ANNABELLE COMES HOME
Director: Gary Dauberman
Writers: James Wan (Story), Gary Dauberman (Screenplay)
Stars: Vera Farmiga, Natalia Safran, Patrick Wilson, Elena Askin, Katie Sarife, Mckenna Grace, Samara Lee, Madison Iseman, and Michael Cimino
[usr 7.0 text=true]
REVIEW – Who says that horror is dead in 2019? Talk about a great year for this genre. We had the excellent Crawl. We had a good remake in Child’s Play. The very underrated gem The Hole in the Ground. Even the funny horror films did not fail like Ready or Not or Happy Death Day 2U. There are money others that I am a fan of as well. The shock was that our Conjuring universe has put out two very good films in 2019. Annabelle Comes Home is easily the best in the series so far. The reason is that it ventures in a new direction with a first time director. This film blends humor into an otherwise dark world. You can clearly tell that this is a fan that is living through his passion. The film opens simply enough with the Warrens bringing Annabelle back to their home. During this trip, they encounter some deadly-like strong resistance. This is to let us know that the doll is far more powerful than she was in the past.
This film really gets going once the doll is placed in the glass case that has become synonymous with the doll. We meet Judy and her babysitter Mary Ellen. They decide to bring Daniela along for a night of hanging out that ends when they mess around with something that they should not mess around with. This film creates a tension off of knowing what the fans know to expect. The humor that is infused in this film does not take away from the horror of the film. This film is made for the sole purpose to make viewers scared, and it does a great job at it. Sure, the final act seemed cheapened by the number of jump scares that this franchise and universe seem to depend too heavily upon. The funny thing is that in this film, they really work.
This film knows how to really put emotion in the feel of the film more than any other Conjuring film. You really start to feel for the characters as this film plays out. This film was smart in its nods to the first Conjuring film. This film was not so smart in the way it ends. The ending to this film really felt melodramatic. Like the joke is on us. I really like the film, but I had issues with the last act and final sequences. Overall, I liked this a bit more than the Child’s Play remake but not as much as Crawl. I hope to see more from this universe and I hope we see more of the doll. I am still waiting for this vision to be fully realized.
ANNABELLE COMES HOME | Official Trailer: