Annabelle Comes Home

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Michael Cimino, Samara Lee
Directed by: Gary Dauberman
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren bring the possessed Annabelle doll home for safe keeping. When they are out of town, their babysitter's friend accidentally awakens the doll.

Review:

Tim: The Conjuring franchise is fascinating to me. Annabelle Comes Home is the 7th film in the largest franchise, and rounds out a trilogy of Annabelle films. While outside of The Conjuring movies themselves, not a single film has actually been good, it's still interesting to watch this connected-universe horror series.

The Annabelle films are part of the problem. The first movie was quite disappointing, which hurt, as it followed the original Conjuring movie. It brought expectations down to reality. Annabelle: Creation was certainly an improvement over the first film, but it was a lot way away from the main series films. This third Annabelle movie does something brilliant- it brings in the big guys, featuring Ed and Lorraine Warren themselves. That hasn't happened in any of the spinoff movies and Annabelle Comes Home immediately benefits from their presence.

Honestly, the scenes with Ed and Lorraine are the absolute best of this film. They give an immediate boost to this movie. Unfortunately, they are relegated to the beginning and the very end of the film. They're just supporting characters here. That ultimately dooms the movie, but I shudder to think about this film without their presence. It was truly great revisiting both those characters, even though their screen time was limited. I still give this movie credit for that move, because it lent extra credibility to this film and it connects these movies even more fully with the main ones.

Ed and Lorraine take a trip pretty early into the film and the bulk of the movie becomes your standard, been-there-done-that horror film. That was truly fairly disappointing. The movie starts out with these characters we've grown to like, and it feels like a bait-and-switch, because we're saddled with characters we don't know and don't really care that much about. Mckenna Grace is solid as Judy Warren. She has tons of potential as an actress and she was definitely effective here. Madison Iseman was fairly effective, too. She was slightly better than your average horror movie heroine. Katie Sarife was decent. She had some worthwhile moments, even though I didn't love her entire performance. While it's unfortunate these three had to carry a movie after seeing Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga (who are both once again excellent as the Warrens), I have to credit to Grace, Iseman, and Sarife. They were more effective than you would expect. They were certainly a positive for the movie.

The story is really the letdown here. It's mostly a rehashing of many different haunted house films. There might have been a few legitimately scary moments, but the movie relies too much on cheaper tactics. So little was new or even interesting. It felt like the middle of the movie was beyond redundant. That's going to be an ongoing challenge for this movie series. How many more Annabelle movies do we need? Adding Ed and Lorraine gave this film new life, but otherwise, it feels way too similar to previous movies. I'm not sure how worthwhile a fourth trip with this demonic doll would be.

While I certainly have my complaints about Annabelle Comes Home, I have to give credit to some of the decisions made here. It's not a good movie, but it was my favorite of this trilogy. Admittedly, the trilogy started with a low bar, but each film improved on the last. You don't see that very often. Plus, I'm always game for any time with the Warrens. It does feel like this comes from a first time director, which it does. This movie ultimately has too many flaws and the majority feels generic, but there were some interesting, effective choices that at least makes this a decent horror film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun