Annabelle Comes Home

What is the movie about? :: Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) continues their paranormal investigations, and manage to take the Annabelle doll home, as it had been terrorizing those who had kept it at home. During their return home, they are forced to stop the car near a cemetery, and the spirits summoned by the doll almost kills Ed. The couple are quick to take the doll to the artifacts room and is blessed by Father Gordon (Steve Coulter) before any other terrible events happen due to the demonic connection that the doll makes. The doll is kept inside a glass case, and a warning sign is provided outside, so that nobody would even think about opening the case, in case they get inside the artifacts room ignoring the warning given outside. At the same time, they continue the paranormal investigations, and add more items to the artifacts, filling the space with remains of the supernatural.

So, what happens with the events here? :: Judy Warren (Mckenna Grace) doesn’t have a good time at school as students lead by Anthony Rios (Luca Luhan) makes fun of her in the name of her parents’ paranormal investigations, and even refuses to attend her birthday party in the name of the same. Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) is the one in charge of babysitting her, and she is only happy to listen to the stories about spirits and exorcism. Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela Rios (Katie Sarife) also comes to visit her, as the two try to make cake for Judy early, even though the birthday party is still scheduled a few days later. But Daniela’s aim is not the birthday, as she is haunted by the guilt of driving the car when her father was killed in an accident. As the Warrens are believed to have connections with the death and the undead, she hoped that something there would help her.

And what else follows with the happenings? :: When Mary and Judy are outside the house, Daniela offers to check the cake, and at the same time sneaks into the room where the artifacts are kept, hoping to find something to connect to her father. Only a message from her father could comfort her and save her from the guilt. While trying to find something that could help her and failing in doing so, she opens the glass case where Annabelle doll was held, and leaves it open, as the spirit is unleashed, looking for a human soul. Mary Ellen’s crush Bob Palmeri (Michael Cimino) arrives outside at the same time, and finds himself facing another spirit which Annabelle had awakened among the others. The house soon finds itself infested by more than one spirit, with Annabelle, the Bride and the Ferryman only some of them, as night arrives. Each space seems to be taken over by a spirit, as they try to find a solution.

The defence of Annabelle Comes Home :: We are never short of a little bit of horror, as there has been the need. The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, The Nun, Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation and now this one has left us full of this franchise which never really seems to leave us. There is enough horror in store in this movie too, with danger lurking behind the doors, windows, curtains and within the shadows. There is also more than one spirit in store here, and the room of artifacts is once again clarified to be the one place nobody should be visiting even during day time. The movie does mark a certain return to form for the franchise, as within this movie, we can see hope for further spin-off versions. Well, the doll is nothing that never ceases to catch our interest, even more than Chucky, the Child’s Play doll of our childhood. The characters of this movie are also nicely worked out, with the older people left out, and those who have no prior knowledge of such terror being forced to face it. As usual, we have those nice sound effects as bonus.

The claws of flaw :: Annabelle Comes Home has the predictability which has been there with the horror movies up to an extent, but it does rise above the same on occasions. Even with the repetitions, we have enjoyable moments, but it seems to keep some of those with pride. The movie does take a little bit of too much time to get into the horror mode, and considering the fact that this is a movie franchise which has had a lot of time already, and understanding the idea that Annabelle needs no more time to begin the hunt, we could have began this earlier in style. Even then, the story isn’t developed that much, as all these converge into one point. Annabelle doll could also be scary with its moments, and there should have been the realization that it should be the scariest among them all, as it is the movie of the doll, and not of the other demonic abominations which could have had smaller space in comparison.

The performers of the soul :: In a horror movie, you often look forward to the performances of the ghosts, demons, vampires, zombies and werewolves instead of the humans, but here, we are blessed with the younger actors who can act, and adds as a bonus to the flick. Mckenna Grace, the child actress seems to be perfect fit for a horror movie, as she displays the skills here. She already has some horror movies to her credit and more is to come up – for the common audience here who rarely watches Hollywood movies, she played the childhood of Captain Marvel’s titular character. Madison Iseman who played Bethany in Jumanji is also here, along with Katie Sarife, all of these having good scope for future considering their performances. Patrick Wilson and Vera Fermiga have very less to do this time, as facing the demons in the house is left to the teenagers.

How it finishes :: Annabelle franchise has another interesting movie, and The Conjuring franchise also has another welcome addition. But it has to be said the horror genre hasn’t been that powerful these days, with what strength was displayed by The Conjuring when it released in 2013 not staying. As long as you are a horror fan and a fan of the franchise, this one should stay to keep the momentum going for the series, but a lot of these have been getting repetitive. Still, this one manages to continue to be strong, and we can watch it and enjoy the movie with the doll. But we are always looking for more, and now at the time of the Corona Virus, the evil spirits are not the ones which are the scariest among them – and even a medical thriller like Virus can be scary; so we are to work more and find better ideas to make such premises work better, and until then enjoy this movie.

Release date: 26th June 2019
Running time: 106 minutes
Directed by: Gary Dauberman
Starring: Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Michael Cimino, Paul Dean, Steve Coulter, Luca Luhan, Anthony Wemmys, Alison White, Stephen Blackehart, Sade Katarina, Kenzie Caplan