The demonic doll returns – review of the movie “Annabelle Comes Home”

The forces of evil strike back

Famous demonologists Lorraine and Ed Warren discover the source of great evil in Annabelle. To prevent further tragic events, the couple decide to take the doll to their home and lock it in the basement, along with a collection of other cursed artifacts. Annabelle herself is placed in an additionally secured and dedicated display case, to which only the Warrens have a key. The long-kept peace and order are disturbed by Daniel – one of two friends of Judy, the alienated daughter of a pair of demonologists. In search of information about her deceased father, the teenager steals the keys while the Warrens are away and enters the basement, awakening a long-dormant evil. During one ghastly night, the girls have to face monstrous forces that want to possess their souls.

Devilishly boring

The beginning of the latest work by Gary Dauberman gives the viewer hope for a successful screening. The Warrens drive through a dark, fog-shrouded wasteland, with Annabelle smiling terrifyingly in the backseat. Darkness and tension just spill out of the screen to reach the climax where the engine of the demonologist’s car mysteriously dies right next to an abandoned cemetery. It is at this point that Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) discovers a huge evil within a doll that marriage has never dealt with before. When the Warrens lock Annabelle in the basement and the title of the film appears on the screen, the whole dark atmosphere is completely cut off. From the interestingly promising, climatic horror, we get the boring story of the daughter of famous demonologists, Judy (McKenna Grace) – a lonely and misunderstood girl, devoid of even a bit of personality by the scriptwriters. This character is so painfully uninteresting that it is almost immediately forgotten. It’s not much better with her babysitter, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), one of the two guests invited to the Warren’s daughter’s birthday party. Apart from the introduction, the next fifty minutes of the film are banal conversations of the girls and attempts to organize a party that are not really that important to the plot itself.

The reel of extreme boredom at some point tries to stop Daniel (Katie Sarife), who gets into the locked basement. Viewers get a bit of suspense, which ends very quickly with the opening of the showcase with the possessed Annabelle. Even when the demonic forces finally come to life, the action doesn’t pick up pace immediately, and instead slugs on for a while longer.

Not as scary as they paint it

Only the last twenty or thirty minutes of the film gets really addictive when the demons appearing in the house start chasing the scared girls. The fast-paced action and unexpected twists bring to mind the best scenes from The Presence, which on the one hand can be a plus for horror fans, and on the other hand, it is not very original and imitative. From the very beginning, the demons’ movements are predictable and not tense as they should be, which only causes a feeling of weariness. Visually, Annabelle comes homelooks very good – each of the ghosts depicted looks great without being overly grotesque. Both the special effects and the set design have been perfectly designed, fully reflecting the atmosphere of a good, classic horror film. But what if the efforts of the designers go to waste due to a fatal scenario.

Couldn’t have been better?

 It is a pity that viewers get another poorly done work about a demon doll. Annabelle had enormous potential from the very beginning, which was wasted with the first film in the series. The next, third part only confirms the belief that with the same artists Annabelle is doomed to failure. After the failure of the previous films, you did not have high hopes for something much better, but you still feel quite disgusted.

The film Annabelle Comes Home can be watched in the Cinema City network of cinemas all over the country.