Annabelle Comes Home (Mini Review Series)

Initial release date: June 26, 2019

Studios: Warner Bros/ New Line Cinema/ Atomic Monster/ The Safran Company

Taglines: Possess them all

Welcome to the home of The Conjuring Universe

Plot: Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren lock the possessed doll in the artifacts room in their house. But when the doll awakens the room’s evil spirits, it soon becomes an unholy night of terror for the couple’s ten year old daughter, her friends and their babysitter.

Cast

Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring 3) - Lorraine Warren

Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring 3) - Ed Warren

McKenna Grace (Spirit Untamed) - Judy Warren

Madison Iseman (Jumanji: The Next Level) - Mary Ellen

Katie Sarife - Daniela Rios

Michael Cimino (Hulu’s Love Victor) - Bob Palmeri

Samara Lee (Annabelle: Creation) - Bee

Steve Coulter (The Conjuring 3) - Father Gordon

Writer/director: Gary Dauberman (writer of the Annabelle movies)

Rated R for horror violence and terror (106 min)

The ‘Annabelle’ spin-off series continues with the 2019 sequel ‘Annabelle Comes Home.’ The ‘Annabelle’ movie takes place right after the Warrens are aware of Annabelle in the opening few minutes of ‘The Conjuring.’

The ‘Annabelle’ series came back in a major way with its 2017 prequel. This movie does have a few solid scares here and there. But, compared to the 2017 installment, it sort of falls a little flat.

The idea of the haunted doll awakening the spirits of the objects that are in the Warren’s Artifacts Room is actually intriguing and has the potential to be awesome. But, honestly, ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ could have been a little better if it involved more of the Warrens instead of the teen characters.

It actually does take a little while for the scares to really kick in. Some of the scares that mainly occur in the Artifacts Room can be genuinely scary. And it seems like the filmmakers tried to create quite a few evil entities that could potentially have their own spin-off down the road.

Overall, the third ‘Annabelle’ did have a few scares and can be entertaining most of the time. But, definitely could’ve used a bit of work with the suspense (like ‘Creation’). Hopefully when or if there’s a fourth ‘Annabelle,’ it will bring the scares and chills back to this spin-off series.

Here are a few interesting tidbits about ‘Annabelle Comes Home’:

• The movie is dedicated to Lorraine Warren who passed away two months before the movie’s release.

• The samurai warrior that features in the Warren occult museum is based off of Japanese mythology’s demonic warrior the Oni, marking along with the Ferryman the second cultural mythology entity appearing.

• McKenna Grace replaces Sterling Jerins as Judy Warren. Jerins outgrown the role by the time production commenced and the character was the same age as she was around the first ‘Conjuring.’ Jerins returned to the role in ‘Devil Made Me Do It’ set in 1981.

• In early 2018, Warner Brothers announced development of the new ‘Annabelle’ feature and the movie’s premise was revealed during the 2018 San Diego Comic Con.

• ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ grossed $74.2 million domestically, and $157.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $231.3 million.