Item: Annabelle Comes Home
Rating: 7
Author: Matt Rooney

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Synopsis: After demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren come across the doll Annabelle and determine it's possessed by an evil spirit, they decide to keep it locked away for good in a room of haunted artifacts in their home. But one night everything goes to hell when Annabelle is unlocked from her case and acts as a beacon for the other evil spirits to come forth and wreak havoc on the Warren home. Worst. Sleepover. Ever.

Review: When they’re at their very best, the movies of the CONJURING universe succeed in combining the sinister vibes of demonic lore with the terrifying thrill of a haunted house flick. At their worst, they find little redemption beyond the eerie presence of their title, creepy figures – whether they be nuns, jaded widows or porcelain dolls. But ANNABELLE COMES HOME is in its own class in this unexpectedly successful franchise – taking the dark mythos that’s been building for years and unleashing it as an exhilarating funhouse nightmare that, when operating at full tilt, finds endless ways to make you squirm in your seat.

While the setting of the movie makes the treasure trove of haunted artifacts belonging to Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) its home base, the title demon doll, Annabelle, is still the focal point. She has no arc, gets any added historical context or any has goals beyond soul-sucking, but Gary Dauberman’s script works around that by emphasizing Annabelle’s twisted superpower: she acts as a beacon to call out other spirits so they may cause havoc on us humans. Everything is set in motion when, after the Warrens place their new toy in a holy cabinet during their short stay in this movie, a young woman does what every uncontrollable moviegoer will scream at her not to do – she opens the case – thus letting the demon out of the bottle, which sounds like a saying.

I meant what I said in the beginning in that when this movie goes full whack-ado and lets the terrifying chaos reign it operates on a whole other level than the rest, it just that it takes its sweet time getting there…it’s sweet, sweet, slow time. Dauberman, like Kevin Williamson (SCREAM) before him, has a knack for crafting relatable, young characters who you come to care for before they’re tortured by murderous entities. Focusing on the key characters and establishing their goodwill and bonds with each other is very important to the overall integrity of the movie and gives it’s a sense of sweetness that isn't often found in such abundance in these movies. The problem is that all the time spent on building those relationships can’t help but slow the movie down and feel like it’s hopping from moment to moment as the movie everyone involved was envisioning from the get-go waits in the wings and has trouble coming to the surface.

These three main characters are Judy, the Warrens' young daughter who struggles as the lonely kid with the weird parents (McKenna Grace); her babysitter, Mary Ellen, who just wants to be a really good babysitter (Madison Iseman) and; Daniela (Katie Sarife), Mary Ellen’s friend who wants to use the mystic air of the Warrens' home, namely their demon room, to make contact with her deceased father – his death she blames on herself. All three actresses turn in solid work and have loving, playful chemistry, but aside from Daniela messing around in the artifact room, where she unlocks the creepy Annabelle, they don’t have much to do except exist the house. There’s a routineness to what they’re doing, whether it’s baking a cake or hanging out in the backyard, that bogs down the movie and begs the question of what is even meant to be going on and when it’s all supposed to happen. These moments can be funny, in fact making it the funniest movie in the series, but I found it easy to forget I was watching a horror movie after a certain point.

In large part that lies on Dauberman, who in making his directorial debut here doesn’t quite figure out how to craft an eerie atmosphere that builds up to the inevitable fright night in these early scenes. The majority of the small scares that pop up in between the moments of earnestness amount to not much more than stoic, ghostly figures standing still some feet away, who are there when the camera starts panning but are gone once the view has passed over some kind of cover. There’s even one scare involving an evil bride that feels ripped straight out of THE CONJURING 2 in terms of framing and style and handled much less intensely.

This may all sound like I’m describing a vastly different movie than the one I talked about at the start, but the fact of the matter is there was a vision for this movie, and after the necessary but sluggish elements of the first half are done with, the night time takes over, the top is let off, and the bonkers, incredibly crafty elements start to take over and make up for much of everything that came before.

Like JUMANJI but instead of monkeys and spiders coming out of the woodwork, it's ancient evils from lore bent of causing as much pain and suffering as humanly possible, the demons that have infested the Warrens' artifact room come barreling out once Annabelle is unleashed. From the moment the sun goes down the final half is a whirlwind of clever and sometimes intense scares that make use of all sorts of props and characters. It’s a carnival of blood, haunting ghouls, deceptively vicious items and even a werewolf. Yes, this entry finally delivers on one nasty beastie with sharp claws that chases one dump boy around the outside of the house.

However uninspired early moments of the movie were they’re replaced by inventive, rapid-fire set pieces that get the most out of the kind of lore that makes this series so terrifying. You have the evil Ferry Man, who lures Mary Ellen throughout the house with rolling coins on the ground, as well as the suit of samurai armor, which houses the bloody events of the person who last wore it. There are seriously evil items at play too, like an old board game called Feely Meely, which requires players to place their hands inside and fish around for trinkets, and a TV that shows events happening moments before they occur in real life. Annabelle, treated more like a ringleader here than a personality with some history that the last movies have dug into, gets in on the action too, with some of the more sinister scares causing me to audibly shout “Oh god!” at least once.

The very first ANNABELLE is a mess, a movie that features very few scares and some ineffective mood, and perhaps proved a demon doll can’t really hold a movie. The sequel, ANNABELLE: CREATION makes a 180, with expertly crafted tension and bold, unsettling scares being plentiful. This third outing further proves Annabelle is a villain that warrants and deserves inspired, hellish scenarios to play in, and that when done right like they are here, can provide endless popcorn terror. It’s not as dark or malevolent as its last outing or the main CONJURING movies, and that may be more come people’s cup of tea. But ANNABELLE COMES HOME is the first movie in this series that feels genuinely fun in a myriad of freaky, terrifying ways and proves there are far more ways to get some life (and death) out of this franchise.