Annabelle took it home when she came home, sending the spin-off series into a fabulous conclusion while paving a highway toward the future of the Conjuring franchise.
The film begins with a scene from the first Annabelle (which just gets better with each sequel, oddly enough), as the Warrens interview the three teenagers whose apartment had been haunted by the titular doll. They take her to their home, where they invite a priest to help contain its evil. The doll, they make sure to explain to us multiple times, is not possessed; it is a conduit, a tool for a demon to use. Of course we've seen this before, but this time there's an added twist: the demon's activities seem to incite other spirits to approach and act out. Thankfully, the priest locks Annabelle away behind some "chapel glass" and leaves her in her iconic pose.
Enter the high school girls, who invade the spooky old home to look after young Judy Warren. Madison Iseman plays Mary Ellen, the actual babysitter and maybe the best babysitter ever (after Jamie Lee Curtis, of course), while Katie Sarife bursts onto the silver screen as Daniela, the naughty girl who is only there to cause trouble -- or so it seems. Turns out there's a lot of emotion to the latter girl's presence, and her desire to reconnect with her deceased father incites her to sneak into the Warren's forbidden room that contains a collection of occult objects. Naturally, this room is where Annabelle has set up her little kingdom.
In a remarkably fitting follow-up to Creation, which featured several children being haunted in a remote foster home, this movie brings everything back to basics, reuniting us with the Warrens and allowing us to spend more quality time in their home. I've wanted back into this spooky place since the demonic nun lurched out of a painting in The Conjuring 2. The film becomes a sort of panic room for the girls (and newcomer Michael Cimino's character Bob, who quickly steals everyone's hearts), as the malevolent spirits begin manifesting in increasingly violent ways. Domestic life is changed into a fun house of wild lights, fog machines, and some of the scariest suburban imagery I've ever seen in a haunted house movie.
The vividly imagined spirits are manifold, and each is given enough screen time to be satisfying while tempting you to want still more spin-off movies. You thought The Nun was all we'd get? I'd still like to see a Crooked Man flick and maybe a Scarecrow one, but this movie suggests at least half a dozen more spooky possibilities. On our roster we can now add the Bride, a wedding gown that provokes stabby violence; the Ferryman, who collects coins from the dead and dying; a hell-hound that seems suspiciously werewolf-like (and as such is a well-known real-life case of the Warrens, which James Wan has hinted will play a major part in the third Conjuring entry); and a Feely Meely game that doesn't actually do much but inspires great fear because of its potential for horror.
Even if you think the madcap horror is a bit excessive, the film maintains a lucid grip on its emotional core and carefully plots everything so that it's also logical. Moreover, the atmosphere of this film is intoxicatingly vivid and its images vibrant and terrifying. For an exercise in scary, smart, and extravagant horror that is also hilarious and heartwarming, Annabelle Comes Home is a magnificent way to close out the series and invite us to continue with the franchise. Here's hoping for more lycanthropy, and more Bob (because "Bob's got balls")!
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