Annabelle Comes Home is the finale in what can only be described a poor and clichéd spin-off series, despite some of the more technical accomplishments, thwarted by bad, lazy scripts.
Annabelle Comes Home
(2019)
Genre(s): Comedy, Mystery
Warner Bros. | G – 75 min. – $19.99 | May 22, 2018
Date Published: 05/27/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 1.75/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc on innocent victims, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (PATRICK WILSON, VERA FARMIGA) lock the possessed doll in their home’s special artifact room, placing her behind sacred glass. While the Warrens are away, Mary Ellen (MADISON ISEMAN) is babysitting their daughter, Judy (MCKENNA GRACE), who is developing similar gifts as her mother. Mary’s best friend Daniela (KATIE SARIFE) comes over, being interested in the Warren’s artifact room to make contact with her deceased father, manages to get inside and is manipulated to open the box allowing Annabelle to escape and arise the evil entities upon the house.
Review: The “Conjuring Universe” doesn’t exactly have a strong track record, quality-wise anyway, though it has enjoyed solid box office receipts, which allows these filmmakers and writers to half-ass these movies. Outside of The Conjuring and for the most part its sequel, the rest of these spin-off films have been terrible, save maybe for Annabelle: Creation, but even that one was middling at best. This third entry is indistinguishable from any other supernatural-horror in the last 10-15 years, including the Paranormal Activity franchise and the many awful, quick cash grabs of the ilk. It’s filled with some cheap thrills and clichés for example, the girl falling to the ground before an unseen entity pulls her out and away, plus nonsensical storytelling in which a somewhat powerful and evil entity seems more interested in screwing with victims than actually trying to, in this case at least, get their soul; and don’t tell me they do this to “weaken” them, there is one character who is completely at the entity’s whim to be taken but for reasons, they don’t. This was a similar issue with the last “Conjuring Universe: film, The Curse of La Llorona. It’s just lazy scriptwriting on Gary Dauberman, the original writer of the previous Annabelle movies as well as the two It movies, not terribly surprising as, without having seen It: Chapter 2 yet, has been less than unimpressive (and should be mentioned James Wan had a hand in the story writing). Dauberman takes over directing duties and from a technical standpoint, with help by his cinematographer Michael Burgess (The Curse of La Llorona; also worked as a camera operator on Aquaman and Logan), the film at least looked good. So, there’s that.
Also going for it, I can’t really fault the cast of a somewhat fresh cast. McKenna Grace is perfectly good as Judy Warren (Sterling Jerins previously played the part in the two Conjuring movies) and as child actors go, was not the least bit precocious while both Madison Iseman and Katie Sarife served well in characters whose main job was to appear scared s-less. Meanwhile, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson have small roles, bookending the picture and reminded me why I enjoyed the Conjuring films as much as I did… In the end, Annabelle Comes Home is bad but unlike the first movie, this one didn’t make me angry or filled with regret, so I guess that’s a win? I’m just thankful this section of the Conjuring Universe is over (I hope). Unfortunately, I had some hopes for The Conjuring 3 but La Llorona’s Michael Chaves is directing and James Wan’s involvement seems to only be as a producer.
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SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5 |
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This release comes with a slip cover and redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Behind the Scenes (TRT 11:22) is split into three parts: The Ferryman/Demon (5:18), The Bloody Bride (2:57) and The Werewolf (3:07), breaking down the histories of the newest demons, the designs/make-up and the actors portraying them. The Artifact Room and the Occult (5:07) is basically a tour of the Artifact Room and how it was based on reality. The Light and the Love (4:26) is a featurette on Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga and playing the Warrens. Deleted Scenes (11:28) – There were seven scenes either cut or trimmed including an alternate ending. |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Warner Bros. unleashes Annabelle onto Blu-ray presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture, despite a fair portion of the movie taking place at night and within ominous mist invading the shots, does look good. Detail is sharp and colors, at least during the daylight portions, was okay showing off the wonderful 1970s décor. |
AUDIO – 4.75/5 |
| The included Dolby Atmos track is strong and does show off the supernatural horror that is inflicted inside the Warren house. Dialogue comes through with clarity and there is a nice amount of depth from the front and rear channels as the demonic entities try to scare the hell out of the main characters, and hopefully in turn the audience. |
OVERALL – 2.0/5 |
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Overall, Annabelle Comes Home is the finale in what can only be described a poor and clichéd spin-off series, despite some of the more technical accomplishments, thwarted by bad, lazy scripts. I suppose if you’ve already watched the first two or, especially, waded through the Conjuring Universe, maybe this is worthy of a rental. Maybe. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.