"Annabelle Comes Home" is fabulously frightening

In “Annabelle Comes Home,” the cast see danger and they run. They do not deliberately make wrong choices and willing walk into danger as seen in some recent horror thrillers. Even the babysitter’s friend, Daniela Rios (Katie Sarife), who also turned out to be the proverbial ‘curious cat,’ had a good motivation for her actions.

“Annabelle Comes Home” serves as a sequel to 2014’s “Annabelle” and 2017’s “Annabelle: Creation.” Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise their roles as Lorraine and Wilson Warren. They are demonologists and they have a daughter named Judy. In their home the Warrens have a bunch of possessed artifacts locked up.

In 1968, Lorraine and Ed bring home the doll, Annabelle. Annabelle is the deadliest of all the artifacts they have locked up. She is capable of summoning all the other spirits. Annabelle is so evil that she needs to be specially fortified within the locked-up room.

Shortly afterwards, Lorraine and Ed have to go out of town for the weekend. So, they invite Judy’s babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) over.

As with her mother, Judy sees things. Her powers terrify her. And as if that isn’t bad enough, Judy is bullied at school because of her parent’s work. As such she has no friends except Mary Ellen who is a teenager. With Judy’s birthday approaching, Mary Ellen plans an early birthday party for her little friend. She also invites Daniela over. It is a nice little shindig and Judy is happy to make another friend. But Daniela is trouble!

Prior to that event, there have been stories in the newspapers about Lorraine and Ed having special powers to contain evil spirits. Like most people in the town, Daniel does not believe the stories. She asks Judy. Judy confirms the existence of the artifacts. She also explains that the items are locked up to keep her family’s safety. Judy and Mary Ellen know better than to enter the room. The artifacts are not toys. But fear does not deter Daniela. On the contrary, she wants to know what lies behind the door.

After saying goodnight to Mary Ellen, Daniela sneaks back into the house and goes into the room which is out of bounds. In the room, she finds a bracelet which should enable her connect with spirits of the dead and she challenges the spirits to act, if anyone of them can feel her presence.

Props and locations are key elements of a period piece. The film’s producer James Wan and Peter Safran do a great job with the location.

Gary Dauberman serves and co-writer of the horror film. He has a well chosen cast. McKenna Grace who plays Judy in “Annabelle Comes” is the star of the movie. The cast chemistry is amazing. You feel how much Judy and Mary Ellen truly care for each other. And the sound effects and alluring camera work absolutely make this film spin-chilling. Each time Annabelle bops her head against the a surface, your health will likely skip a bit. In addition, Dauberman’s storytelling is coherent except for one little slip-up, where Mary Ellen picked up a remote control to switch-off a 1960s box television.

There is a renewed interest in the horror film genre with horror thrillers such as “BirdBox” and “Us.” However, “Annabelle Comes Home” stands out because it stays true to the good old horror genre and it is fabulously frightening.