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Annabelle Comes Home
Rating: R (for horror violence and terror)
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Suspense
Director: Gary Dauberman
Writer: Gary Dauberman
Starring: Mckenna Grace, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife
Runtime: 106 minutes
In Sigmund Freud’s way ‘Das Unheimliche’ – the uncanny is a common theme for all horror movies.
Since the German silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), considered a breakthrough in cinema history, fright flicks have been utilising visual techniques, grotesque makeup and costume as well as crooked camera angles to create a fear for something unfamiliar, uncertain and sometimes an inanimate object that shows behaviour one would expect from a living object.
New Line Cinema’s haunted doll horror series, Annabelle, is one of those creepy Victorian inanimate object dolls that has a striking resemblance to the ventriloquist dummy in Anthony Hopkins’ psycho thriller Magic (1978).
The films are prequels to the Conjuring-verse. Annabelle Comes Home is the third instalment in the series and the seventh instalment in the Conjuring universe franchise. Taking place between the events of The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2, Annabelle Comes Home reintroduces Conjuring stars, the Warrens—Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed (Patrick Wilson).
The demonologist couple, Ed and Loraine, decide to contain the demon doll Annabelle in a sacred glass case in their residence. Judy (Mckenna Grace), the 10-year-old clairvoyant daughter of the paranormal investigators, gets bullied at her school because of her parents’ profession. When her parents go out overnight on a job, Judy is left with her affable teen babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) who planned an early birthday for her. Things go wrong when Mary’s troublemaker friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) joins them later that night.
Daniela has a secret agenda to sneak into the Warren’s ‘Artifacts Room’ to commune with the spirit of her father, who died recently in a car accident while she was driving. Her biggest mistake is ignoring the clear “Warning: Positively Do Not Open” sign on the sacred glass case and releasing the diabolical doll who is a ‘beacon for other spirits’.
The movie’s debut director, Gary Dauberman, was the scribe for the earlier two Annabelle films as well as the screenwriter for the recent It adaptation and its upcoming sequel. He also co-wrote the story with the original Conjuring director James Wan. Dauberman’s association with the franchise makes him an obvious choice for the latest scary spin off.
His teen-centric story follows Ed and Lorraine but focuses on Judy, Mary and Daniela. The director successfully creates engaging subplots by utilising the female leads’ individual anxieties such as Judy’s troubled social life, Mary’s uneasy boyfriend Bob and Daniela’s upsetting past.
However, the plot turns cliché when Daniela, pretending to be a daring curious teen, breaks into the forbidden room overlooking all its warning signs. It draws a lack of sincerity in the story.
The strongest part of the film, the ‘Artifacts Room’, is meticulously designed by the production designer Jennifer Spence. Floral wallpaper wrapped early 70’s style haunted house mise en scène with fluid camerawork makes the room look evil. There are all sorts of wicked objects and animals in the room including a bloody bride, an evil ram, a serial killer devil, a gothic ghost, a creepy werewolf and obviously the favourite doll devil.
Ed and Lorraine’s appearance is more than just a comeback role but the real attraction is 13-year-old Grace – a strong mature actor for her age as she portrays a girl who sees ‘dead people’ like her mother.
With the franchise’s more than $1.5 billion (globally) collection so far, these low-budget dreadful delights are guaranteed money-makers as long as viewers continue enjoying these films paying no attention to the fact that although the ‘evil is contained’, the lock is loose!
Subidita’s verdict: 3/5
