Annabelle Comes Home review: The Conjuring cinematic universe returns with yet another film based around creepy doll Annabelle.
WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.
First introduced during The Conjuring, the demonic doll Annabelle has spun-off into her own series of films, the first told of her life up to being captured by the Warrens, the second turned the clock back even further, to her origins. Now in the third film in her series, we get a glimpse into the mischief she causes once at ‘home’ in the Warrens’ museum of bad things. Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) head out on yet another paranormal case leaving their daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) in the charge of babysitter Mary-Ellen (Madison Iseman). Their weekend is crashed by Mary-Ellen’s friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) whom, despite warnings to the contrary, breaks into the Warrens’ room of weird and unknowingly unleashes all manner of malevolent beings, including that doll in pigtails.
Set between the events of Annabelle and The Conjuring 2, Annabelle Comes Home doesn’t hold too much suspense for our main cast of characters. We know that the Warrens all survive as they’re in The Conjuring 2, and we know that Annabelle ends-up back in the museum. This means that all Annabelle Comes Home can be is, in television terms, a filler episode. It’s also been marketed quite heavily that Ed and Lorraine Warren are in this one, and whilst technically they are, they essentially just bookend the film, with the main focus being on their daughter Judy.
That being said, Annabelle Comes Home does manage to do something that the last few Conjuring Universe films have failed to do – avoid an over reliance on jump-scares. The likes of The Nun and The Curse of La Llorona both relied far too heavily on the trope and almost became a predictable sequence of cheap jump-scares strung together by a flimsy plot. Here the focus is much more on the traditional horror film method on building up to scares. In fact, for the first hour or so there’s barely anything intense. We’re instead given time to get to know our characters, with plenty of hints on the monsters that await us later. The tension builds up slowly until suddenly all Hell literally breaks loose. Suddenly the adrenaline is pumping and the viewer is once more invested in The Conjuring universe.
Speaking of that universe, Annabelle Comes Home is rather shameless in its teasing of potential future movies. There’s a cursed wedding dress, a possessed samurai suit, a being known as The Ferryman, a hands-on board game called Feeley Meeley, that creepy little cymbal wielding monkey, and the infamous Hellhound (who is rumoured to be the subject of The Conjuring 3). Given that there are films in the works for The Crooked Man, it seems more than likely that at least a couple of these creatures will get fleshed out into a feature length venture.
Despite being one of the more chilling moments of The Conjuring, Annabelle has struggled outside of that original film. Previous attempts to expand the character from a short five minute sequence to feature length have felt uninspired, over-the-top, and rather repetitive. Annabelle Comes Home therefore has a lot of pressure on it to reignite viewer’s passion as the universe expands, and whilst it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it does breathe some much needed life back into the creepy doll.
Annabelle Comes Home review by Kat Hughes, July 2019.
Annabelle Comes Home is in cinemas now.
