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‘annabelle comes home’: film review.

Original 'Conjuring' franchise stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson appear with Mckenna Grace and Madison Iseman in 'Annabelle Comes Home,' the third feature in New Line’s haunted doll horror series.

By Justin Lowe

Justin Lowe

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With more than a half-dozen features now filling out the Conjuring universe — including three Annabelle titles and the surprisingly successful release of The Nun  last fall, followed by the less well-received The Curse of La Llorona  earlier this year — New Line’s horror franchise has generated more than $1.5 billion globally. That impressive track record can certainly be attributed in part to the dedicated involvement of producer and original  Conjuring director James Wan , who along with Peter Safran has provided consistent creative vision at the rate of almost one release a year since 2013.

Centered on the writings and experiences of renowned paranormal investigator Ed Warren (played by Patrick Wilson throughout the series) and his clairvoyant wife Lorraine ( Vera Farmiga ), the films’ grounding in allegedly real hauntings (which also spawned the Amityville Horror titles) has been fundamental to their enormous appeal for horror fans.

Release date: Jun 26, 2019

With Annabelle Comes Home , however, franchise screenwriter and now director Gary Dauberman departs from real-life events to extend the Conjuring mythology in an almost entirely fictionalized direction, with noticeably less impact. Still, with the rare coincidence of two demonic doll features debuting less than a week apart, there’s little doubt that Annabelle Comes Home will not only dominate Child’s Play , but likely many of the weekend’s other new offerings as well.

After filling in the backstory of the cursed doll’s idiosyncratic origins in Annabelle: Creation , the latest installment circles back to the very beginning: the introduction to the first Conjuring film. A seeming throwaway moment inserted to establish the Warrens’ professional credentials , the 1968-set scene finds the intrepid couple evaluating the strange circumstances surrounding a child-sized doll known as Annabelle, clothed in a frilly white frock. Two frightened young nurses in possession of the haunted toy gladly relinquish it to the Warrens after they determine that a demon has taken over the strikingly unattractive plaything in an attempt somehow to possess a human soul.

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Annabelle Comes Home picks up as the Warrens cautiously transport the doll back to their home in an early scene that reveals the premise for all the mayhem that eventually ensues. After their car breaks down outside a cemetery on a dark, mist-enshrouded country road, Annabelle’s presence in the back seat rouses the dead from their graves. Convinced it’s “a beacon for other spirits,” Lorraine attempts to warn Ed just before he almost gets run down by a semi-trailer.

Once they arrive safely back home, the most distinguishing feature of the Warrens’ modest split-level Connecticut house is revealed: the dimly lit “artifacts room,” where the couple keep many of the spiritually tainted objects retrieved from their harrowing cases. Among the most recognizable pieces, some glimpsed in previous films, are a haunted wedding dress, formerly worn by a murderous bride; a demented wind-up monkey toy; an eerily off-key music box; and a vast assortment of evil appliances and trinkets.

Like a queen installed upon her throne, the Warrens place Annabelle on a chair inside a locked glass cabinet as the centerpiece of their collection, followed by the local parish priest’s recitation of protective blessings and the sprinkling of holy water. The religious rite seems to immobilize Annabelle for about a year, before an uninvited visitor disrupts the enforced calm of the artifacts room. Things start to go sideways on the evening that the Warrens’ 10-year-old daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) plans to celebrate her birthday early with teen babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) while her parents are out of town on a case.

Unexpectedly, Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) shows up on the pretext of joining Judy’s birthday celebration, although she’s really pursuing her own agenda. Still grieving over the recent death of her father in a traffic accident, Daniela has come seeking spiritual reconnection with her dad, convinced that the Warrens’ paranormal expertise can provide guidance. She attempts to interpret their work by sneaking into the locked artifacts room after stealing the key from Ed’s study and proceeds to examine closely and even touch many of the tainted objects stored there for safekeeping.

'Annabelle Comes Home' Star Mckenna Grace to Topline and Produce 'Rabbit Cake' (Exclusive)

Her greatest mistake, however, is approaching Annabelle’s glass case, pointedly ignoring the prominently posted “Warning: Positively Do Not Open” sign, and releasing the doll’s demonic influence throughout the house. Soon Annabelle animates the knife-wielding bride, a grim reaper known as The Ferryman and numerous other threatening entities and objects to terrorize Judy and the two teens.

With nearly all the action limited to an afternoon and a seemingly endless night of horror in the Warrens’ maze-like home, Dauberman gives himself a compact, confined space to work with. Although it makes for an initially absorbing narrative and filmmaking challenge, with nowhere for the characters to run or hide, the thrills and shocks gradually become repetitive, as the writer-director recycles his own material, forcing the girls to evade the same threats again and again.

Another dubious decision ends up sidelining Wilson and Farmiga, who have effectively channeled the Warrens’ devoted personal and professional collaboration over four of the franchise’s films, in favor of focusing on the trio of young women. While they’re a capable group, they just don’t have enough life history to adequately amplify the threats they are facing, leaving superficial fear and piercing screams to substitute for genuine terror.

Dauberman orchestrates a dramatic array of supernatural entities to frighten the girls, with the bloody bride perhaps the most threatening, other than the silently menacing Annabelle. Fluid camerawork and tightly controlled editing, which transform the Warrens’ home into a genuinely haunted house, emphasize Dauberman’s dark vision, abetted by franchise vet Joseph Bishara’s shiveringly shrill score.

From Annabelle to Chucky: 8 Demon Dolls Featured in Horror Movies

Production companies: New Line Cinema , Atomic Monster, The Safran Company Distributor: Warner Bros. Cast: Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga Director-screenwriter: Gary Dauberman Producers: Peter Safran, James Wan Executive producers: Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Victoria Palmeri, Michael Clear, Michelle Morrissey, Judson Scott Director of photography: Michael Burgess Production designer: Jennifer Spence Costume designer: Leah Butler Music: Joseph Bishara Editor: Kirk Morri Casting: Rich Delia

Rated R, 106 minutes

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Film Review: ‘Annabelle Comes Home’

Annabelle, the devil doll who is not possessed (got it?), presides over a hyper grab bag of a haunted-house thriller that fails to conjure much fear.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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In a country that should probably think about renaming itself the American Entertainment State, fan culture now produces an obsessive level of pop scholasticism, one that can parse the rules and details of movies and TV shows as if they were fine points of law. In a review of a horror movie, I once called a character a zombie who was not, technically, a zombie (he didn’t have the precise credentials to be classified as the living dead), and tons of readers called me out on it. I learned my lesson, even though a stubborn part of me still thinks, “If it walks like a zombie, and talks like a zombie…”

There’s a comparable bit of pesky Talmudic niggling woven into the premise of the “Annabelle” films, of which “ Annabelle Comes Home ” is the third, and maybe the most hyper and generic. Annabelle is one of those creepy Victorian dolls that has been a staple of horror films for decades. In her bangs and red-bowed pigtails, with a sallow face marked by sunken but popping eyes, bloody scratches, and a ripe smile, she bears a marked resemblance to the ventriloquist dummy in the 1978 Anthony Hopkins psycho thriller “Magic.” That fixed grin of hers promises a great deal of mischief, and “Annabelle Comes Home,” in its almost completely haphazard and what-the-hell-let’s-go-to-hell way, delivers it.

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If this movie had been made several decades ago, Annabelle would likely have been a female Chucky, a demon figurine wreaking violent havoc. But the film’s annoyingly arcane premise demands that the audience understand that Annabelle is not, herself, possessed. No way! “The doll was never possessed,” a character declares. “It was used as a conduit!” What this means is that Annabelle, even though she’s portrayed as a dark and dangerous devil doll, isn’t coming to life. She’s channeling the spirits around her, acting as a lightning rod for evil. Do you get the distinction? I actually think I do. Do you care? I think I couldn’t care less.

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The grand result of all this cheesy metaphysical heavy lifting is that “Annabelle Comes Home” is a relentless but awkward throw-everything-at-the-viewer occult thriller that mixes ghosts, looming spirits, and — yes — inanimate objects coming to life, with the figure of Annabelle not so much at the scary center of the action as existing alongside it. She’s the conduit, all right, and the mascot, and the source of all the trouble. But mostly she’s the film’s emblem, the hood ornament of its Amityville 3.0 brand, and if you take her out of the equation, which isn’t hard to do (since, conduit qualities aside, she’s barely in the equation), you’re left with one more ADD mashup of a haunted-house thriller and “The Exorcist,” which is the anything-goes formula of the “Conjuring” films. These are “religious” horror movies for people who would channel surf through the Devil himself.

The “Annabelle” films are prequels spun off from the “Conjuring” universe, and the first sure sign that they were second tier is that Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga , as the fretfully eager true-life Christian devil busters Ed and Lorraine Warren, didn’t even make an appearance in the first two movies. But they’re on hand to set up “Annabelle Comes Home,” a haunted-house thriller that takes place almost entirely in their roomy dark-shadowed suburban home, which is done up in conflicting patterns of floral wallpaper and a muted rainbow of gloomy autumnal ’70s colors.

Ed, who’s played by Wilson as the Pat Boone of exorcists, and Lorraine, embodied by Farmiga with a righteous tenderness, have been at their paranormal investigations for a while now, and are generating some headlines. They’ve got a room in their home stuffed with all the occult artifacts they’ve gathered from their adventures. It’s like a museum of ghoulish bric-a-brac, and though it’s right there on the ground floor, in what might have been a sprawling extra bedroom, it functions in the film like the basement you’re not supposed to go into.

Its centerpiece is the case of sacred glass, taken from a church, in which Annabelle resides. She’s locked up in there so that she can’t do her mischief. But on a night when the Warrens’ 10-year daughter, Judy (McKenna Grace), is at home with her two high-school babysitters, the saintly blonde Marcia Brady-like Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) and the sneaky dark Nancy-Allen-in-“Carrie”-like Daniela (Katie Sarife), all hell breaks loose. That’s because Daniela, fixated on the growing legend of the Warrens, can’t resist going into the ghost museum and poking around. And, of course, just about the first thing she does is to unlock Annabelle’s case. Beware, the conduit is loose!

The Warren home looks like the sort of place where you want to sit back and watch bad TV, which the characters in this movie periodically do. But then the scary stuff happens, and in its rambunctious spirit-world way it’s like more bad TV. Directing his first feature, Gary Dauberman, the screenwriter of the first two “Annabelle” films as well as “The Nun,” knows how to squeeze a few drops of anticipatory sweat out of the audience. He makes clever atmospheric use of Badfinger’s 1971 hit “Day After Day,” especially in a moment when he extends the song’s piano motif, over and over, turning it into a have-a-nice-day version of “Tubular Bells.” But there’s a paradox to his skill: The fake scares in “Annabelle Comes Home” are scarier than the real scares. That’s because when it comes to what should be the film’s heart of darkness, there’s no there there.

A snarling horned devil. A werewolf out of “The Howling.” A white-haired priest who turns into one of those ghosts who will stare at you from across the street, like a specter out of “Insidious” or “Hereditary.” A typewriter typing “Miss me Miss me.” Gengis Khan’s armor springing to life. (But then why can’t Annabelle come to life? Oh, never mind.) Name your fear trigger, and it’s probably there, somewhere, in “Annabelle Comes Home.” It looks like a horror film, but it’s really the horror equivalent of speed dating.

Reviewed at AMC 34th St., New York, June 20, 2018. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 106 MIN.

• Production: A Warner Bros. Pictures release of a New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster Productions, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, The Safran Company production. Producers: James Wan, Peter Safran. Executive producers: Michael Clear, Michelle Morrissey.
• Crew: Director, screenplay: Gary Dauberman. Camera (color, widescreen): Michael Burgess. Editor: Kirk Morri. Music: Joseph Bishara.
• With: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, McKenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Stephen Blackehart, Steve Coulter, Samara Lee, Paul Dean.

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'Annabelle Comes Home' Review: The 'Conjuring'-Verse Delivers a Hyper-Haunted Horror Funhouse

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The Conjuring franchise is a force in the contemporary horror landscape. That same golden James Wan touch that sparked franchising with Saw and Insidious struck again on the 2013 horror hit, which struck box office gold and helped revive New Line Cinema, aka the House that Freddy Built, as a dominant player in the genre. Now, six years later, The Conjuring has a full-blown horror universe, shared with Annabelle , The Nun , and The Curse of La Llorona and it’s time for some of those delightful callbacks and crossovers that can make a cinematic universe so satisfying.

With Annabelle Comes Home , the Conjuring- verse essentially gets its Fast Five , so to speak, a non-stop thrill ride that brings back some franchise favorites for another spooky adventure, while introducing new players with spinoff potential of their own. New Line and Conjuring -verse screenwriting regular Gary Dauberman , who penned the scripts for Annabelle , Annabelle: Creation , and The Nun , makes his directorial debut on Annabelle Comes Home , for which he also wrote the script, and he knocks it out of the park with a delightful piece of popcorn horror.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the charming demonologists and paranormal investigators at the heat of Wan’s Conjuring films. Set in 1971, the film finds the Warrens after the events of the first Conjuring film, when Annabelle is “safely” tucked away in their artifact room and the fallout from their growing, controversial reputation as exorcists reaps an unfortunate social toll on their young daughter, Judy ( McKenna Grace ), who shares some of her mother’s frightening gifts. Dauberman smartly wields the Warrens as a straight shot to the core of the franchise, before sending the seasoned paranormal pros out of the picture, turning the spotlight to Judy for a lighter, more adventurous and youthful approach to the material.

With the Warrens making headlines, the local parents are up in arms about exposing their kids to fears of mortality and otherworldly threats. Which sucks especially hard for Judy, who finds herself not only the subject of school ground taunts but with her birthday fast approaching, keeps getting a steady string of “no” replies to her party invitations. Thankfully, she’s got one heck of a cool, kind-hearted babysitter in Mary Ellen ( Madison Iseman ), who makes it her mission to cheer the young girl up when the Warrens head out for a weekend trip, homemade birthday cake and all.

Judy and Mary Ellen plan a quiet celebration at home, but when Marry Ellen’s rebellious and macabre-inclined best friend Daniela ( Katie Sarife ) tags along, everything gets terrifying in a hurry. Driven by a recent family tragedy, Daniela wastes no time breaking into the artifact room and, oops, she lets Annabelle out of the demonic doll’s chapel glass cage. As it turns out, Annabelle is basically a super-charged wifi hotspot for other ghosts, ghouls, and creatures of the night, who spring to life and torment the girls en masse. It’s a hoot.

Dauberman has an absolute arsenal of creepy creatures at his disposal, from the titular doll to a long-awaited iconic Warren case and a few new chilling ghoulish inventions. And he doesn’t waste a beat. Dauberman throws it all on the wall colorful enthusiasm; wicked spirits, ferocious beasts, a primally creepy board game, there’s even a Twilight Zone -esque television set that reveals horrifying visions of the future and makes for some excellent set-pieces.

And boy, Annabelle Comes Home loves a good set-piece. Dauberman is right at home in the established house style of the Conjuring -verse; energetic, polished, playing into the signature build-up and misdirection of the familiar franchise scares. He also has some fun with the lore, throwing in plenty of fun callbacks and Easter Eggs for franchise fans. Dauberman rises to the challenge of making an unmoving doll scary and Annabelle herself get some of her creepiest moments yet, but perhaps the film's most inspired stroke is that's not just an Annabelle film, it's packed to the brim with creepy creatures to keep the audience on their toes.

And if Dauberman's been taking notes from Wan along the way, he’s also been learning from his other creative colleagues, and as much as Annabelle Comes Home feels like a peak Conjuring entry, it also shares some creative DNA with Dauberman’s other New Line horror hit – IT . Dauberman penned the script for the Stephen King adaptation, and more than any of his previous Conjuring -verse scripts, you’ll find a similar sense of heart and humor in Annabelle Comes Home . Like most teen horror, the kids make some infuriatingly foolish decisions along the way, but Dauberman ultimately grounds them in enough emotional truth to make you feel for and fear for the characters in the end.

Annabelle Comes Home also shares IT’s funhouse structure, and Dauberman shows a skilled hand at balancing scares with punches of comedic and emotional relief, lining up a rollercoaster of thrills and chills that keeps your heart racing and a smile plastered on your face. Across the board, Annabelle Comes Home , is a blast from start to finish, a horror-fuelled babysitting adventure that sends plucky teens into peril and watches them faces down the odds. One of the biggest compliments I can give: It's such an energetic, fun-loving horror film that it's bound to become a regular in my Halloween-season watchlist. Throw in a couple of standout supporting characters (be prepared to fall in love with a sweet young man named Bob), a tightly-paced adventure through countless haunted horrors, and an ever-escalating series of scares, and you've got yourself one of the best entries in the  Conjuring series.

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‘Annabelle Comes Home’ Review: An Evil Doll Returns and She’s Not Alone

This lethargic film delivers an abundance of haunted-house clichés and few genuine scares.

• Share full article

By Jeannette Catsoulis

Despite remaining laudably committed to its namesake’s hobby of terrorizing little girls, “Annabelle Comes Home,” the latest in the demon-doll saga that began in 2013 , is no more than a shameless franchise-stuffer. Burdened neither by fresh ideas nor common sense, Gary Dauberman’s lethargic screenplay (he also directed, an inauspicious debut) takes so long to get moving that Annabelle herself should demand a do-over.

After warning us that the possessed doll is “a beacon for other spirits,” the demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) lock her in a special artifacts room in their home alongside other malevolent bits and bobs. A priest’s blessing and signage along the lines of “Super-duper evil — keep out!” complete the security arrangements as the Warrens promptly clear off, leaving their young daughter, her babysitter and a bereaved friend to their own devices. Anyone in any doubt as to what happens next clearly needs to get out more.

Groaning predictability, though, is only one problem in a movie choking on haunted-house clichés and so short of genuine scares that its most traumatizing sight might be the Warrens’ hideous wallpaper. Shadows flit past mirrors and doors vibrate to the battering of invisible fists, weak teasers with disappointing payoffs. Excepting Katie Sarife, whose subtly shaded performance as the wildly incautious friend augurs a fine career in tough-yet-tender roles, “Annabelle Comes Home” feels stretched and tired. Worst of all, the film’s early-1970s setting allows it to ruin my once-fond memories of Badfinger’s 1971 hit, “Day After Day.”

Annabelle Comes Home

Rated R for demonic high jinks and hellish home décor. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes.

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Annabelle Comes Home Reviews

…even fans of the franchise will feel that their patience is being stretched…that said, the Conjuring universe is a class act, with period detail, humour and decent acting that puts most other horror films to shame…

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 27, 2024

In the end, Annabelle Comes Home is as poor or worse than The Nun. Continuously repeating predictable, loud, hollow jumpscare sequences doesn't make a story.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Jul 24, 2023

While it’s nothing spectacular, it’s a fun, watchable film that introduces you to the many possibilities for sequels and spin-offs.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Mar 8, 2023

[Annabelle Comes Home] felt like it took two steps back in the opposite direction.It’s quite a disappointing end to a series of films that were starting to create a story that was seemingly on its way to make an impact.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Jan 22, 2023

“Annabelle Comes Home” is a slight step up thanks to its better realized place within the franchise and closer connection to the two main Conjuring films.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 19, 2022

Annabelle Comes Home is easily the best of the three Annabelle movies, which makes it one of the better additions into the overall Conjuring Universe. That isn't saying much.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 2, 2022

Beautifully made, creepy and entertaining, Annabelle Comes Home provides the continuity with the other stories we've missed without being part of an overall arc. Good show.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 4, 2021

An old-fashioned film that doesn't rely on gore to sell the thrills. Instead there's lots of laboured breathing, wide eyed disbelief, low-fi drive-in thrills and characters you want to survive.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 31, 2021

A worthy addition to the "Conjuring" universe, this is the best of the three "Annabelle" movies because it's an old school horror film modest in scope, yet high on scares and fun.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Nov 21, 2020

It has no tension.

Full Review | Oct 28, 2020

Annabelle Comes Home contains a lot of things that go bump in the night but, if you listen carefully, you can hear the cash registers pinging too.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 16, 2020

Annabelle may be the most evil doll in horror right now, but so far anyways she still plays and slays old school style, and for this homecoming it works.

Full Review | Jul 29, 2020

A frivolous, but fun bundle of frights, helped along no end by a funky 70s production design and soundtrack.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 27, 2020

It's certainly a clever idea, but it's done in the exact same style as all previous entries, with exactly the same level of filmmaking panache. Basically, this is more of the same.

Full Review | Mar 17, 2020

Annabelle Comes Home isn't much more than spooky funhouse nonsense, but that's all it needs to be - and for the third film in a spinoff franchise, that's pretty darn good.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 20, 2020

Annabelle needs to go home and retire forever.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 20, 2020

Thiis is an uncommonly handsome scary movie, one that respects the audience's intelligence while delivering all the requisite chills and just the right amount of gore.

Full Review | Feb 18, 2020

Super scary, in a truly fun way, even if a bit over the top. I love diving into the world of the Warren families' 'room of evil things.' This made me want to see a movie about their daughter Judy, who already sees ghosts.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.4/10 | Jan 11, 2020

While the filmmaking displayed on a technical level allows the film to achieve heightened production values, this one can't help but play exclusively in the realm of cheap thrills.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Oct 12, 2019

The best of the Annabelle films...

Full Review | Oct 8, 2019

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Annabelle Comes Home

While babysitting the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a teenager and her friend unknowingly awaken an evil spirit trapped in a doll. While babysitting the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a teenager and her friend unknowingly awaken an evil spirit trapped in a doll. While babysitting the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a teenager and her friend unknowingly awaken an evil spirit trapped in a doll.

• Gary Dauberman
• Vera Farmiga
• Patrick Wilson
• Mckenna Grace
• 893 User reviews
• 250 Critic reviews
• 53 Metascore
• 2 nominations

Top cast 35

• Lorraine Warren

• Judy Warren

• Daniela Rios

• Bob Palmeri

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'Annabelle Comes Home' Director Breaks Down the Trailer

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• Trivia The movie is dedicated to Lorraine Warren (portrayed in the movie by Vera Farmiga ) who passed away two months before the film's release.
• Goofs (at around 32 mins) When Daniela opens the glass case containing Annabelle, she leave the keys in the lock. When the smoke alarm goes off, she closes the case, but the keys are no longer in the lock.

Lorraine Warren : There is a lot of evil in this room. But you know what I actually like about it? All the evil in here reminds me of all the good that's out there.

• Crazy credits The end credits start with a dedication to the real-life Lorraine Warren , who died shortly before this film's release.
• Connections Featured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
• Soundtracks Band of Gold Written by Ron Dunbar (as Ronald Dunbar) and Brian Holland (as Edythe Wayne), Lamont Dozier (as Edythe Wayne), Eddie Holland (as Edythe Wayne) Performed by Freda Payne Courtesy of Holland Dozier Holland Productions, Inc. Under license from Universal Music Corp. and Songs of Universal, Inc.

User reviews 893

• Sep 24, 2019
• How long is Annabelle Comes Home? Powered by Alexa
• June 26, 2019 (United States)
• United States
• Official Twitter
• Annabelle 3
• Santa Clarita, California, USA
• New Line Cinema
• Atomic Monster
• The Safran Company
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $30,000,000 (estimated)
• $74,152,591
• $20,269,723
• Jun 30, 2019
• $231,252,591

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 46 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital

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Annabelle Comes Home Review

The Conjuring Universe has been a flourishing franchise ever since it launched in 2013, but after six years and six movies, it finds itself at an interesting juncture. While everything has been working well (some releases being better than others), it’s now getting to a point where a degree of brand reinvention is necessary – taking the established rules and aesthetics and applying a fresh spin that stops them from ever feeling stale. Not only does this kind of move keep the audience engaged, but it creates more opportunities for diverse storytelling going forward as the guidelines become less rigid.

It’s with this in mind that one could say that Gary Dauberman ’s Annabelle Comes Home is arriving at the perfect time. Not only is it an exceedingly fun ride – full of well-drawn, charismatic characters and an army of ghastly ghouls – but it’s also a breath of fresh air for The Conjuring Universe that both surprises with a lighter touch and demonstrates the incredible potential for the expanding continuity. It’s small in scale, but rich in depth, and an exciting debut for a first-time director.

Taking place between the events of The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 , Annabelle Comes Home reveals that the terrifying titular doll didn’t end her reign of horror after being taken into the custody of Ed and Lorraine Warren ( Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga ). The demonologist duo may have locked her up in their artifact room in 1970, but this film demonstrates her continued ability to unleash all kinds of hell given even the slightest opportunity.

The story begins in earnest a year after the Warrens captured Annabelle, and primarily centers on their daughter, Judy ( Mckenna Grace ), who isn’t in a great place emotionally due to a widespread newspaper article exposing what her parents do for a living. She’s ostracized by the other kids at school, which is a situation made worse by the fact that she has a birthday coming up and low expectations for party attendance. The silver lining is that she has the support of her babysitter, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), who does what she can to encourage and defend the young girl.

With the Warrens set to go out of town for a night, Mary Ellen agrees to stay over and look after Judy – but what is a fairly normal circumstance is made abnormal with the presence of Daniela (Katie Sarife), who is Mary Ellen’s best friend and possesses a dangerous curiosity about her bestie’s employers. It’s this curiosity that leads Daniela to sneak into the famed artifact room after bedtime and open the case containing Annabelle – and in doing so demonstrates why there is a big sign on the glass that reads “WARNING! POSITIVELY DO NOT OPEN.”

Annabelle acts as a conduit for evil things, which means that she essentially acts as a battery for the artifact room, and Judy, Mary Ellen, and Daniela are forced to find a way to contain her before she gets too powerful.

What particularly makes Annabelle Comes Home stand out is that while it’s presented as another variation of a haunted house story with demons and spirits terrorizing innocents, it executes its narrative with a much lighter tone than its in-canon predecessors. While previous chapters have taken sharper aim at generating nightmares, this is a horror movie particularly aimed at audiences who have fun being scared by horror movies. It’s not a horror-comedy, as it never prioritizes laughs over screams, but what it does do tremendously well is generate post-scream laughs, as there’s an enchanting quality to the cleverness and creativity behind the wild monster-fest.

Of course, the opportunities for cleverness and creativity are available because of the wide variety of terrors that the film throws at movie-goers – which is another way of saying that Annabelle Comes Home takes full and wonderful advantage of its central premise. Gary Dauberman very clearly had a blast doing a head-first dive into the case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren, and an atmosphere is created where you never have a clear idea of what’s going to be thrown at you next (and offering up specific examples here would be too spoilery).

One also can’t ignore the epic list of potential spin-offs that the movie could inspire, as there are more than a couple of evil entities featured that could eventually generate their own special branch of the Conjuring Universe.

Excellent and creepy as the monsters and their presentation may be, however, they don’t function properly if you don’t care about the people they are terrorizing – but that’s also a non-issue for this feature. It starts with Judy being an empathetic figure who also possesses a level of authority and agency, making it easy to connect with her; and the compassion demonstrated towards Judy by Mary Ellen immediately gets you on her side as well. Even Daniela, who you might think would be irredeemable given her irresponsible actions, is given redemption because she has multiple dimensions and legitimate motivation for what she does. It’s smart writing supported by superb performances.

Having written the previous two Annabelle movies as well as The Nun , Dauberman applies his experience telling stories in this universe well in the making of Annabelle Comes Home , but also exciting is how you can clearly see their influence in his directorial style as well. He has very clearly studied the work of his colleague and master of horror, James Wan , and has implemented the best lessons into his work – replete with sweeping camera movements, lingering images, and eerie use of negative space. Scares are earned through atmosphere instead of simple jumps and musical cues, which makes the experience more satisfying than exhausting. It’s an impressive debut.

Annabelle Comes Home cements the Annabelle trilogy as a rare series that gets better with every installment – which is particularly notable given the quality of the prequel-prequel Annabelle: Creation . It’s canny in its approach, savvy in its execution, and may very well be a game-changer for the most successful horror franchise running.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

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Review: Annabelle Comes Home Delivers A Scary Fun Time

Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her “safely” behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest’s holy blessing. But an  un holy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, who all set their sights on a new target—the Warrens’ ten-year-old daughter, Judy, and her friends.

Annabelle Comes Home Video Review:

Annabelle Comes Home Trailer:

One of the absolute best things with Annabelle Comes Home is the extremely eerie and creepy setting in movie. Director/writer Gary Dauberman did a fantastic job of establishing an atmosphere that immersed audiences into a 1970s world that felt like a total nightmare. In some scenes we had very dimly lit areas where only a ray of light may be shown to highlight a character or something else. In other instances the scenes would be covered in a thick fog or, even more frightening, dark rooms with maybe only a flashlight available. All of this created the perfect setup for ghosts and jump scares to really keep you on edge for the entire movie.

After the spooky scenes and situations are all setup, the film really kicks into second gear with its solid cinematography. If you’re a fan of this Conjuring franchise, then you’ll probably notice some familiar camera tactics when it came to showing some of the ghost scares. While it was slightly disappointing to see some recycled scare tactics, they were still pretty effective in this movie nevertheless. To be more specific, there was a scene in this film that looked extremely familiar to that epic scene of “The Nun” from The Conjuring 2 (2016) ( click here if you dare ). Aside from that, my personal favorite occurrence was whenever there were multiple things happening in the same frame. If you pay close attention, there often would be very subtle things happening in the background of the scene while the main character could be doing something else. This type of camerawork really helps to mess with your mind as a viewer because you might be focused on what the main character is saying while something else could be moving in the corner of your eye. This was just yet another excellent way to really drum up the fear factor in this film.

One other positive here was how the camera shots were used in the movie to subvert your expectations. You could almost tell that the director anticipated the expectation of the audience and went ahead and toyed with those expectations. Sometimes they would pay off with a well timed jump scare, and sometimes they would be a complete send off. This film really does a good job of making the jump scares count rather than just throwing them for the sake of a cheap reaction.  

As for the acting in Annabelle Comes Home, overall it got the job done. I thought Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson were solid, although I kind of wished they had more screen time. The strongest performances probably came from both Madison Iseman “Mary Ellen” and Katie Sarife “Daniela”. I think the reason why they stood out so much, besides being the lead characters in the movie, was because of their emotional reactions which were very relatable. When they were scared out of their minds, it was really easy to empathize and connect with them in those specific moments. Besides the two main female leads,  I thought there was an unconventional supporting character in this film that was great. The Warren’s room that housed all of the cursed objects practically felt like a character in itself. There were so many interesting items throughout it that each seemed to express a different story as we experienced them. Speaking of which, that room felt like a treasure trove of potential future movies. Similar to how the Conjuring franchise spawned it’s spin-off movies, you’ll quickly notice a lot of hints at future movies that could be made. I thought this was a cool way to get people potentially invested in future movies, and at the same time it provided a number of possible ways to scare audiences.

Unfortunately, this is yet another horror movie plagued with a character that makes really stupid decisions. For as much as I liked the character of Daniella, her curiosity fell into the typical horror trope of stupid decision-making. I think the film missed a good opportunity to drive home emotional motivations of Daniella’s actions, but instead they just had her do obviously dumb things multiple times. It got kind of annoying because it made her character’s actions feel like just a convenient plot device to get the movie going. It’s disappointing because the plot offered other, more authentic ways for the story to unfold. Nevertheless, the direction chosen in her situation felt cheap.

One other minor issue was some of the comic relief in the film. I didn’t mind the running joke about “Bob”, but I do think that the film could’ve done without the humor in the weird pizza delivery scene. The movie did a really good job of getting us all in the mood of being scared, and that scene just really broke the tension.

The Verdict:

Annabelle Comes Home is a scary fun time with a doll you’d never want to play with. While this film does have some minor flaws that most horror films commit, it’s still overall a pretty good movie. I don’t think it’ll give many people nightmares, but I think you’ll have a good enough time enjoying the scares and terrors.  When it comes to where this ranks within the current Annabelle trilogy, I’d probably say that Annabelle: Creation (2017) comes in on top, then Annabelle Comes Home , and the first Annabelle (2014) would be way at the bottom.   I also think that Annabelle Comes Home will create two different experiences depending on how you watch it. If you watch it with an audience in a theater, you’ll probably laugh and be scared at the same time. If you dare to watch it only at home with the lights off, then you’ll probably experience more of the scares and less of the laughs. Either way, be sure to check it out whenever you can. 

Director: Gary Dauberman Writers: James Wan, Gary Dauberman Stars: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mckenna Grace Annabelle Comes Home is in  theaters now.   Be sure to follow  E-Man’s Movie Reviews on Facebook , Subscribe on  YouTube , or follow me on Twitter/IG  @EmansReviews  for even more movie news and reviews!  

• Acting - 7/10 7/10
• Cinematography - 8/10 8/10
• Plot/Screenplay - 7/10 7/10
• Setting/Theme - 9/10 9/10
• Buyability - 8.5/10 8.5/10
• Recyclability - 8.5/10 8.5/10

About Emmanuel "E-Man" Noisette

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Annabelle comes home review: adventures in babysitting for the warrens.

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One Of Emma Stone's Most Controversial Movies Is Coming To Netflix In September

Mandalorian movie footage reveals one subtle grogu change with massive implications, jedi master aayla secura becomes a tomb raider in incredible star wars cosplay, annabelle comes home offers enough thrills, jolts, and even heartfelt storytelling to compensate for the lack of depth to its horror elements..

Over the course of six years, The Conjuring franchise has taken real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren's cases and used them as the springboard for a shared cinematic universe of spinoffs, sequels, and/or prequels that are the movie equivalents of haunted house amusement park rides. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either, as this month's installment, Annabelle Comes Home , demonstrates. Gone are any attempts at pseudo-realism; instead, the new Conjuring film has fun playing around in its spooky sandbox, and avoids taking itself too seriously.  Annabelle Comes Home offers enough thrills, jolts, and even heartfelt storytelling to compensate for the lack of depth to its horror elements.

Unlike the other Annabelle movies, the new spinoff is a mid-quel that picks up right after the prologue to the original Conjuring . After helping some nursing students who're being terrorized by the Annabelle doll, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) take the toy to the cursed artifacts room in their home for safe-keeping. Even there, though, the Warrens discover that Annabelle's powerful enough to awaken the evil spirits lying dormant in their "museum", and place her inside a container of sacred glass in order to keep her influence in-check. Thankfully, their ten-year old daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) and her babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) know to steer clear of the room while the Warrens are away on business one Friday night. However, when Mary Ellen's friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) inadvertently sets Annabelle loose, it unleashes all manner of wicked specters, ghouls, and demons upon the three young women.

Prolific horror genre writer Gary Dauberman ( Annabelle 1 & 2 , IT , The Nun ) gets to cut his teeth as a director on Annabelle Comes Home , drawing from a story that he cowrote with The Conjuring Universe's primary architect, James Wan. The film has the same fundamental problem as all mid-quels - namely, it's a little inconsequential to the franchise's overarching narrative - but it also fleshes Judy out in important ways and paves the way for her to play a larger role in future Conjuring films. Like Dauberman's other horror movie scripts, his Annabelle Comes Home screenplay deals with the theme of grieving and how emotional trauma or isolation can make people susceptible to being preyed on by exterior forces (in this case, of course, literal demons). It doesn't have much in the way of new insight to offer on this topic following the previous Conjuring films, but it's a theme that continues to resonate emotionally here.

The movie's premise, which is basically Night(mare) at the Museum , is a little more inventive by comparison. This is the first Conjuring film that's taken place over the course of a single night, and its pacing is all the steadier for it. It also carries over the series' tradition of being quietly empowering in its portrayal of women by featuring three engaging female leads, as compellingly brought to life by Grace, Sarife, and Iseman. Daniela and Judy have far more substantial arcs than Mary Ellen, but the trio's friendship is touching and it's easy to cheer them on as they battle the dangerous creatures that've been waiting to escape the Warrens' artifacts room. The only other character with significant screen time here is Mary Ellen's adorkable crush Bob (Michael Cimino), who provides some welcome comic relief in his scenes. And of course, Wilson and Farmiga are once again great as Ed and Lorraine, even in their small role here.

By this point, though, audiences knows whether The Conjuring 's brand of horror (lots of jump scares combined with eerie set design) is their thing or not. Annabelle Comes Home isn't likely to change their minds either, especially since the movie leans into the franchise's hammier tendencies by turning the Warrens' home into a carnival-like funhouse of frights, complete with fog and spooks that range from haunted wedding dresses to future-predicting TV sets. That said, Dauberman does a fine job of staging the film's action and finding different ways for monsters to leap out at the camera, with more than a little assistance from Jennifer Spence's creepy production design and DP Michael Burgess' fluid camerawork. His sense of craftsmanship obviously isn't on the same level as Wan's right out the gate, but Dauberman fares perfectly well for a first-time helmer.

With seven entries under its belt at this stage (including The Curse of La Llorona , which itself is largely standalone), The Conjuring franchise seems to have found its groove as a collection of similar, but not identical, supernatural horror thrill rides. Annabelle Comes Home certainly doesn't break the mold in that respect, but it adds enough fresh ingredients to the mix to avoid feeling stale and give it more substance than the weaker Conjuring spinoffs before it. Wan and Dauberman would probably be better off leaving Annabelle in her glass box after this (while they're still mostly ahead), but the movie introduces plenty of other ghouls and haunted objects that could fill her spot in a future installment. And so long as viewers continue to enjoy these films, there's little reason to doubt that the other dangerous items in the Warrens' museum will return to wreak havoc once again.

Annabelle Comes Home  is now playing in U.S. theaters. It is 106 minutes long and is rated R for horror violence and terror.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments section!

Annabelle Comes Home

The third installment of the Conjuring spin-off franchise, Annabelle Comes Home brings back the possessed doll to terrorize a family once again. Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her "safety" behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest's holy blessing. But an unholy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, which all set their sights on a new target - the Warren's ten-year-old daughter Judy and her babysitters.

Key Release Dates

Annabelle 3.

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Review: Is ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ the best film in the horror trilogy?

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In a summer of sequels, third and fourth films in a series have to prove the worthiness of their existence, and some this season haven’t risen to the top. But while it’s easy to scoff at another killer-doll film in the Conjuring Universe, the spooky franchise is stealthily successful and steadily consistent. “Annabelle Comes Home,” the third “Annabelle” film in the CU, marks the directorial debut of writer Gary Dauberman, and could actually be the best in the trilogy.

Dauberman penned all three “Annabelle” movies, as well as screenplays for “The Nun” and the 2017 reboot of “It.” He’s an obvious choice to take on “Annabelle Comes Home” (based on a story by Dauberman and original “The Conjuring” director James Wan), which dives deep into the case history of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren ( Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga ) through an ingenious conceit. While Ed and Lorraine head out on assignment, their daughter, Judy ( Mckenna Grace ), remains at home with her babysitter, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), whose meddling friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) makes her way into the room of cursed and haunted artifacts the Warrens keep under lock and key.

Daniela’s objective is to find closure with the spirit of her dead father, but she’s not ready to face the menacing Annabelle. Although Judy warns her, it’s too late. And when Daniela unleashes Annabelle, she releases just about every evil spirit contained in the room: a werewolf, a haunted wedding gown, a ferryman who shepherds spirits to another realm. The cursed room is a smart device to get a glimpse of the Warrens’ deep case history and feels like an aptly timed tribute to the couple’s long and remarkable career in paranormal investigation.The real Lorraine died in April, following Ed’s death in 2006.

“Annabelle Comes Home” passes a torch to a new generation, featuring Grace as daughter Judy, with a clairvoyant gift similar to her mother’s powers. The 13-year-old Grace is an uncommonly mature actor for her age, and the film would not be as compelling without such a strong performer (though the “Annabelle” films have always offered excellent platforms for young actresses). But to call her a “scream queen” would be a misnomer. Grace knows when silence and stillness are more effective than hysteria, and she portrays Judy as a girl who has seen far more than she should in her young life.

“Annabelle Comes Home” maintains the Conjuring Universe’s style and aesthetic with the 1970s look in costume and production design (the Warrens’ home is oh-so-groovy) and extraordinarily long camera takes. In what is essentially a haunted-house film, Dauberman creates an atmosphere of incredible tension as the three young women (and a courtly neighbor, Bob, played by Michael Cimino) tangle with spirits, ghosts and ghouls. Dauberman’s control over the camera and mastery of suspense is impressive, especially for a first-time director. But the film is strung too tightly, rarely breaking bad, denying the cathartic chaos one craves in this kind of film. Strangely, “Annabelle Comes Home” needs more jump scares — or maybe this jaded critic has just seen it all by now.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

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‘Annabelle Comes Home’

Rated: R, for horror violence and terror

Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

Playing: Starts June 26 in general release

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Summary Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her “safely” behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest’s holy blessing. But an unholy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, who all ... Read More

Directed By : Gary Dauberman

Written By : Gary Dauberman, James Wan

Annabelle Comes Home

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Lorraine warren, patrick wilson, mckenna grace, judy warren, madison iseman, katie sarife, daniela rios, michael cimino, bob palmeri, kenzie caplan, sade katarina, michael patrick mcgill, brittany hoza, young woman in car, sheila mckellan, cemetery ghost, eddie j. fernandez, truck driver, steve coulter, father gordon, anthony rios, ghostly priest, mr. palmeri, alison white, oliver dauberman, school bully, lou lou safran, little girl (rebecca), critic reviews.

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Annabelle Comes Home Review

28 Jun 2019

Annabelle Comes Home

Annabelle Comes Home is gifted with what might be the ultimate haunted house set-up. Having fully established the dead-eyed Annabelle doll as a toy not to be messed with in the Conjuring franchise, and the two previous Annabelle spin-offs, it’s a neat idea to then set it loose in the spooky artefact-laden home of the franchise’s veteran paranormalists, Ed and Lorraine Warren. Chuck in the well-worn ‘baby babysitter’ trope, and Annabelle Comes Home should be a Friday night funhouse blast.

Sadly, after the well-crafted scares of David F. Sandberg ’s Annabelle: Creation , this threequel never capitalises on that killer concept. It starts well enough, with a prologue centred around Wilson and Farmiga ’s Warrens — they’re the much-needed heart of the Conjuring -verse, and their warm, lived-in dynamic never fails to connect. But from there, the film has to deliver a whole extra set-up to get to the main plot — that their daughter, Judy ( Grace ), is being left in the care of goody two-shoes babysitter Mary (Iseman) for a few days, when Annabelle will once again cause havoc thanks to the meddling of Mary’s anarchic pal, Daniela (Sarife).

Sluggishly paced and lacking in inspiration

If it takes too long to get going, Annabelle Comes Home also never quite kicks into full gear — it’s a film content to roll out every cliché one by one, without twisting them into something new and fun. The doll itself takes a back seat for much of the runtime, instead compelling other spirits to terrorise the teen trio — from killer brides and creepy priests, to the more effective folklore-inspired Ferryman, who feels most likely to get his own spin-off. More laughably, there’s the ‘Hellhound of Essex’ — who not only feels incongruous but stretches the budget beyond its capabilities.

It’s not completely without merit. The introduction of what’s-in-the-box boardgame Feeley Meeley leans successfully into the film’s spooky sleepover vibe, the performances are fine enough, and it deals out some welcome in-camera frights. But the characters are painfully slow on the uptake, considering they’re in such an overt horror-movie scenario, and the confused machinations that set Annabelle loose leave Sarife’s character both largely unlikeable and woefully inconsistent. Sluggishly paced and lacking in inspiration, Annabelle Comes Home proves that this doll works best when the filmmakers are willing to really play with it

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Annabelle Comes Home  pushes the Conjuring universe toward absurdity: EW review

Babysitting goes way wrong in this demon-stuffed spin-off showcase

At some point, every horror franchise becomes a comedy franchise. Repetitive rhythms of tension muddle shocking scares into crowd-pleasing familiarity. Not always a bad thing, really, and I have a soft spot for junky laterquels, titles modified with delicious word salad like Versus or In Space , ever-more-elaborate death scenes that invite a laugh track.

Annabelle Comes Home is only a little scary, and too religiously dedicated to its own ongoing cash-printing megafranchise for big laughs. But the best moments in this low-key domestic horror film have a tossed-off quality, like the whole production cycle was a fun weekend for everybody.

Surely, The Conjuring stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga must’ve enjoyed a couple cheerful afternoons filming their overextended cameos in this prequel-sequel. They’re prologuing as married paranormalists Ed (Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Farmiga). It’s the 1970s — brown ties, floral wallpaper, records skipping, etc. — and they’re bringing demon doll Annabelle into their house. In a room full of nefarious totems, Ed sets the smirking toy right onto a rocking chair — as if he wants Annabelle to sit there seesawing, looking freaky as hell. Supposedly, every artifact in that room is somehow eeeeevil . So, like, what: Did Cain kill Abel with that rocking chair?

Necessary clarification: Annabelle isn’t a “demon doll,” she’s a “beacon for other spirits.” In Annabelle Comes Home , she’s a beacon for fresh IP, filling the Warren home with monstrosities witnessed just long enough to demand their own prequel. There’s the Ferryman, who puts coins over his victims’ eyes. There’s a haunted bridal gown, sadly not joined by five haunted bridesmaid dresses. There’s, um, a ghost werewolf, I think? Or maybe it’s fog in the shape of the wolf. Is that idea taken? It is now!

These shenanigans don’t bother the Warrens, who mostly depart the movie for another investigation. They leave their daughter, Judy (Mckenna Grace) , behind for an overnight with diligent local teen Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman). Like her mother, Judy sees dead people and has a knack for demonic containment. Despite its R rating, the most endearing thing about Annabelle Comes Home is that it’s nearly a kid-friendly Conjuring spin-off, a Goosebumps -y saga about the worst babysitting gig ever. The throwback charms are occasional and tangible: the stoned pizza delivery guy, two whole sequences built around the Milton Bradley game Feeley Meeley .

At her Catholic elementary school, Judy keeps seeing the decomposed specter of a holy man. That Catholic Priest Won’t Stop Following Me sounds like a devastating modern sort of horror movie, but Annabelle is devotedly old-fashioned in its fervent Christianity, believing in the forcefield-generating abilities of blessed crucifixes and chapel glass. The bigger plot problem is Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela (Katie Sarife), a free spirit fascinated by the Warrens and their collection of underworld delights. Mary Ellen sets Annabelle free, which also unleashes various entities within chamber of horrors.

Writer-director Gary Dauberman scripted the first two Annabelle s. This is his directorial debut, and he’s having fun mixtaping spooky concepts. I haven’t even mentioned the possessed samurai armor, nor the predictive TV set. There’s a playfulness in this pile-up of fear-factors, and you will weep for a chicken. Annabelle Comes Home suffers from terminal blandness, though, unable to develop any real terror. The kids are too all right, dutifully battling the hellscape. The different ghouls are hit-or-miss, and they start to feel like level bosses, each one appearing to briefly bother another teenager between bookending closeups of Annabelle grinning.

Among the young cast, only Sarife makes an impression. She’s the one performer who captures the sardonic, assured flavor of ’70s youth — think eerie-cool Jodie Foster in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane , only surrounded by a bunch of squeaky-clean Jodie Fosters from Freaky Friday . Annabelle Comes Home delves into Daniela’s grief and Judy’s lonely-teen melancholy, sorrowful subplots that never connect emotionally. Meanwhile, Mary Ellen’s romancing a neighbor boy named Bob (Michael Cimino), a wacky subplot that could’ve been in one of those old telefilms Disney would replay every October.

The Conjuring has become one of the most unusual (and successful) cinematic universes, spinning the true-ish tales of the Warrens’ occult investigations into box office gold. Annabelle Comes Home suffers, I think, from a mercantile quality, the sense you’re watching multiple elevator pitches crammed into feature shape. There could be many more spin-offs in that artifact room — a real place, by the way, visited by my colleague Clark Collis in 2013. But you worry this franchise machinery is getting creaky from overuse, like a beloved old chair that can now only hold the weight of one tiny doll.

Speaking of which, a very minor spoiler alert: The rocking chair doesn’t kill anybody in Annabelle Comes Home . They must be saving the good stuff for Rocking Chair: Origins . C+

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‘Annabelle Comes Home’ Review: Hello, Evil-Hellspawn Dolly!

By David Fear

Nestled somewhere in the Evil Doll Hall of Fame between Chuckie and The Twilight Zone ‘s Talky Tina, the Conjuring franchise’s resident Satanic toy has enough industry juice to have knocked out three spin-off movies — not bad for a scene-stealing porcelain figure originally used as a supernatural conduit by a Manson-lite cult. (Long story.) Just don’t call it “possessed,” however, if you’re around paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga ). “Demons don’t possess things, only people,” they declare, before their car breaks down, late at night, in front of a fogged-in graveyard, right by a grisly car accident. Annabelle is more of a “beacon” for angry spirits. Wherever she goes, ghostly carnage follows. The couple is lucky to make it out alive. No wonder this dead-eyed manifestation of unholiness has to be locked up in a glass case and blessed by a priest twice a week.

Regular Conjuring verse visitors know that the antique doll resides deep in the Warrens’ basement, a virtual museum of cursed totems and creepy-as-fuck playthings. Casual moviegoers can guess that someone will eventually go down into that basement, ignore the sign that demands no one open the case under any circumstances and rile up the bad-juju inventory. So when the Warrens go out of town for a job and leave their daughter Judy (McKenna Grace) under the care of a teenage neighbor named Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), it’s only a matter of time before some curious underage character messes with things they shouldn’t. In this case, it’s the babysitter’s friend Daniela (Katie Sarife), who has her reasons for wanting to contact the world beyond. Out comes Annabelle. There goes protection from all sorts of hellish miscellany that wants to eat your soul.

The mothership tales about the real-life Warrens’ misadventures has established itself as a reliable, respectful mash-up of ’70s religio-horror, paranorm-core suburban spookiness, finely tuned atmospherics and impeccably timed shrieks and jump scares. As for the Annabelle franchise side hustles, they act like pulpy beta versions of their more prestigious sister series blessed with a dingy, primal-scare–invoking dolly at center stage. Their star is a toy, its face stuck in a rictus. It can, depending on the lighting and camera angle, appear either evil or very evil. These spin-offs sometimes feel like the scary-movie version of the Kuleshov Experiment, in which a portrait of a man staring blankly changes emotional states depending on the shot that follows it. Cut from Annabelle to a bowl of soup, and she seems hungry; cut from her static visage to doors closing of their accord and household items attacking their owners and all manner of chaos, and the scratched-up figurine seems like the choreographer of hell on Earth. It’s such a fine line between silly and bone-chilling.

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Thankfully, director/cowriter Gary Dauberman, a veteran of both the series and things-that-go-bump-in-the-psyche storytelling (he was one of several scribes who worked on It ) understands that self-serious is not the name of the game this time. If Annabelle Comes Home is the best of the three films to date — a low-ish bar, but still — it’s because he’s well aware that is simplistic story works best as a cross between a haunted house and a carnival funhouse. This is a highly efficient scare machine, trapping its trio of young women in a house filled with board games that sprout hands and a folkloric nightmare known as the Ferryman (“You’ll pay his toll/he’ll take your soul”) and ancient Japanese warrior armor that seems curiously aware of its surroundings. A cute boy (Michael Cimino, no relation to the late director) briefly enters the picture, as does some sort of hellhound creature. When all else fails, simply have someone pulled violently by unseen forces or add unidentifiable whispering voices.

Or better yet, cut to McKenna Grace looking worried, since the underage actor has an uncanny knack for communicating a beyond-her-years sense of dread. No stranger to the supernatural — she was a flashback regular on Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House — she gives the Warrens’ daughter an intelligence and apprehensiveness that feels leagues above your typical scream-queen-in-training performance. Grace makes being in a state of perpetual uneasiness seem effortless. You will come for the brand name, stay for the genre jolts and leave thinking about how this young woman seems genuinely haunted by this experience. That, and just how eerie the simple sight of coins rolling out of the shadows can be. Annabelle Comes Home is not out to reinvent the wheel, or to even rotate the franchise tires. It may not leave you petrified to the core, but it won’t you leave angry, and in this, the Summer of Our Perpetual Disastrous Sequel , that’s no small feat. It is a meat-and-potatoes scarefest, an oddly back-to-basics take on the ghost-story gauntlet run. Compared to the previous films, it’s worth its weight in spare doll parts.

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Annabelle comes home.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 20 Reviews
• Kids Say 53 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Not much new, but sequel is well-crafted and spooky.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Annabelle Comes Home is the third Annabelle movie and the seventh film in The Conjuring horror franchise. While the movie isn't especially original, it's well-made and has plenty of intense scares. Expect lots of scary ghosts, demons, and monsters, as well as very…

Why Age 16+?

Intense moments of terror. Ghosts, demons, etc. Rampaging werewolf/hellhound. Te

Use of "f--k." A few uses of "s--t," "balls," "oh my God."

Teens flirt. Teen boy leans in for kiss but is interrupted.

A scene in an early 1970s market, with many brands visible on the shelf: Trix ce

Any Positive Content?

Mary Ellen is an extremely responsible teen babysitter who's doing her best to f

Raises interesting ideas/questions about death. For one, if the Warrens are base

Violence & Scariness

Intense moments of terror. Ghosts, demons, etc. Rampaging werewolf/hellhound. Teen girl's face covered with blood. Ghost "vomits" blood into her mouth. Knife-wielding ghost wears blood-covered dress. Teen girl stabbed in stomach. Ghost suddenly has bloody face. Man nearly hit by a truck. Scary swordfighting, screaming noises. Bullying at school. A teen wants to contact her dead father.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

A scene in an early 1970s market, with many brands visible on the shelf: Trix cereal, Velveeta cheese, etc. Milton Bradley logo visible on board game.

Positive Role Models

Mary Ellen is an extremely responsible teen babysitter who's doing her best to follow the rules and protect and take care of Judy, both physically and emotionally, even in the face of danger and terror.

Positive Messages

Raises interesting ideas/questions about death. For one, if the Warrens are based on real-life people, does that mean there's evidence of an existence after death? For another, the young girl has trouble making friends because kids her age can't handle her family's association with death. Why are we so afraid of it?

Parents need to know that Annabelle Comes Home is the third Annabelle movie and the seventh film in The Conjuring horror franchise. While the movie isn't especially original, it's well-made and has plenty of intense scares. Expect lots of scary ghosts, demons, and monsters, as well as very spooky sounds and music. One creature wields a knife while wearing a bloody dress, and another has a bloody face. There's a stabbing in the stomach, and a scene of a ghost "vomiting" a stream of blood into a character's face. A character is bullied, and a man is nearly hit by a truck. Language includes a use of "f--k" and a few uses of "s--t" and "balls." Teens flirt a bit, and a teen boy tries for a kiss but is thwarted. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (20)
• Kids say (53)

Based on 20 parent reviews

Solid horror movie I’m eight years old didn’t scare me well the jump scare scare me a little great horror movie parents should know that there is one part that is bloody. That’s the only part a girl‘s dad who died in a car accident she sees him and he has a bloody wound on his head and looks pretty creepy. A girl gets possessed and tries to kill her friend. A spirit tries to kill a little girl with a knife. The girl uses a cross and says prayers in the Spirit goes away in the end. It was a definite five star not bloody like Annabelle or Annabelle creation.

What's the story.

In ANNABELLE COMES HOME, paranormal investigators Ed ( Patrick Wilson ) and Lorraine Warren ( Vera Farmiga ) have just wrapped up a case involving a demonic doll, Annabelle. They decide to bring the doll to their room of haunted, cursed objects and lock it away. Some time later, they head out on a new case and leave their daughter, Judy ( Mckenna Grace ), in the hands of trusted babysitter Mary Ellen ( Madison Iseman ). Mary Ellen's friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) comes over, determined to explore the secret room for her own reasons. Unfortunately, Annabelle escapes and starts wreaking havoc, looking for a soul to possess. She also unleashes several other monsters, including a hellhound and the terrifying Ferryman. Can the girls survive this night of horror?

Is It Any Good?

It's not exactly groundbreaking, but this seventh movie in The Conjuring horror franchise is crafty and shrewdly made. It whips up many good scares and has logical, accessible characters. In the complex series timeline, Annabelle Comes Home follows Annabelle (2014) and Annabelle: Creation (2017); it takes place in the 1970s, after the events of the first The Conjuring (2013). All that aside, however, the main thing that matters here is the simple fact that Annabelle is an evil demon and is after somebody's soul. Screenwriter Gary Dauberman ( Annabelle , It , The Nun ) makes his directing debut, following a template established by creator James Wan : spooky use of three-dimensional space, sleight-of-hand rhythm, and spare cutting. He takes to it expertly.

Dauberman also has a great deal of fun with the forbidden room and all its various, monstrous treasures. But the real trick here is the characters. Little Judy, who seems to have picked up some of her mother's clairvoyance, is having trouble at school because of her parents' work and can't seem to make friends. Daniela is also quite touching, hoping to communicate with her dead father while blaming herself for his death; she's more than just a busybody poking around where she shouldn't be. And it's a welcome surprise to see Farmiga and Wilson back as the Warrens. All in all, everything clicks satisfyingly into place for a solid scarefest that's worth getting dolled up for.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Annabelle Comes Home 's violence . How much blood and gore is shown? Was it gross? Shocking? Funny? How did the filmmakers achieve this effect?

Is the movie scary ? What's the appeal of scary movies?

How does the movie compare to the other entries in the Conjuring series? How does this universe work overall?

Given that these movies are based on real-life cases by the real-life Warrens, what do you think about the possibility of some kind of existence after death?

Why is Judy bullied at school? How is this problem solved? Could it have been handled any other way? A better way?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 28, 2019
• On DVD or streaming : October 8, 2019
• Cast : Vera Farmiga , McKenna Grace , Patrick Wilson
• Director : Gary Dauberman
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Horror
• Run time : 106 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : horror violence and terror
• Last updated : May 18, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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What to watch next.

The Conjuring

The Conjuring 2

Annabelle: Creation

Best horror movies, scary movies for kids.

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Den of Geek

Annabelle Comes Home Review

Annabelle Comes Home might be set in the 1970s, but it plays like pure '80s slasher movie schlock.

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As a decade reaches its end, it’s too easy for critics to become precious about the studio trends of recent movie culture. Every few years pop culture is dominated by styles and tastes, and tastes are a transient thing. Yet when coming upon a film like Annabelle Comes Home —the third spinoff/prequel-turned-sequel to The Conjuring —it is impossible to not notice how this mega-franchise has defined the type of horror movies we got in the 2010s. Once a breath of wicked fresh air from James Wan, his throwback to ‘70s dread (and dubious “true story” claims) has birthed a decidedly modern understanding of a “shared universe.” And as creepy as his two macabre Conjuring movies were, in that haunted house theme park kind of way, the spinoffs from Annabelle to The Nun have felt closer to country carnival knockoffs.

Which brings us to Annabelle Comes Home , a unique culmination for any franchise. As a sequel to Annabelle: Creation , which in turn was a prequel to Annabelle —the first prequel in the series set before either Conjuring film—the third Annabelle returns to the image that so terrified moviegoers in 2013: a creepy doll behind a plane of glass. It was that very glass in the Warren family’s home where we left the devil made of porcelain in the original Conjuring (and her Raggedy Ann counterpart in real-life), and now her story continues in what is kind of a backdoor Conjuring 3 .

After so many films and strained continuity though, it resembles less the grounded slow-boil terror of The Exorcist and other ‘70s chillers that informed Wan’s two films than it does an ‘80s slasher sequel. How can it not when we’ve reached the point where teenage protagonists are running in the dark from animated werewolves?

read more: The Conjuring Universe Timeline Explained

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Still technically set in the disco decade, Annabelle Comes Home leans into its period setting with the same kind of kitschy glee as the Conjuring proper films. Hairstyles are long and straight, Donnie and Marie are on television, and everyone’s obsessed with demonic possession. Then again that’s for good reason in the Ed and Lorraine Warren household. With Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga making glorified (but not unwelcome) cameos at the beginning and end of the picture, Ed and Lorraine open proceedings by having a priest bless their basement of horrors, a makeshift museum of every cursed, haunted, or possessed artifact they’ve ever stumbled upon. None are kept under safer lock and key though than Annabelle.

Once a just a really groovy monster in The Conjuring ’s opening sequence, she is now the reigning demon of the museum, ruling on high and waiting to conclude her soul-sucking business with Judy Warren, the sweet little girl she haunted in the 2013 movie and who has been recast to appear especially young and vulnerable here with The Haunting on Hill House ’s Mckenna Grace. And vulnerable she is with her sullen eyes and glossy raven hair, which along with stories about her parents has made her a pariah at school. No one’s coming to her birthday party, and even the folks won’t be there on an actual day since they’re away on a case. Instead she’s left to celebrate it with her babysitter Mary ( Jumanji ’s Madison Iseman) and that teen’s bestie, Daniela (Katie Sarif). Unfortunately, Daniela suffers from the grief of having lost her father in a recent accident and a new, sudden condition of Horror Movie Idiot Syndrome.

In our world, it is almost nonexistent, but in horror movies it’s a common place disorder in which otherwise smart people compulsively make really stupid decisions to instigate the plot. Which in this case is Daniela sneaking into the Warrens’ museum in an attempt to commune with her daddy… and to touch every single evil artifact in the place, including taking Annabelle out of her case. Soon there are more spirits spilling out than a New Year’s Eve afterparty.

The directorial debut of writer Gary Dauberman, the mastermind who has penned every Conjuring spinoff except The Curse of La Llorona , Annabelle 3  stands as that familiar pivot in nearly every long-running horror movie franchise. The ones that stick around enough time to seep into the culture and reach a seventh installment tend to look a little different than the paradigm-shifters that first turned them into must-sees, and indeed Annabelle Comes Home ’s story structure better resembles Night at the Museum or the original Jumanji than it does The Conjuring . It’s also about as scary as those too.

With the movie’s still enjoyable period aesthetic quickly devolving into jump scares involving bodiless wedding dresses with a bloodlust, the Hound of the Baskervilles outside, and of course Annabelle herself and the demon inside of her, there’s little time to build up atmosphere or an aesthetic beyond the catch-and-release of the latest sequence of a possessed television doing… things. Some rules from the previous films are preserved (such as Annabelle never moving) but others are jettisoned to poor results. Where once a demonic possession could take a whole movie with eerie subtexts about depression and suicide, now the demon just jumps literally into frame and tries to suck the soul out of the girls’ faces like a witch in Hocus Pocus .

The effect is not unlike seeing “Toby” in the later Paranormal Activity films after the gasps are long gone, but the laughter is only growing. This kitchen sink approach also leaves the cast with little to work with. Grace is excellent as the sweet little girl who really deserves better than to be in this nightmare home, but she is only required to alternate between melancholic and enthusiastically happy.

Iseman and Sarife are also affable enough as the fresh-faced young women who have to put up with their proverbial Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger, but they have about as much development as those genre ancestors. Their dynamic actually quite mirrors the plot setup of Halloween 5 for those fellow B-movie aficionados out there. Their movie is also just about as schlocky.

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read more: Must See Movies of 2019

The Conjuring is one of the best horror movies of the last 10 years, and both it and its direct sequel have earned their place as pop culture furniture. But its universe is starting to look long in the tooth when Annabelle is about as scary as a sofa, and the biggest shock to be found in her third outing is that even though we see Patrick Wilson pick up a guitar, we’re not allowed to hear another one of his enchanting Elvis covers. Curses.

Annabelle Comes Home on June 26.

David Crow is the Film Section Editor at Den of Geek. He’s also a member of the Online Film Critics Society. Read more of his work here . You can follow him on Twitter @DCrowsNest .

David Crow | @DCrowsNest

David Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…

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‘Annabelle Comes Home’ Review: The Best ‘Conjuring’ Spin-Off Brings John Hughes to the Usual Horror Routine

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Marvel and Star Wars delivered the biggest event movies of the past decade, but “The Conjuring” franchise has churned along with more confidence and consistency than either of them. James Wan’s 2013 entry set the template in motion, with real-life demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) providing a backdrop for endless jump scares. Having grossed upwards of $1.6 billion, “The Conjuring” universe has proven that sometimes, the most lucrative ideas require less CGI wizardry than spooky silence, and the lingering possibility that something terrifying could break it.

Well, that, and one helluva spooky doll. Annabelle, one of several horror tropes laying within the Warrens’ cabinet of paranormal monstrosities, showed the potential to carry her own creepy spin-off from the very first scene of “The Conjuring.” With “Annabelle” and prequel “Annabelle: Creation,” the stationary figure became a gateway for demonic forces seeking the souls of young children. (And, unlike Chucky, Annabelle doesn’t have to move one bit to remain an object of constant dread.) “ Annabelle Comes Home ” delivers on its title with the best “Conjuring” spin-off so far, in large part because it has such modest aims.

Related Stories ‘The Nun’ Review: ‘Conjuring’ Prequel Delivers Evil Mythology, but Not Enough Scares Critics Call ‘The Conjuring’ Spinoff ‘La Llorona’ ‘Anemic’ and ‘Timid’

Unlike the two-hour-plus “Conjuring” movies or the sprawling convent showdowns of “The Nun,” the new movie basically jams the archetypes of a John Hughes teen comedy into a minimalist haunted house scenario. While that’s not enough to suppress the underlying gimmickry of the storytelling, “Annabelle Comes Home” at least manages to charm and frighten its way through the purest distillation of the “Conjuring” formula to date. It’s not the scariest “Conjuring” movie, but just scary enough to advance the series and expand its reach.

Ed and Lorraine resurface at the movie’s start, picking up the doll from the mortified people who it haunted in prior installments, but their fleeting appearance mainly serves to advance Annabelle’s lore: A spooky encounter with cemetery ghosts (and one bloody car-crash victim) reveals that Annabelle herself isn’t haunted; instead, the doll serves as a beacon for other spirits. That tidbit provides enough information for the ensuing mayhem when Annabelle is liberated from the Warrens’ cabinet later on, unleashing various other demonic spirits trapped within their home.

But Ed and Lorraine aren’t around to deal with it. Instead, “Annabelle Comes Home” revolves around their ostracized middle-school daughter Judy (McKenna Grace), her teen babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), and Mary Ellen’s pal Daniela (Katie Sarife). When the Warrens leave town for an overnight trip, Mary Ellen’s tasked with caring for Judy, and troublemaker Daniela tags along with a hidden agenda. Keen on getting inside the Warren’s artifact room to interact with her dead dad’s spirit, Daniela’s troublemaking ultimately leads to a range of ghostly threats overtaking the small suburban home over the course of a foggy night. It’s the ideal minimalist template for numerous creepy moments, and because it’s set in the 1980’s, not even a cell phone can help these girls out of their bewitched jam.

“Annabelle Comes Home” marks the directorial debut of Gary Dauberman, whose screenwriting credits include “The Nun” as well as the recent “It” adaptation and its upcoming second installment. That makes him well-positioned to introduce the first teen-centric installment of “The Conjuring” universe, and he’s reasonably attentive to his characters before turning up the usual scares. Judy’s troubled social life, the result of cynical reports about her parents’ profession, introduces fresh emotional depth to the story; likewise, Daniela’s grief over her father’s premature death adds a degree of personal drama to a series that usually revolves around larger supernatural stakes.

Of course, once Daniela sneaks into the artifact room and lets Annabelle out to play, the movie becomes a lengthy pileup of eerie sightings, sudden locked doors, whispering voices, and other dreadful things. As usual, someone eventually figures out the main threat in play, and what must be done to contain it. None of these movies have ever managed to conclude their stories as well as they establish a gradual accumulation of spooky forces, but “Annabelle Comes Home” leans into its main strengths.

More William Castle than Val Lewton in its approach, the movie embraces the opportunity for spine-tingling apparitions at every turn, from the use of a “grab box” game that turns dangerous to ghostly figures with coins over their eyes roaming the hallways, and a knife-wielding bride that pops up at the most inconvenient moments. These aren’t mortifying concepts so much as ephemeral jolts, fun to experience and just as easy to shrug off.

But Dauberman’s script balances this familiarity with a handful of appealing subplots, including Mary Ellen’s cutesy suitor Bob (Michael Cimino), who shows up to serenade his classmate at the worst possible moment, and Daniela’s grieving process, both of which come to a head as the group bands together to contain Annabelle once more. The movie joins “It” and “Stranger Things” as the latest resurrection of the ‘80s-kids-in-peril routine, and it’s not exactly aiming to reinvent the genre. Still, it’s something of a relief that the movie pushes beyond the usual self-seriousness of these movies to allow for a more colorful array of characters and some modicum of humor surrounding their plight.

That being said, nothing in “Annabelle Comes Home” matches the genuine inventiveness of more visionary home invasion sagas, from Jordan Peele’s “Us” to “You’re Next” or “Funny Games,” all of which center around similar terrors and fire off in unpredictable directions. In “Annabelle Comes Home,” as with its precedents, the jump scares are the main endpoint; everything else exists to prop them up. But “The Conjuring” movies make an effort to care about their characters before terrifying them every which way, and “Annabelle Comes Home” gives them ample reasons to be terrified.

That’s enough to carry the movie along its spooky-silly wavelength, and reveals the essence of the commercial coup in play. With yet another “Conjuring” installment and a “Nun” sequel on the way, it’s safe to say that audiences will keep getting more variations on this routine until ghosts somehow cease to be scary, or jump scares simply don’t work. Until then, “Annabelle Comes Home” is proof that some scare tactics don’t need much dolling up to do the trick.

Warner Bros. opens “Annabelle Comes Home” nationwide on Wednesday, June 26.

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Movie Review: Annabelle Comes Home (2019)

• Dan Gunderman
• Movie Reviews
• --> July 12, 2019

The third entry in the “Annabelle” series, a part of the extended “Conjuring” Universe, is Gary Dauberman’s directorial debut, Annabelle Comes Home . The scribe is close to the source, though, as he was responsible for scripts on 2014’s “ Annabelle ” and 2017’s “ Annabelle: Creation ,” as well as 2018’s “ The Nun .” Luckily, Dauberman’s transition behind the camera is largely seamless — as he’s offered audiences perhaps the best installment in what has been an otherwise a mostly dull trilogy.

While the scribe-turned-helmer dives a bit deeper into the Warren lore (more specifically the couple’s evil artifacts room) and “conjures” up some ghastly spirits and memorable, demonic profiles, the “Annabelle” series (and much of the “Conjuring” Universe) still depends on jump scares and anemic scripts.

The source material is strong — in the Warrens’ chilling oeuvre — but it still get largely lost in translation. Despite strong performances from Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson in the anchor films, the potency feels quite diluted by the time it gets to the “Annabelle” spinoffs. Nonetheless, the “Conjuring” Universe remains a (profitable) Hollywood mainstay, and Dauberman’s scares still pack a hearty punch.

Taken at face value — and there are plenty of interesting profiles in the depths of the Warrens’ case files — Annabelle Comes Home is a worthy genre film, propped up by strong performances from the very-Warren-esque Mckenna Grace (“ I, Tonya ”) and Katie Sarife (“Twisted Sisters”) — one a young loner bullied about her parents’ work, the other a social but troubled teenager. Note, the titular doll still feels like a weak supporting character, outshined by the hellish, creative spirits under lock and key in the artifacts room.

Annabelle Comes Home is set after “ The Conjuring ” (you’ll notice a Warren Easter egg on the Rhode Island affair) and before “The Curse of La Llorana” and “ The Conjuring 2 .” This means viewers are dropped right into the middle of a peak investigatory era for the Warrens. When Ed and Lorraine are taken out of town for a case, Judy Warren (Grace) is left to the care of well-mannered babysitter, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman, “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween”).

What appears to be a uneventful night of TV and baking takes a turn for the worse when Mary Ellen’s outgoing friend, Daniela (Sarife), drops by to get an inside look at the Warrens’ suburban bi-level — supposedly a spiritual stronghold. While Judy wants no part in tempting fate, Daniela has a secret mission after suffering a tragic family loss. When she sneaks into the artifacts room and lets Annabelle squeeze through the unlocked chapel-glass case, the doll does not disappoint — summoning all spirits entombed in the room in an effort to harness a soul. It’s Judy, Mary Ellen and Daniela versus the underworld in the Warrens’ home — will they survive the night?

Dauberman’s efforts here certainly place this far above “Annabelle: Creation” and the first entry into the series — with well-rounded scares and a presence from the entire demonic spectrum. (One horned, satanic spirit will certainly spur goosebumps.) It’s a tall order for two teens and a ‘tween to outlast the clever mischief of this doll, but the helmer uses a number of techniques to make the most of it. This includes mostly admirable effects to bring his ghouls to life, plus strong camerawork that exemplifies contrast — in lighting, character, setting, etc.

For sure, the film’s third act depends on by-the-book jump scares and a calculable script, but Dauberman speeds up the action, cutting between three chilling scenes that all amount to Annabelle’s unquenchable taste for blood — or rather the souls of incident teenagers.

Any fan of the “Conjuring” universe, the brainchild of horror auteur James Wan, should give Annabelle Comes Home a watch, and perhaps they’ll be left anxious for the next installment. Dauberman’s script offers plenty of food for thought — as is the “Conjuring” way. (Remember, Annabelle was a brief cutaway scene in the first film; “The Nun” inspired by events of the second . . . and so on).

Tagged: babysitter , demon , doll , evil , possession , sequel

Dan is an author, film critic and media professional. He is a former staff writer for the N.Y. Daily News, where he served as a film/TV reviewer with a "Top Critic" designation on Rotten Tomatoes. His debut historical fiction novel, "Synod," was published by an independent press in Jan. 2018, receiving praise among indie book reviewers. His research interests include English, military and political history.

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