Annabelle Comes Home Review: A Decently Entertaining Thriller!

Billed as the sixth (seventh if The Curse of La Llorona is also taken into consideration) film in the ridiculously popular Conjuring Universe and the third film in the Annabelle franchise, Annabelle Comes Home directed by Gary Dauberman (writer for IT: Chapter One and Two) stars Mckenna Grace and Madison Iseman in the lead roles and is initially pitched as a Night at the Museum movie with Annabelle. Recapping the previous two films of the franchise, I thought that Annabelle (2014) is an utter mess, and I remember walking out of the screening largely disappointed. Annabelle: Creation, however, revived the franchise with captivating storytelling and was a well-produced product overall. The latest entry to the franchise, Annabelle Comes Home, from my standpoint, falls somewhere in-between the previous two films, as the good outweighs the bad, but is overall a scary, captivating and an enjoyable film.

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Set in 1971, three years after the events of the first film, Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to their home and lock it down behind safety glass in the spook room after a blessing. Consequently, Annabelle, who is notoriously famous for gathering other demonic spirits, lures one of Judy’s friends to let her out of the glass box and instantly takes over the entire house by waking up other blood-curdling ghostly souls around her as Judy (Mckenna Grace) and her two friends are left alone to compete in a no holds barred match.

Served with a runtime of just over 1 hour and 45 minutes, one of the most commendable attributes of the entire film is its compact storyline and the uncomplicated consequences. A significant amount of the film takes place in the span of one day, mostly around the Warrens home with only three or four primary characters who take you through the entire narrative. It is, for the most part, simple and had a clear understanding of how to navigate and how to end the narrative. Which brings me to the problem I had with this film, and with the primary one being the number of stakes that it carried, which is conclusively next to nothing. The objective is plain and simple, Annabelle found a way to make her way out of the glass box and the only way to stop her is to place her back inside the box. It is straightforward, but, it also begs the question of why is this made into a feature-length film when it only progresses the overall story of the franchise by an inch.

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Additionally, there is some considerable amount of efforts put in to develop the story and into the character of Ed and Lorraine’s daughter, Judy in the film. But, it didn’t enhance her character all that much except we get to learn that she also is gifted with the ability to see demonic spirits and has very few friends due to her parent’s profession. Furthermore, Annabelle Comes Home also succeeds in building a tense atmosphere in most of the scenes with the chilling background score by Joseph Bishara and the slow-moving camera shots, which are utilized decently through and through. As far as the scary moments go, there are quite a few which got me nervous and most importantly they’re set up and are executed properly rather than turning them into mindless jump scares. Because the filmmaker had the freedom to explore and play with multiple sets of ghosts instead of a single one, the film didn’t feel underwhelming or tedious at any point which one of the reasons of its success.

The performances also intensify the film’s tone here as Mckenna Grace once again proves that she’s a star performer and has the ability to cruise the movie in the right direction. Her innocent look and the calming attitude complemented her character pretty well as she impressed in every scene she’s in. Madison Iseman is also superimposing in the film as she plays the babysitter of Grace’s character. Her character filled-in the protective sister or guardian role and her performance were decent in a few notable scenes.

Overall, Annabelle Comes Home is a tight, compact and a decently entertaining thriller which had its fair share of issues inside and out. Nevertheless, it fulfills its promise of being extremely scary at times and is serviceable to the least. An Annabelle movie which is far superior to the first one and slightly less impressive when compared to the second film in the franchise.

Rating – 3/5 | Grade – B

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