Review: Annabelle Comes Home

Right on the heels of The Curse of La Llorona and just in time to take on Chucky for killer doll dominance, Annabelle has come home for… uh, Annabelle Comes Home. 

We start off directly after Ed and Lorraine Warren pick up Annabelle from the nurses introduced in The Conjuring. After realizing the danger presented by the doll, which supernaturally calls to dark spirits as a sort of dead-eyed beacon, the Warrens place Annabelle in a container formed from church window glass. All seems well until their daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) and babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) leave friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) alone in the Warrens’ house. Dumb teen does dumb things and suddenly we’re in the adult version of 2015’s Goosebumps. 

That joke is actually pretty accurate. Annabelle Comes Home maintains the strangely wholesome nature of the Warren-centric Conjuring films and, when combined with the horrors unleashed from their room of antiquities, you can really see some strong connections between this sequel and that Jack Black comedy. Heck, we even sorta get a werewolf in one of the more outlandish references to the real life Warrens’ dubious tales of derring-do.

Luckily the filmmakers never go full-hog into what could have easily been a camp misfire. The phenomenal trio of main characters who make up for Ed and Lorraine’s convenient absence for the majority of the film are a big help here. Instead of focusing primarily on fright, we’re treated to a series of character building moments, most notably with the introduction of Bob (Michael Cimino), the potential teen love interest for Mary Ellen and quite possibly the most charmingly derpy guy in horror history. Meanwhile, Daniela’s inner conflict, which could have easily just been a pile of bitchy stereotypes, forms one of the more heartfelt and endearing character arcs.

McKenna Grace, whom you may remember from Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House and from her role as young Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel, shows off some serious chops as Judy Warren. She’s at once vulnerable and self-reliant when she needs to be. School bullies and a lack of friends bother her like they would any child, and her tender state of mind comes through in every scene. When she is tasked with taking on ghosts or explaining her parents’ cases, she’s quick to show off her smarts and understanding… while also freaking out about knife-wielding ghosts because, hey, she’s still human.

Madison Iseman takes a bit more of the heroine role, and in doing so seriously challenges Jamie Lee Curtis for Babysitter of the Genre. While I don’t think Laurie Strode is getting dethroned any time soon, this is nonetheless a very strong and cute performance. Her scenes with Cimino illicit embarrassingly sincere laughter, and her interactions with the various ghouls are sure to put butts firmly on the edges of seats.

These strong central performances more than make up for what few flaws there are, most notably a small downgrade in directing prowess. With Annabelle Creation director David F. Sandberg off saving the DC Universe, it’s up to first time director Gary Dauberman. As the creator of the ill-fated Swamp Thing TV series and writer of now four Conjuring films (out of the mind-boggling seven in the series!), Dauberman’s credentials are impressive. As a director, he’s… certainly good, if a little too indelicate at times. Where Sandberg was very much doing his own thing in this world, Dauberman comes off as an imitation of franchise mastermind James Wan. 

Now, just to make this clear: Dauberman does a very good job. With a little less fog juice and more of his own style, I think we’d be talking about someone with incredible natural skill. As it stands, he’s more someone who has been around a style he likes and has chosen to mimic it. Frankly, if this brand of mimicry is what the franchise is going to turn into, we’re pretty lucky. It is a style that is indicative of all of the franchise’s strengths and just a few of its weaknesses. 

One of the best elements of this series is the near-constant presence of Ed and Lorraine Warren. My feelings on the Warrens’ real life history is, as you may have guessed, not particularly kind. There’s more than enough evidence that the real Warrens were scam artists using peoples’ superstitions to make a name for themselves, sell books, and get movie deals. However, this scam artistry is overshadowed by their heartfelt interpretations onscreen. Every moment with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga is a joy and while they don’t get much screen time here, they are used exactly as they need to be while making room for our actual lead characters. In a way, it’s nice that the film chooses to maintain the Annabelle spin-off tradition of not focusing on the Conjuring’s heroes and instead use their run time to explore other characters with slightly more relatable problems. 

If I had to really nail down a full-on negative, it’s that Annabelle Comes Home doesn’t really feel as consequential as it probably should. With all of the buildup from previous entries, I had expected some big showdown between the Warrens and the evil doll that’s literally been with the franchise since the beginning. Heck, a film called Annabelle Comes Home should be the Avengers of the franchise. Instead, we get an intimate tale of the Warrens’ daughter and co facing the threat themselves. Actually, when you put it like that… yeah, there’s not really any full-on negatives to be had.

Some viewers may feel a bit bogged down by the constant onslaught of new evil forces pouring out of the basement to vex our heroes, but they’re so expertly placed throughout that it seems unlikely to be a major con. We get everything from a haunted TV that sees the future to a magical bracelet and a horned demon, and yet it all comes together in a surprisingly cohesive manner.

In the interest of not spoiling too much, suffice it to say that we’re given plenty of the Conjuring franchise’s trademark insta-classic ghosts. Some are better than others (Ferryman FTW, by the way), but all make up a gloriously bonkers final forty minutes or so. The character development leading in just makes it all the better and further proves that the Conjuring franchise is the go-to place for aspiring filmmakers to learn the craft of scaring the crap out of their audience.