Talking and/or killer toys are having a bumper crop at American
theaters this summer huh? “Toy Story 4” and “Child’s Play”
both opened on the same day (major props to the “Child’s Play”
marketing people by the way) and now we get the third installment of
the Annabelle series which itself is a spinoff of the far superior
fright flick “The Conjuring.” I greatly admire Warner Brothers’
Conjuring universe not only because it’s arguably better handled
than their DC universe but there hasn’t been such a fun group of
shared horror films since the days of the Universal Studios monsters.
That being said, the “Annabelle” films pale in comparison to the
main Conjuring films but this third entry is certainly a noble
effort (as was the superior second installment “Annabelle: Creation”).
What is essentially a single setting haunted house flick with
things that go bump in the night, the film is fine entertainment for those seeking
fun jump scares, but hardened horror fans with iron
constitutions will find most of “Annabelle Comes Home” to be
little more than silly smoke and mirrors that add very little to
the genre; except for a handful of other fun possible Conjuring universe spin-offs. At the end of the day, I’m okay with
that because there’s nothing particularly horrible about this entry, it’s just not overly outstanding.
The Warrens show up
in “Annabelle Comes Home” and is set mostly in their home and
that is certainly a bold and wise choice from the filmmakers. The
presence of Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson easily elevates this
otherwise generic haunted house movie. This is literally the fourth
time that we’ve been made aware of the evil doll Annabelle and we
finally get to see what happens when the Warrens place her in her
permanent home in their creepy artifact room IN THEIR HOME. Of course
during one weekend away from home, the Warrens’ hire a teenager to
babysitt their young daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace). The sweet teen
left in charge, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) hesitantly lets her
friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) over and before they know it they’ve
awoken Annabelle and all the other evil spirits locked away in the
room in what is essentially a cabin in the woods storyline.
So basically what we
have here is “The Conjuring” meets “The Evil Dead.” Which
sounds fine on paper except that in this film I never really felt
that these girls were in any real danger. I was pretty certain they
would all end up fine. If you watch the first “Conjuring,” which
is better written and features more fleshed out characterizations,
film you never feel like that family is going to make it out alive.
“Annabelle Comes Home” has a lot of boo/gotcha moments which is
fine, but that’s really all it has. It has not real unique
visual identity and I don’t even remember the music score. The
young actors are fine but it was hard to get invested or care about
them, especially Daniela who is the one who unwittingly unleashes the
demons when all she could of done is just as Lorraine to contact her
recently deceased close family member.
As a horror fan, and
lifetime resident of Connecticut, I’m so thrilled that these films
exist. These Conjuring universe films are fine – they’re all
starting to feel and look the same – but I’m glad these films are
around to scare the pants off of kids whose parents probably
shouldn’t be bringing them to see them. Though these films aren’t
loaded with profanity, violence, or sex which is extremely rare for
an R rated horror film. It means the films care a stricter rating
because they are just scary; of
course your mileage may vary. As
far as I’m concerned these films only exists to cleans the palate
between the main Conjuring films and my appetite is certainly
whetted. GRADE: B-
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