Annabelle Comes Home
Ratings: 3.5/5
Duration: 2hrs 31 mins
Director: Gary Dauberman
Genre: Horror. Mystery. Thriller
Language: English
Release Date: 27.06.2019 (India)
Starcast: Patrick Wilson, Emily Brobst, Vera Farmiga, Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarfie
Plot: Annabelle Comes Home is an English movie where a teenager and her friend while babysitting the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren unknowingly awaken an evil spirit trapped in a doll. The movie starts off with Ed and Lorraine (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) bringing Annabelle home and containing it into a glass chamber. Determined to keep Annabelle from causing more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren places the possessed doll safely behind a sacred glass in their home’s locked artefacts room by enlisting a priest's holy blessing. But on an unholy night, the duo had to go out of town leaving their daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) with a caretaker, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman). The horror awaits as Mary Ellen's friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) opens the glass chamber unleashing Annabelle. Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room and sets their sights on a new target - the Warrens' ten-year-old daughter, Judy, and her friend.
Review: Annabelle Comes Home is too generic for hard-core horror fans to enjoy, and desperately lacking in jump scares, which is sure to dissatisfy long-time fans of the franchise. So far, the reaction to Annabelle Comes Home is mixed, with critics going back and forth with positive and negative notes.
The two hours plus ‘Conjuring’ movie and the first two films Annabelle (2014) and Annabelle: Creation (2017) ‘Annabelle’ (a prequel to The Conjuring), have already given us some lore about the possessed doll.
And the third Annabelle movie is a sequel to the 2014 movie (although confusingly it's still technically a prequel, as it's set before the first Conjuring movie!).
Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, as Lorraine and Ed Warren, do make an appearance as in a brief bookended cameo. And the plot focuses mainly on their daughter Judy (child star Mckenna Grace) who gets bullied at school because of her parent's affinity for the supernatural. She is seen struggling in the film with her growing awareness of a similar ability to see into another world. And while her parents are away for the night, she is left with the babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) and her friend Daniela (Katie Sarife), who find themselves curious to know more about the nature of the Warrens’ investigations.
The film manages to charm and frighten its way through the purest distillation of the ‘Conjuring’ formula. Though it does not seem to be the scariest “Conjuring” movie. It is just scary enough to advance the series and expand its reach and proves it’s perhaps time to put the genie back in its bottle and bring this particular creepy doll series to a decisive close.
The script co-written by James Wan and Gary himself is average. They also have a special appearance in the film. It is up to these kids to save themselves from the deadly havoc they wreaked upon themselves in the first place. Gary has enough tricks up his sleeves which he pulls out to make the film worth your time and money. He has done a commendable job.
The movie also does something unexpected which is way outside the Conjuring universe we know. It blends in humour amidst the scary chaos and that's a welcome change.
