Annabelle Comes Home

Annabelle comes home : New entry into Conjuring universe Six years and six movies into the horror franchise is no joke. Often the story telling runs out of steam, somehow the scriptwriters and directors themselves seem to be in awe of the conjuring universe that they manage to weave out sequels, spin offs and a lot more. Gary Dauberman’s Annabelle Comes Home is arriving at the perfect time. The movie has some interesting twists to it – full of well-drawn, charismatic characters and an army of ghastly ghouls – but it’s also becoming increasingly hectic for the movie makers to bring in the mandatory scares. Like almost all the other films in the franchise, Annabelle Comes Home is kind of engaging, but because of the familiarity, it never becomes an appealing movie. Annabelle Comes Home is set in the backdrop of the home of the Warren’s. We are shown an initial bit of how the Warrens brought the doll to their collection. After a year of that event comes a day where their daughter Judy was home with a girl named Marry Allen who took up the task of babysitting Judy. Things didn’t go that smoothly for the two when Marry Allen’s friend Daniela decided to drop by. The chaos that happens at this museum of ghosts on that day is what Annabelle Comes Home is all about. These three main characters are Judy, the Warrens' young daughter who struggles as the lonely kid with the weird parents; her babysitter, Mary Ellen, who just wants to be a really good babysitter; Daniela, Mary Ellen’s friend who wants to use the mystic air of the Warrens' home, namely their demon room, to make contact with her deceased father – his death she blames on herself. All three actresses turn in solid work and have loving, playful chemistry is the core of the movie. Daniela is that one mandatory character in a horror movie who loves to mess around in the artifact room (usually where ghosts roam), she unlocks the creepy Annabelle, they don’t have much to do except exist the house. There’s a routineness to what they’re doing, whether it’s baking a cake or hanging out in the backyard, that stereotypes such horror movies makes one ponder what is even meant to be going on and when it’s all supposed to happen. These moments can be funny, and it is to an extent. Ed and Lorraine resurface at the movie’s start, picking up the doll from the mortified people who it haunted in prior installments, but their fleeting appearance mainly serves to advance Annabelle’s lore: A spooky encounter with graveyard ghosts (and one bloody car-crash victim) reveals that Annabelle herself isn’t haunted; instead, the doll serves as a beacon for other spirits. That tidbit provides enough information for the ensuing mayhem when Annabelle is liberated from the Warrens’ cabinet later, unleashing various other demonic spirits trapped within their home. What particularly makes Annabelle Comes Home stand out is that while it’s presented as another variation of a haunted house story with demons and spirits terrorizing innocents, it executes its narrative with a much lighter tone than its in-canon predecessors. While previous chapters have taken sharper aim at generating nightmares, this is a horror movie particularly aimed at audiences who have fun being scared by horror movies. There is scope for genuine fun, something that doesn’t loses the sheen of the ghastly scary Annabelle, yet those little freakish moments jolt us up with a smile (not laughter). Verdict: If you are a fan of horror movies, especially the conjuring series – Annabelle Comes home should come as a fresh whiff of energy; thanks to the scary eyed dolly, lead characters and the director who is a bigger fan of this franchise.

STORY: 'Annabelle Comes Home' is the third instalment in the 'Anabelle' series and the seventh instalment in the 'Conjuring Universe' franchise. The possessed doll is once again on the loose, wreaking havoc. This time it targets Judy (Mckenna Grace), the 10-year-old daughter of the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) along with her young baby sitters. Will Annabelle and her evil forces succeed in feeding on their fear? REVIEW: ‘Positively do not open,’ reads the warning sign etched in bold capital letters on the sacred closet, holding the evil doll Annabelle. You don’t need to be a horror fan to know that somehow, the exact opposite will happen. Clearly, unpredictability is not among the strong points of Annabelle Comes Home. However, for a debutant, director and writer Gary Dauberman delivers quite handsomely in dishing out many delicious jump scares at a consistent pace. At the heart of it is his excellent camera control and the strategy to generate constant scares. The film opens with the daredevil duo Ed and Lorraine bringing the doll home. They lock it up in their basement, along with a host of other creepy memorabilia from their infamous cases. The room is packed with ghostly goodies waiting to be fiddled with for all hell to break loose. Meanwhile, their daughter Judy is having a hard time with school bullies because of what her parents do for a living. This part is sensitively handled. But the narrative quickly gets into the action mode, as the couple goes away for a weekend, leaving their daughter with a young but responsible babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman). All is well, until her bestie Daniela (Katie Sarife) goes snooping around the house, hoping to find some connect with her dead father. Another well-executed plot point to bring in the emotional connect with a character and justify her actions. What follows is a spookfest that will transport you into a house of horrors. The background score is very effective and adds to the impact when used with some novel ideas to induce fear. And once the ghostly business begins, there’s hardly a dull moment. Dauberman throws in some comic relief too, when a nerdy neighbor - the young Bob (Michael Cimino) besotted by Mary Ellen, tries to woo her, but gets caught in the crossfire. Performance-wise, child star Mckenna Grace does a fine job with her restrained act even during the most horrific turn of events. Rest of the cast plays along well. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson have limited screen time, but with so much nonstop action, their absence is hardly felt. The Victorian setting of the Warren home and the subtle dark colours add oodles of spookiness to the proceedings. Overall, 'Annabelle Comes Home' is a textbook scarefest that delivers on its promise to haunt, without being complicated or preachy about Gods and demons.