Film of the Week: Annabelle Comes Home

The seventh film within the Conjuring Universe, this latest horror film set after the events of the first two films is about how the doll, Annabelle, created chaos within the Warren’s household when a friend who just wants to contact her dad unlocks the cage keeping the demonic power within.

James Wan’s ability to create truly scary horror doesn’t waver when making this film. Horror is a unique genre where the only effective scares can also be judged as clichés if not done originally. Annabelle is full to the brim with slow moving camera angles, jump scares, supernatural occurrences just off screen complete with powerful sound effects; this is a scary film.

Annabelle Comes Home ramps up the number of characters that’s affecting the main characters. It’s explained at the beginning that the demonic power within the doll is acting as a conductor for the many souls and demonic powers in the surrounding area. This quick prologue serves as the main reasoning behind every other item in Warren’s locked room full of cursed objects suddenly coming to life. Whilst the character, Daniela Rios (Katie Sarife) doesn’t help by touching everything within the room, the fact that she also unlocks the glass container with the doll perched inside, draws in the cursed object’s powers too, creating a properly horrific experience for the characters. Even though many more cursed objects are featured, that explanation at the beginning reassures the audience that the Annabelle doll is still the main focus, and does most of the tormenting.

The film as a whole sends shivers down my spine. Being the seventh film in the franchise, it’s still nice to see that they can still pull off original content without it looking and feeling too drawn out.

Whilst the other objects do play a part within the film, and they do show some amount of strength when creating their own unique scare factor, the main criticism I have regarding that choice is not a lot of information is known about the object is and why it’s cursed. We’re just shown it to be scary, we’re scared by it, but ultimately left confused as to why we should be scared. Dare I say it, but with the way the Conjuring Universe has expanded over the years, this film appears to be a backdoor pilot to many more films down the road, and if that be the case, it dampens the overall product of Annabelle Comes Home as it immediately stops being scary and starts becoming a marketing ploy.

Annabelle Comes Home is a good horror film. There were a few instances where we needed a bit more of an explanation regarding such, but then maybe I’ll be stating how there was too much exposition than actual horror. Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe all the information I need to know is there and I just didn’t see it upon my first watch through due to constantly feeling cold spots on my back from shivering. If there really is information regarding those cursed objects, I do really hope there is an explanation on why a particular stranger in a photo looks exactly like the main character, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) because that was the biggest mystery of them all. I’m trying to think back to see if I can remember any amount of references to that mystery, and I cannot find anything. If there really isn’t any resolution to that mystery, why even put it in the film in the first place… unless they’re going to make a film specifically dedicated to explaining that… I’m calling it right here, people.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)