So, our editor was looking for someone to watch the screening of the latest spin-off from the 'Conjuring' universe, 'Annabelle Comes Home', and decided to send someone who finds horror movies absolutely boring.

If you need a recap or background - Annabelle was first introduced in 'Conjuring' and later got two movies of her own. 'Annabelle Comes Home' is the third in the series.




I only watched the first one, I think.

The only thing I could remember about the movie is the reactions of some of my friends who are really afraid to watch horror flicks but were forced to go for the movie. Peer pressure is a terrible thing.

As someone who is not at all afraid of the otherworldly (let's face it; human beings can be much scarier), the exclamations of "don't go there, stupid!", "oh crap! oh crap! oh crap!" and others in the same vein is the only entertaining part of watching them.


Unfortunately, for 'Annabelle Comes Home', even those entertaining comments were few and far between.

It could have been because I watched the screening and there weren't many people in the cinema, but I really think it's because the ghosts and demons barely got any screen time in the first hour of the movie.

This time around, the movie revolved around the Warrens' daughter, Judy (played brilliantly by the gifted actor Mckenna Grace), her babysitter Mary Allen (Madison Iseman) and her snoopy, demon-releasing friend Daniela (Katie Sarife).


The Warrens bring Annabelle home after the demon doll kills whoever owned her before, and on the way realise that the doll is sort of an evil spirit magnet.

So, they decide to lock her up in a special glass cage with divine powers.

Now, judging by Annabelle's dark circles, she's probably insomniac, and caged in a small space for an extended period of time.


If I were in her place and someone decides to finally release me, I'd go berserk too so I totally saw where she was coming from.

Anyway, the Warrens leave the possibly-pissed-off-but-definitely-hungry-for-a-soul Annabelle and hundreds of other ghost and demon-holding artifacts that the doll can control at home with their young child, Judy.

The room is locked but let's face it, those can be unlocked, as Daniela proves in the movie.


She's got her reasons and was stupid enough to take matters into her own hands instead of just asking for the Warrens' help, but hey, hormonal teenagers are rarely the brightest bulbs especially when it comes to emotions.

Unfortunately, her reason for awakening the dead didn't seem convincing enough to be the main plot twist in the movie, so instead of sympathy, you just feel like rolling your eyes at her.


Judy, incidentally, is like her mum with her whole "I can see ghosts" moments and had no friends.

So, when the bad guys were released, she's the one to first to see them and together with Mary Ellen, save the day.

There's also Mary Ellen's crush Bob in the movie, who is cute in a young teenage boy way and work as a good comedic relieve during the more boring parts of the movie, as well as the last 30 minutes of action.


As you may have known already (especially if you've read this story), there are many demons and ghosts in this movie.

So many that it gets a bit confusing since all of them have to fight for attention towards the end of the movie.

The makeup, costume and whatever else technology used to make them look creepy were pretty impressive, but I wish there were lesser of them.


I guess, the final part of the movie wasn't so bad, but only because the story and people stopped moving at the pace of an injured snail - why is this a thing in horror movies, anyway? Does it make the jump scares more effective?

The actors were pretty good so there's that too.

Verdict

Overall, the movie was kinda boring for the most part with some scenes that were interesting.


I'll give it a 2/5 rating and hope the makers of the movie will leave Annabelle in the glass case she's been locked up in for a long time.

If you don't believe a non-horror movie fan, you can catch the movie at the cinemas beginning 27 June 2019.

Rating: 2/5