Annabelle Comes Home is an interestingly placed film in the Conjuring universe. It serves as a convergence of the Conjuring film series and the Annabelle spin-off films – the Avengers of this shared universe, if you will. On paper the premise sounds dynamite: Annabelle the evil doll joining forces with all the other cursed nasties in the Warren’s (the demonologists from The Conjuring) artefact room to wreak havoc. However what we’re ultimately presented with is a hodge-podge of random scares and disjointed, half-baked premises that ultimately don’t go anywhere. It’s not the worst film in the Conjuring universe so far, but it’s certainly not up to the standard of the main series films or 2017’s excellent Annabelle: Creation.
The spin-off opts for a more contained story than the mainline Conjuring films, isolating the action almost entirely to the Warren’s house. When Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Famiga) Warren go away for a weekend they leave their daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) in the care of babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) and her uninvited friend Daniela (Katie Sarife). Daniela has recently lost her father, and enters the Warren’s artefact room in an attempt to contact the spirit of the deceased patriarch, unwittingly unlocking Annabelle and the evil spirit within. From here we have ourselves a movie as Annabelle proceeds to take control of every haunted item within the room, turning this laid-back weekend into a fight for survival as the three girls are haunted by a variety of demonic entities.
The films in the Conjuring universe up to this point have largely stuck to a serious tone, foregoing jokes in favour of intense scares and creepy narratives that always keep you on your toes waiting for the next big scare. Annabelle Comes Home breaks from tradition here by playing with a fun, haunted house atmosphere. It is a different tone, choosing to focus on the craziness of multiple monsters and demons stalking and toying with their victims in an enclosed space rather than the mental terrorism inflicted by the demons in the other Conjuring films. With this lighter tone comes a greater focus on comedy, with an entire subplot dedicated to a potential love interest for Mary Ellen, which varies between reasonably funny and downright awful. The character of Bob (Michael Cimino), also known as “Bob’s got balls”, handles the brunt of this humour and the movie, quite frankly, thinks he’s a lot funnier than he actually is. There’s only so many times you can make the same joke about a timid, harmless guy who is surprisingly useful during a demon attack and the character quickly becomes grating. His awkward encounters with Mary Ellen are irritating rather than endearing and the running “Bob’s got balls” joke is overused without ever actually being funny. It’s a self-referential wink to Bob’s arc and his later relevance to the plot which comes across as the writers thinking it’s more clever than it really is.
This leads in to another major problem with the film: pacing. The only way to describe the first 45 minutes is glacial with barely a scare to be found within it. It’s all an excruciatingly long setup for the events to come, introducing us to these three main characters and showing us the layout of the house. Whilst overly long, the film does a good job making sure we know the entire layout of the house, which will soon become a prison for the characters. I always knew where everyone was in relation to the other humans and monsters, which makes it far spookier when parts of the house change as the demons start to emerge. Speaking of monsters, there are plenty to choose from here, all controlled by the demonic entity that inhabits Annabelle, and that is really the biggest issue with Annabelle Comes Home. There’s no development given to these other demons, therefore no reason to be scared of them other than their looks or because they’ve arrived as part of a loud jump scare. The most we get is character’s reading portions of case files on a few of the more prominent creatures, however it doesn’t mean much when the histories being described sound more interesting than the film you’re watching. The Conjuring 2 is a perfect example of well developed scares: we spend time with the family being haunted and come to understand their dynamic and they way they are being haunted. This attachment to the characters means we actually care and empathise when the scares start and what scares our characters scares us too. Here, the characters just aren’t developed or likeable enough and make some downright stupid decisions.
The horror genre isn’t exactly known for its acting talent with the rare exception here and there. In the mainline Conjuring films, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga were exceptions, giving well rounded, believable performances as real life demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. There was much hype surrounding their return for the third Annabelle film but if you were one of those people excited to see them kicking ghost butt, you might want to temper your expectations. The film is laser focused on their daughter, using the elder Warrens as a framing device to tease the horror she is about to face. McKenna Grace is the star here, at just 13 years old, she carries the film, giving a performance that is incredibly mature for her age, as a child living with intense bullying due to her parents occupation who also happens to have her mother’s gift of seeing undead spirits. She’s the most capable of the three girls at handling the situation unfolding, which can be a little unsettling considering if in the same situation most people would sit down and simultaneously cry and wet themselves. Madison Iseman’s character Mary Ellen is just about as boring and stereotypical as you can get when it comes to Final Girls. She doesn’t have a whole lot to do other than console Judie and Daniela and scream, and she does what she can but the role is ultimately just bland with some truly awful dialogue at times. Her chemistry with Michael Cimino, who plays Bob, is non-existent and seems like something of an afterthought to give the character some kind of subplot. The final member of the trio is Katie Sarife’s character Daniela, who has the most complete arc of all the characters, which stems from her guilt over the death of her father. Whilst she can be extremely annoying at times and her decisions often don’t make any sense, there’s a vulnerability to her character and her motivations are innocent, even if she causes one hell of a night.
Annabelle Comes Home is ultimately a disappointment and sits in the middle of the pack of Conjuring universe films. An interesting premise is wasted on weakly written characters and scares that ultimately feel bland and unwarranted. The lack of development of any of the key monsters renders them useless when it comes to frightening audiences other than the occasional jump scare. The Conjuring and Annabelle franchises have been better than this – here’s hoping they can regain their quality.
Annabelle Comes Home stars McKenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Michael Cimino, Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga – In cinemas now.