Annabelle Comes Home is a film which comes directed by Gary Dauberman of which this is his first major film. Annabelle Comes Home stars Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and McKenna Grace.
Going in to see Annabelle Comes Home this week at the cinema had me rather excited. Increasingly in recent years I have become very interested in the Conjuring Universe franchise and the many films which take place within it. Annabelle was a character introduced early on in the franchise and has grown in popularity over the years. I was keen to see what more they could do with the doll this time.
For me the Annabelle films always delivered a spooky cinematic experience. I wouldn’t say they were the type of horror film to keep me up at night, but they are quite good and giving audiences something spooky to sit through. Like previous films in the Annabelle series, Annabelle Comes Home takes place in the home of a young girl and her friends. This time though it’s a bit different as Annabelle wreaks havoc in the home of Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren, characters fans would know from The Conjuring films. So in terms of the franchise, there’s a lot of lore to be expanded with this film and it does do that a little bit.
My only complaint about Annabelle Comes Home is that the Warren’s which I thought were the main draw to seeing this film actually have very little screen time. What actually happens in the film is that the Warren’s go out for the night and their daughter stays home with some older female friends who come over to baby sit and look after her. Little do they know they are in for a hell of a night.
For the most part the plot of the film was quite good and it actually did keep me interested. Director Gary Dauberman managed to keep the spooky aspect and tone just right throughout much of it. But when the film needed to, there were some jokes which were rather humorous thrown in and these helped to lighten up some of the more awkward teenager moments.
Overall I felt that as the third film in the Annabelle franchise, Annabelle Comes Home delivered what I wanted and that was to have a spooky cinematic experience. The actors are all quite good, but I was a bit disappointed that Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson had such little screen time. There were opportunities to build up the lore of the universe these films are set in and they did do that, but possibly there could have been more here for fans. In the end I quite liked it and I’m happy to recommend this film if you’re looking for something spooky to see this weekend.
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