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Annabelle Comes Home Review: Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga's movie is a jump scare extravaganza with a heart
Annabelle Comes Home Review: It's the treatment of the three main female protagonists that makes this horror cum emotional tale a good watch. After you watch Annabelle Comes Home, Annabelle might stay with you as well.
Annabelle Comes Home
Annabelle Comes Home Director: Gary Dauberman
Annabelle Comes Home Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Michael Cimino
Annabelle Comes Home Movie Stars: 3/5
When a glass box with a creepy rag doll inside says, don't open, the logical explanation is DON'T OPEN THE CASE! Especially, when it's Annabelle. However, if Daniela did not open the case then Annabelle Comes Home would have been a teenage drama about loss. It's the emotional quotient attached to the horror story that makes Gary Dauberman's Annabelle Comes Home unique.
Annabelle Comes Back marks the return of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, doctors of demonology and witchcraft, who take the possessed Annabelle doll back to their home and lock her up in a sacred glass box, to prevent her from awakening dead spirits as she is referred to as the 'conduit'. However, when they enlist Mary Ellen in charge of babysitting the couple's daughter, Judy, you know some mischief is on the way, courtesy of Mary Ellen's best friend, Daniela! Daniela is deeply invested in what the Warren's do for a living and you might think of her as someone who has an infatuation with death, but that is far from the truth. Daniela only wants to connect with her father, who she lost due to an accident. However, the grave mistake she did was let Annabelle free. Slowly, the dead spirits awaken and Judy, Mary Ellen and Daniela have a date with death calling.
Patrick and Vera play second fiddle in this tale as they only appear in the beginning and towards the end. The real heroes of this horrific tale are the three girls (played by Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife). While Mckenna and Madison as Judy and Mary Ellen shine brightly in this dark tale, it's Katie's Daniela whose storyline draws you in and brings meaning to her addiction with demonology. It's not just another throwaway character. Instead, there's heart in the darkness as Katie is troubled with the loss of losing her father. What's horror without a tinge of comedy, provided by Bob Palmeri (Michael Cimino) who has a crush on Mary Ellen and is sucked into the demonic playhouse of the Warrens. He delightfully fills in the laughter track.
When it comes to the actual horror backdrop, it's Warren's household that takes center stage for the majority of the story. While the house looks like the perfect family home for three in the daylight, by night, the home becomes the perfect setup for a haunted house. It has everything - fog, creaky doors, television screens that go on and off, torchlights that work as per inconvenience, just to name a few. The production design is perfectly balanced with the background sound that leaves you feeling eerie. Especially, the constant piano tune by Katie. While the fake scares tend to distract you and reduce your heightened emotions, the last one hour is when the jump scares take over. You know what's coming, but you're gonna be screaming anyway. The constant parallel sequences, showcasing the different characters, are cleverly edited and shot. The costume designing and makeup of the dead spirits, especially The Bride are magnificent.
At the heart of the story is an emotional tale about dealing with death and loss. The interaction between Katie and her dead father was a moment filled with equal parts of sentiments and equal parts of scaring your eyes out. Gary has cleverly made use of his three female protagonists and stepped away from treating them as mindless characters, who have no sense of defensive attitude. Instead, we get strong-willed characters, who actually use their senses in the time of crisis, or you know, demons coming to kill them.
So, at the end of the day, Annabelle came back home. After you watch the film, she might stay with you as well. It may not be a must-watch film, but for horror film lovers, you won't go back home disappointed.
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