Review of Annabelle Comes Home (2019) by Filipeneto — 08 Aug 2020

If the previous films about the Annabelle doll have focused a lot on its origin, history and how it could harm anyone who owned it, this film forgets all that and turns to the Warrens, who detained its possession for decades, always carefully kept to never harm anyone else. Of course, given that the previous films made good money for the studios, this film was made with more financial gains in mind. Still, it has enough quality to deserve our attention.

The action focuses on the period following the acquisition of the doll by the Warrens, and creates an interesting scary story in which two friends, one of them in charge of taking care of the young daughter of the Warrens, will face the terror and the evil inside their house, assisted by the child that they should take care of and that, curiously, shows greater maturity than they on many occasions.

Very similar to the “Conjuring” films, it works like a spin-off and had two films that preceded it: the first one proved to be very bad, the second, whose quality was better, tells a totally different story. Here, what we have is a film that delivers what it promises and brings a story that manages to scare but tells little. Basically, it introduces us to the characters, the general picture, takes us inside the house and that's it. Even so, this house is far from being used. Let's agree! The house is the Aladdin's cave of cursed objects and, although some have appeared and had their history revealed, we feel that they are not fully exploited.

The cast is dominated by the interpretations of Mckenna Grace, Katie Sarife and Madison Iseman. The three actresses did a satisfactory job and, although they didn't shine much due to the poor quality of their characters, totally cliché, they were able to dominate the film entirely, due to the lack of a truly good cast. The film also features the participation of Michael Cimino but his character, quite comical, clashes with the general environment and makes the film lighter than it should. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson bring the Warrens back to life, but here they only serve as a link to the “Conjuring” films and limit themselves to being a father and mother, without further ado. Honestly, at times the film looks like an unusual cross between "Conjuring" and "Scream", or any other horror movie for teenagers.

Technically, it is a film with ups and downs. It has a very uneven pace, taking time to build and rushing the scariest parts, which should have been more carefully constructed, always growing in suspense and fear, and taking up more time. The atmosphere could have been more frightening and tense had it not been punctually cut off by expendable moments of humor or philosophical reflection. In addition, the ending is simply too sudden and disappointing. A climax is missing here. We clearly realized that the director and screenwriter didn't quite know how to end this story without killing anyone. It has good cinematography and good sets and costumes, the supernatural effects are also good and the soundtrack is scary, but it is so similar to what we can hear in “Conjuring” that it seems to recycle part of that soundtrack.