes are publicly displayed to the Capitol audience in an interview with television host Caesar Flickerman, and have to attempt to appeal to the television audience in order to obtain "sponsors". During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his longtime unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain sponsors, who can be critical to survival because of their ability to send gifts such as food, medicine, and tools to favored tributes during the Games.
While nearly half the tributes are killed in the first day of the Games, Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and survival skills to remain unharmed and concealed from the other tributes. A few days into the Games, Katniss develops an alliance with Rue, a 12-year-old girl from the agricultural District 11 who reminds Katniss of her own sister. In the meantime, Peeta appears to have joined forces with the tributes from the richer districts. However, when he has the opportunity to kill Katniss, he instead saves her from the others. Katniss's alliance with Rue is brought to an abrupt end when Rue is killed by another tribute, whom Katniss then kills in self-defense with an arrow. Katniss sings to Rue until she dies, and spreads flowers over her body as a sign of respect for Rue and disgust towards the Capitol.
Apparently because of Katniss and Peeta's image in the minds of the audience as "star-crossed lovers", a rule change is announced midway through the Games, allowing two tributes from the same district to win the Hunger Games as a couple. Upon hearing this, Katniss begins searching for Peeta. She eventually finds him, wounded and in hiding. As she nurses him back to health, she acts the part of a young girl falling in love to gain more favor with the audience and, consequently, gifts from her sponsors. When the couple remains as the last two surviving tributes, the Gamemakers reverse the rule change in an attempt to force them into a dramatic finale, in which one must kill the other to win. Katniss, in an act of defiance against the Capitol, retrieves highly poisonous berries known as "nightlock" from her pouch and offers some to Peeta. Realizing that Katniss and Peeta intend to commit suicide, the Gamemakers announce that both will be the victors of the 74th Hunger Games.
Although she survives the ordeal in the arena and is treated to a hero's welcome in the Capitol, Katniss is warned by Haymitch that she has now become a political target after defying her society's authoritarian leaders so publicly. Afterwards, Peeta is heartbroken when he learns that Katniss's actions in the arena were part of a calculated ploy to earn sympathy from the audience. However, Katniss is unsure of her own feelings and realizes that she is dreading the moment when she and Peeta will go their separate ways.

Film Adaptation:- 

 
   In March 2009, Lions Gate Entertainment entered into a co-production agreement for The Hunger Games with Nina Jacobson's production company Color Force, which had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the novel a few weeks earlier. Twenty-year-old actress Jennifer Lawrence was chosen to play Katniss Everdeen. Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth were later added to the cast, in the roles of Peeta and Gale, respectively. The film was released on March 23, 2012.

 

Review Time: Annabelle (2014)

Film: Annabelle
Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, Alfre Woodard
Director: John R Leonetti
Rating: 3/5

 I guess John Leonetti's Annabelle is on top of your must-watch list. Not your fault though. The antagonist, a porcelain doll named Annabelle has gained its popularity since The Conjuring was released in 2013. The Conjuring is one of the best old manor style horror movie of the decade. You must be thinking that Annabelle would give you the same bone-chilling effects for almost two weeks like The Conjuring. Its an obvious thing to think about after the epic film as Annabelle is a spin-off film of The Conjuring. Hang on! You're wrong here...
 In short, this prequel is not even half scary as The Conjuring. We always expect more from James Wan as he is the guy who offered us Saw, Insidious, Dead Silence, etc. We just cannot expect such a ridicule from him.
 Well, getting back to Annabelle, you remember that hideous porcelain faced, blonde braids, rouged cheeks, obscenely dark lipstick and thread-like eyebrows drawn high up the forehead, right?  Yes, the one that was hidden away in their celebrated basement by the ghost-hunting couple, Ed and Lorraine Warren.
 The film looks interesting at first. It starts by promising monster of some sort. Add to that enough cringe-inducing melodrama, the non-believing husband and the new mommy in 1970s America. The strange occurrences, rearranged household items, the troubled neighbors, it all feels really played out, very “been there, done that” kind.
 Then suddenly you see Mia (played by coincidental namesake Annabelle Wallis) and John (Ward Horton) fight the demon to save their child, and their priest actually helps the distressed couple. I don't remember much about what happens after that and neither would you.
 The second half is only slightly better, but Annabelle herself is not exactly terrifying. She’s not the agent of evil we expect her to be. But that said, there are eerie moments in the film. The appearance of a horned demon in Mia’s basement in their second house makes for one effective sequence: the lift doors close, we breathe a sigh of relief, but it’s jammed on that floor and poor Mia is stuck in the haunted basement, with flickering light bulbs and sounds of babies howling. Now that was no LOL (Laugh Out Loud) even for the dopamine-seeker who lives for such psychological thrills.
 Annabelle still doesn't scare us. Once John throws the doll in the trash, it again appears inside an unpacked box when they move to another apartment. The thing which I didn't understand is why the heck did the dumb couple keep the doll again even though it had become dirty and more scary-looking. Also the reason for why did the wife collected dolls is not clear.
 Annabelle is not terrible, but it's not very good either. The premise is flimsy and the leads are tolerable, but the film never manages to rise above mediocrity. There isn’t much suspense and the scares are minimal.
 In short, watching this movie in theater is worthless...

Mystery of The Creepy Annabelle Doll!

 So, this time, I'm here with the case of a mysterious haunted doll of 1970 who we all know as Annabelle. Remember that porcelain scary-looking doll from The Conjuring (2013)? She is also the main antagonist of the 2014 spin-off film that bares her name (or at least the demon controlling her is). Annabelle is a possessed doll who was based on a real-life case of a possessed Raggedy Ann doll.

 ORIGINAL STORY:-

                                                     Annabelle from The Conjuring (2013)

The real Annabelle doll wasn't a porcelain doll as presented in the film. Rather, the real Annabelle doll was just your typical run of the mill Raggedy Ann doll. The true story regarding this doll is considered to be very nightmare-inducing so feel free to leave if you are scared. 
 Donna obtained the doll from her mother in 1970. At this time, she was still a college student, and she lived with a roommate by the name of Angie. Neither of these two women saw the doll as anything special. That would change once the doll began to move...
 The girls began to notice that Annabelle seemed to move whenever they were out of the room. At first, the movements were slight and not very noticeable. Eventually, however, the movements increased, and the girls soon found the doll in other rooms. And then everything ultimately went downhill once their friend came to visit.
 Their friend, Lou, hated the doll with all of his heart. He figured that something was way off with the doll and always told the two girls to get rid of the doll. The girls, however, didn't believe in the supernatural, and considered there to be a logical explanation as to why the doll could seemingly move from room to room. Things went even further south once the doll began to leave notes for the three friends, and also seemed to leak a blood-like substance.
 Eventually, Donna agreed to allow a medium to inspect the doll. The medium then stated that the doll was being possessed by the spirit of a seven-year-old girl who had died in a field that was close to the house, and that said spirit felt safe around Donna and Angie. Donna, moved by the medium's words, allows the girl to reside with them. This is where everything went to Hell.
 Later on, Lou had a series of nightmares regarding this doll. One dream in particular was very disturbing. In it, the doll was shown crawling up Lou's leg, and then proceeded to strangle him. He woke up with several claw marks on his chest. The Warrens were later called in to inspect the doll, and they conclude that it was a demon that they were dealing with, and not the ghost of a seven-year-old girl. The demon itself wasn't actually possessing the doll; rather, it was manipulating the events in such a way that they resembled a haunting. The demon was really after Donna's soul the entire time.
 A priest then performed an exorcism on the apartment, and the Warrens proceed to take Annabelle with them. When they were driving on the back roads, the doll attempted to cause them to wreck their car. Ed immediately opened a bag and sprinkled holy water on the doll.
 The doll now resides in the Warren's Occult Museum in Connecticut. The doll can be found in a locked case that seems pretty effective. However, that may only be because the doll could be planning something. Annabelle can possibly be anticipating that someone would release her one day, and that she's still waiting for that day so that her reign of terror could begin anew.  

FILMS:-

The Conjuring-  Annabelle resided in famed paranormal investigator's Ed and Lorraine Warren's museum in a locked case. They got the doll from a previous case that involved two girls talking about the doll moving and leaving behind notes such as "Miss me?" When the Perron family reported of supernatural happenings in their house, Annabelle joins the other spirits in tormenting the family. She was also taken out of the case by Bathsheba Sherman, the ghost of a witch who murdered her own son. She was then found mysteriously back in her case. Bathsheba then releases the demon within the doll to kill Ed and Lorraine Watson.

Annabelle- This film is a spin-off of The Conjuring, and it will serve as the origin story for the doll. What the plot of the film is, so far, is that a young man, named John Form, decided to give his expectant wife an antique doll. A few nights later, a satanic cult broke into their house, and they proceeded to unleash a powerful entity that will presumably take possession of the doll.

                                    The Original Annabelle Doll at Occult Museum, Connecticut