Annabelle Comes Home is not far from a home of horror, but has enough of a story to sidestep somewhat tense terrors. Annabelle of is a supernatural relic recovered by the Warrens, Ed and Lorraine, in 1968. It was the subject of the first movie in the series, The Conjuring (2013) and spun off to its own movies; Annabelle (2014) and Annabelle: Creation (2017) both written by Gary Dauberman, who takes the director’s chair in this film. He co-wrote the movie with James Wan who directed the first two Conjuring films. Dauberman also co-wrote the screenplay for It (2017) and wrote the upcoming It: Chapter Two, out on September 6th. The movie is fictional, but has some real life characters. Conjuring 3 is the next movie in the franchise directed by Michael Chaves who also directed The Curse of La Llorona which was released on April 19th. The film opens with the extreme close-up of Annabelle, this is similar to The Conjuring, which nearly had me walking out of the theater. It continues with Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) explaining the nature of Annabelle to her current owners, Camilla (Sade Katarina) and Debbie (Kenzie Caplan). This is a repeat of the scene from the first movie with new actors. Wilson was last in Aquaman (2018), directed by Wan, playing King Orm and Farmiga is in Godzilla: King of the Monsters released on May 31st. It is welcome to see the return of both actors, but they are cameos here. The music by Joseph Bishara, who composed five of the Conjuring movies, is tense and moody.
They take the doll and place Annabelle in the back seat of the station wagon. Driving on the night roads, they come across an accident, Lorraine can see the victim of the car crash standing. The couple is directed to take roads around the accident and of course the car stalls. Ed gets out to check on the engine and Lorraine notices that they happen to have stopped next to a cemetary. She sees the car accident victim in the backseat who admires the doll. Then, Lorraine sees spirits collecting at the cemetary gate, one pushes Ed into the middle of the road. A truck is about to run him over and the driver later says he lost control of the truck. At their house, their daughter, Judy (McKenna Grace) watches as they bring in Annabelle. Grace played a young Carol Danvers in this year’s Captain Marvel. She plays the young protagonist who understands her parents’ work. Ed and Lorraine take Annabelle down to the basement room with Father Gordon (Steve Coulter) performing the ceremonies. Coulter is returning to the part from The Conjuring 2 (2016). They set her on a rocking chair, but then decide to put her in a case from a church. Lorraine announces, “The evil is contained.” It shifts to one year later, Judy is eating cereal watching television, beneath the bowl is a newspaper headline, “Heroes or Hoax?” Her parents are about to set off to another case?, the events of the first movie, and intend to celebrate Judy’s birthday.
Watching over Judy is her teen babysitter, Mary Ellen, played by Madison Iseman. The actress played Sarah in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018) and is returning to play Young Bethany in Jumanji: The Next Level on December 13th. Mary Ellen is concerned over Judy which makes her interesting. On the television is a game show where a young contestant wins a doll, this happens to be the giant Raggedy Ann doll like the real life Annabelle. She drives Judy over to the St. Thomas school. During lunch, Judy looks over and see the spectral form of a priest. Mary Ellen goes to get some groceries for the party. She is joined by her friend, Daniela (Katie Sarife), who likes making trouble, but we find there is something more driving her. Sarife is in the series Youth & Consequences and was in the tv movie Zombies and Cheerleaders (2012). These are basically the three main characters and there are enough story points that made all of the characters likeable for me. Daniela tries to get the grocery clerk, Bob (Michael Cimino) hooked up with Mary Ellen, they have a crush on each other. Bob has a nickname that runs through the movie and lives across the street from the Warrens. His character is kinda fun. Then, by the lockers, Judy is taunted by a boy (Lucas Luhan). Mary Ellen sends them away and Judy notices again the priest, whom she also sees as a bust, Father Michael Morrisey (the actor’s name is really Gary-7).
At the Warren home, Mary Ellen discusses the bullying with Judy, they are joined by Daniela who notes that the bully is her younger brother, Anthony. She is interested in all of the supernatural trappings in the seemingly normal surburban house. Daniela wanders into the office and Mary Ellen goes in to find her. They see case files, Daniela points out the file of the Ferryman, his first victim looks exactly like Mary Ellen! She wonders about the coins placed on the eyes of the departed and Judy answers that they are for the payment of the Ferryman, Charon in the Greek myths. There are a number of paranormal forces introduced in this film, I wonder if one or more will lead to The Conjuring 3. Daniela activates the film projector that shows Ed holding up a cross and screaming to drive away evil. Mary Ellen seeing Judy disturbed by it turns off the projector. Later, in the kitchen, Mary Ellen is preparing a cake when Daniela brings roller skates for Judy. Mary Ellen takes Judy out to try the new skates and has Daniela promise not to cause trouble. Of course, she goes to try to open the door to the artifact room, it is locked and she asks the spirits for help to open it. Then, she goes to the office and almost by accident finds the keys. Daniela opens the door and down the steps into the room.
There is the black samurai armor, she finds coins on one of them, and she sees a television screen. A wedding dress hangs in the back. She plays two keys of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” on a piano. We find out that Daniela is eager to contact the spirit of her father. She folds a picture of herself and her father in a locket called the Mourner’s Bracelet. Daniela’s attention of course leads to the case with Annabelle. It has a warning not to open it, but later Annabelle’s head bumps into the glass, Daniela goes to open it with the keys. She is distracted by the fire alarm going off with the burnt cake. Mary Ellen has returned and mentions that Judy has scrapped her leg. Mary Ellen hears a knock at the door and then sees a little girl (Samara Lee) who asks about Annabelle. Lee was in Annabelle: Creation (2017). Daniela goes out to check on Judy feeding the chickens in the chicken coop. It is interesting to see the teen best friend talking to the young charge. Mary Ellen walks over to them and Daniela sees the image of her father through the office window. We find out that Annabelle is a “beacon” to other spirits. They have to return her before the evils are unleashed. The terror is just tension, but doesn’t get into full scares. I like the resolution for the characters even if there is not the types of horror in The Conjuring. Annabelle Comes Home is decent as an entry in The Conjuring Universe, the character trio keeps the movie going, but there is not enough scares to earn its R rating!
Three Coins for the Ferryman out of Five!
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