Annabelle Comes Home review – watchable sequel barely qualifies as an Annabelle film

After the bland antics of Annabelle and its somewhat scarier follow-up, Annabelle: Creation, the creepy porcelain doll is back for her third solo outing (and the seventh film in the ever-expanding Conjuring Universe – God help us). Those looking to this sequel for an Annabelle-based fix should heed warning, however: there are so many other evil spirits clamouring for the spotlight in Annabelle Comes Home that half the time it doesn’t actually feel like you’re watching an Annabelle film at all.

Regular series writer Gary Dauberman makes his directorial debut with this instalment, and one in which Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who bookend the movie in extended cameos), busy with another paranormal investigation, leave their daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) in the care of babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) and friend Daniela (Katie Sarife). Things kick into gear when Daniela sneaks into the Warrens’ locked room of haunted artefacts and unwittingly releases Annabelle from her glass case, inadvertently summoning a slew of demons whose sole purpose is to terrorise the girls.

This film is all about the new spirits, from “The Ferryman,” to a monstrous hellhound, to – most interestingly – a possessed board game of “Feeley Meeley.” Yet the sheer number of other supernatural threats on display means that Annabelle herself is oddly sidelined. The result is a sequel that feels a lot closer to an audition reel for potential Conjuring spin-offs and less like a movie about the titular haunted doll (I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to find out there’s a film about that hellhound in the works after this).

When the movie isn’t testing out new material, though, it succeeds in landing some pretty good scares. Some of the ideas explored here are genuinely unnerving, such as a television that appears to predict the future, whilst an effective use of nighttime cinematography shows this was made by someone who has a strong idea of what a Conjuring movie should look and feel like. The performances are solid, too, with particularly good turns from young actors Mckenna Grace and Madison Iseman, though you’re less likely to appreciate Kate Safrie’s Daniela: whilst a tragic backstory allows for a degree of forgiveness, it’s her reckless and admittedly dumb actions that set the plot in motion.

Annabelle Come Home is ultimately a step up from the first entry, though it lacks the genuine chills of Annabelle: Creation and falls somewhere nicely in-between: a serviceable but never remarkable chapter in this always-expanding franchise. That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing “Feeley Meeley” given its own spin-off treatment, if only as a means of seeing what Conjuring Universe ghouls Valak the Nun and La Llorona get up to in order to pass the time.

★★★☆☆

By: Jack Martin

Get Annabelle Comes Home showtimes in London.