Annabelle Comes Home
Rating: 3/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
The Annabelle doll may be a terrifying object in the Conjuring franchise, even if it hasn't been represented properly throughout the films in the series. Besides Annabelle: Creation, it seems like the filmmakers who work on these films don't really know how to make her scary, besides her appearance. It seems like they just use her as an overarching symbol for the films, even though she has no real importance or is used as an afterthought. Unfortunately, that's the case for Annabelle Comes Home, which is a fun little haunted house flick that doesn't use the doll to its full advantage, as well as suffering from some flaws.
Being the child of exorcists and demonology experts must be really hard, and that's the life of Judy Warren (McKenna Grace). She doesn't have much friends, and she is constantly ridiculed and bullied by kids at school who make fun of her parents and their profession. Her only real "friend" is that of her babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), who is watching Judy while Ed and Lorraine (Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga) go overnight to investigate a case. She knows to not go into their basement, which houses numerous artifacts and vessels for demonic possession, especially the doll named Annabelle. When Mary Ellen's friend, Daniela (Katie Sarife), arrives uninvited and unexpected, she doesn't listen to the rules, and accidentally unless a roster of demonic spirits on the house for the unsuspecting daughter and babysitter.
Like I have mentioned in the review for the first Annabelle film, I'm not a fan of them saying this movie is going to be centered around the possessed doll, and then use her as an afterthought. Annabelle is present for some parts of this film, but the movie seems too concerned with telling the story of the main characters, focusing on loss, grief, bullying, and other major topics. This is all fine and dandy, and I'm sure would work great in any other horror film, but when you promise to deliver on the scares concerning an element that the film is named off of, it's very hard to enjoy the good aspects when they're not delivering on what they promised. I mean, there's numerous spirits here that have more screen time and importance than the creepy doll does.
However, putting that major gripe aside, this movie is a pretty fun little haunted house flick. There are some fun elements here, including scares and using the setting to its advantage; as a viewer, you're terrified for what is around the corner in this house full of demonically possessed items. The characters and their performances aren't inspired at all, but they're fun and are able to keep the viewer entertained for a majority of the movie. I also really like how we got to see some of Wilson and Farmiga, as they are usually exclusive to the main Conjuring films.
At the same time, director Gary Dauberman is able to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats, using interesting camera angles and shots to convey something is going on in the background of many of the scenes. He focuses in on a character and then use shadows, figures, and CGI demons to lurk in the background, startling the viewer and making them feel much more uncomfortable. Dauberman is able to do this so well, and it doesn't feel old or tired. Sure, some of the jumpscares aren't very unique nor scary, but the lingering images and movement in the background makes this movie so much more terrifying.
Even with the positives, there are a few negatives here. Like I already mentioned, much of this movie doesn't feel very inspired or unique, and it's just a regular horror film like we have seen before. There really isn't anything in this movie that makes it stand out or very memorable. At the same time, many scenes in this movie go on for way too long, and slows down the pacing quite a bit. A lot of this movie, even with the positives here, feels like a drag, going in a direction that even the director is not sure of. Then, because of the very slow pacing and a tad-boring plot, the movie has to rush and wrap everything up as they realize they shouldn't go over two hours.
Annabelle Comes Home thankfully isn't as bad as the first Annabelle film in this series, but it definitely isn't as good as the one before this. After the complete failures that were The Nun and The Curse of La Llorona, the franchise definitely plays it way too safe here, not allowing the filmmakers to take a risk. This is just a run-of-the-mill horror movie, one you could watch once and probably have a good time with. But, when you watch it again, you start to realize how it wasn't as good as you thought it was.
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