Doll House
Conjuring sequel Annabelle Comes Home further expands the ever-growing horror-verse
She’s back. everyone’s favourite creepy doll is returning for the third instalment in the Annabelle legend, and the seventh movie in the expanded universe that began with James Wan’s 2013 chiller The Conjuring. After prequels Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation, the story shifts to after The Conjuring, as demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) place the possessed Annabelle doll ‘safely’ behind glass in their artefacts room.
Needless to say, the doll has other ideas, awakening malevolent spirits to target the Warrens’ 10 year-old daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) and her babysitters (Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife). “I wanted it to take place over the course of one night,” says Gary Dauberman, the writer of all three Annabelle movies, making his directorial debut here. “I knew it was going to take place in the Warren house, and we hadn’t done that in any of the movies yet.”
It also toys with that horror trope, the babysitter-in-peril. “I did love the throwback vibe,” he adds. “It felt fresh for the franchise.” While the Annabelle doll has been central to these stories, Dauberman believes demonising an everyday object works. “It’s like the haunted house, right? Your house is supposed to be where you feel the most safe, and suddenly you find you’re not alone. It makes it all the more creepy. That’s how I view the doll too.”
For Dauberman, as enjoyable as making this has been, the process has been tinged with sadness after the real Lorraine Warren passed away in April. “She was very sweet, very kind… she’s the one who can sense auras, but I think everybody could sense she had some aura to her,” he says. “Even for the briefest time I got to spend with her, it was very memorable and something that touched me.” JM
Annabelle Comes Home opens on 28 June.