The Third (and currently final) film in the 'Annabelle' series is effectively an 'A Pup Named Scooby Doo' effort. A film that dares to ask the question: 'What if the Warrens leave a house full of horrifying demonic and cursed entities in the hands of a babysitter, her friend, her crush and their child for the night'? Well; if you ever wanted to know, this film will answer that question.
Thats…pretty much literally the plot, the film opens with the Warrens collecting 'Annabelle' from the nurses (as seen in 'The Conjuring') they bring her home, put her in a glass box, and then about a year later on a random tuesday, they have to head out to go and attend to spooky business, leaving the house and their daughter Judy in the capable hands of the local babysitter Mary and her friend Daniela. Daniela has a bit of a troubled past and is obsessed with the occult. So while Mary takes Judy round the block to break in some new roller skates, Daniela sneaks into the Warrens 'Cursed' room and just…touches absolutely bloody everything.
AND! As a result, she allows half a dozen demonic entities (and more) escape the room into the Warrens house and gardens. leading to a night of SPOoOoooOoOKY Shenanigans as the girls fight the forces of evil to get Annabelle back in her case before dawn, seal the evil away AND get Judy to bed at a reasonable time or Old Man and Lady Warren are gonna be like…SO narked dude…
I really wish there was more to it than that. But this honestly feels like the kind of movie you could show your kids as a gateway film into 'real' horror…only *slightly* scarier than your average 'Goosebumps' episode and with a distinct 'adventure/comedy' vibe running through it. I'd argue it defangs the demonic entities that this franchise has spent so long trying to uphold…But that would imply I was invested enough in these films to have been spooked by them to begin with.
To quick cut across all fronts, the plot, the cine, direction, music, performances…they're all generically fine. In fact, most of this movie feels like a generically fine tween adventure horror film…something like 'The Monster Squad' or The recent 'Goosebumps' movies…just a lot smaller budget and a lot smaller scale. In that sense, I quite enjoyed it. Its nothing particularly adventurous. But on all fronts its a fairly robust, but not groundbreaking watch with a handful of fun moments, and a handful of scenes, shots and plot points that elevated it just above average.
Id be being dishonest if I didnt say that I had fun with this one…Its a grilled cheese sandwhich of a movie, nothing fancy, and it isnt going to change your life. But when you want a grilled cheese ONLY a grilled cheese will satisfy.
It puts me in the rather difficult position of struggling honestly to decide whether this film deserves to rank higher than the other 'Conjuring' movies that DID push the boat out, DID try and experiment and had a mixture of successes and failures…because at least those films DID try to do something outside the box…this film is arguably one of the safest 'Adult' horror films i've ever seen…and its enjoyable…but…I dont know, part of me would feel bad saying this was better than say 'The Conjuring' 1, 2 or 'Annabelle Creation' which at least TRIED to move the needle a bit…
I may need a rewatch to fully appreciate my feelings on this one truthfully…All I can say with any degree of certainty, is this isnt a classic, this isnt even a particularly great example of what its trying to do…But I liked this one, in fact, i'd go as far as to say its an active recommendation, and especially so if you didnt enjoy the mainline 'Conjuring' films and want to see what a reconfigured version could potentially look like.
I'd say if your at a bit of a loss and can get your hands on a copy of this this halloween, go check it out! its a surprisingly fun, if not a tad generic watch.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/annabelle-comes-home/
