The latest film in “The Conjuring” universe, “Annabelle Comes Home” recently hit theaters and having seen almost all the other films set in that horror universe, I knew I would have to end up watching this at some point or another so in the theaters was as good of time as any. This movie comes on the heels of the sad news of Lorraine Warren’s passing.
The latest story of the doll Annabelle takes places after the first film and it’s prequel as Ed and Lorraine Warren retrieve the doll and take it back to their house to contain the demonic presence that resides in Annabelle. Once Annabelle is secure, Ed and Lorraine Warren take off to research another case so they leave their daughter with a babysitter until they get back in a few days. When the babysitter invites a friend over who sneaks into the room Annabelle is being held and lets the doll out, all Hell literally breaks out and it’s up to the girls to contain Annabelle before they become her latest victims.
I enjoyed “Annabelle Comes Home” but it had a bit of a ‘more of the same’ feel to it. The film offers some scares and it is entertaining but also doesn’t add much to make the franchise feel fresh either. For a franchise that is known for it’s scares, it sure plays it safe with it’s sequels. Perhaps this may be part of the reason one of the most popular tags for this film aside from ‘creepy’ is ‘boring’. Most of the scares in this film were obvious jump scares and there wasn’t really enough of them scattered throughout for most horror fans.
The film was a little frustrating to me because of it’s bait and switch marketing. The film’s trailers showcased Ed and Lorraine Warren a great deal and it was advertised as a sort of Conjuring and Annabelle crossover. As it turns out, it was not. The Warrens basically served as bookends to the main story which makes sense since they are seemingly saving the Warrens for a proper “The Conjuring 3”.
The film started Mckenna Grace as Judy Warren. Grace did a very good job and her star is set to shine even more with a starring role in “Ghostbusters 2020”. Madison Iseman plays Judy’s babysitter Mary and does a good job expressing terror as well. As stated before, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson return as Lorraine and Ed Warren and are among the highlights of the film. To me though, the breakout star was Michael Cimino as Bob. Cimino’s character nicknamed ‘Bobs got balls’ provided a great deal of the levity throughout the film.
Horror screenwriter Gary Dauberman makes his directorial debut with this film. Dauberman awkwardly framed some of his shots to foreshadow events in the film. I also felt like the film was more worried about setting up otherworldly ghouls not to world build within the movie but to set up possible spinoffs.
“Annabelle Comes Home” is a familiar horror film that checks off all the formulaic checkboxes and delivers an entertaining yet mostly forgettable film. It’s become clear the Annabelle franchise needs to rest in peace or find a new direction.
Grade: B-
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