ANNABELLE COMES HOME / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: GARY DAUBERMAN / STARRING: VERA FARMIGA, PATRICK WILSON, MCKENNA GRACE, MADISON ISEMAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
After the creation came Annabelle, and then Annabelle came home. Set after the events of The Conjuring, the Warren’s (portrayed once again by Wilson and Farmiga) return to their home with the most dangerous doll in the world to keep the evil at bay by storing it in a blessed glass case. But when Ed and Lorraine Warren leave their daughter Judy (Grace) with babysitter Mary Ellen (Iseman) while they go on an investigation, Mary’s friend Daniela haphazardly releases Annabelle, the demonic force of the doll brings the most haunted collection of artefacts to life to terrorise the girls.
Directed by the Conjuring Universe veteran Gary Dauberman in his debut behind the camera, this third instalment of the spin-off saga is average at best. The opening act shows a lot of promise with a well built up atmosphere, which creates a layer of tension and dread with false jump scares scattered throughout, but as soon as Annabelle is released, the film dissolves into a by-the-numbers modern horror that is predictable and ultimately not scary in the slightest. As is the case in horror today, the only real potentially jumpy moments were all shown off in the trailer – essentially to try and get the audience to jump, they use ‘grotesque’ dead people to scream at the camera – a total waste of potential.
That’s not to say that everything is all bad. As previously mentioned, there are moments of brilliance scattered throughout. One of our favourite moments of visual storytelling comes when Annabelle is thrown from Judy’s bed, knocking over a multicoloured film reel lamp that slowly reveals the true form of the demon through shadows on the wall using the doll as a conduit.
Over the last couple of years as James Wan and his team have inundated us with countless spin-offs in the Conjuring Universe, the quality has started to dramatically dwindle (except for the rather brilliant Annabelle: Creation) from the greatness of the main series. Here’s hoping that they can get this horror train firmly back in the tracks with next year’s The Conjuring 3, as otherwise, this franchise is going to fall into the trap and become a ghost of its former self.
Expected Rating 7 out of 10
