ANNABELLE COMES HOME (15)
★★ ★★★
THE Conjuring horror franchise’s seventh instalment in as many years, embellishes the mythology of a creepy doll, which is a conduit for tormented souls.
The first Annabelle standalone feature, released in 2014, was a disappointing slice of supernatural horror hokum. A 2017 prequel, Annabelle: Creation, was a marked improvement, tracing the plaything’s hellish origins to a car accident in 1943.
This new chapter slingshots forward to the late 1960s, dovetailing neatly with the prelude to the original Conjuring.
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga) take possession of a creepy doll, which has exerted a malevolent grip on the home of two nurses. Lorraine places Annabelle inside a special glass case in the couple’s room of artefacts.
One year later, Ed and Lorraine are called away on business and they leave their young daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) in the care of babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman).
Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela (Katie Sarife), who is desperate to channel spirits and contact her late father, turns up and secretly tries to access the room where Annabelle is stored, leaving the doll’s glass case ajar.
Annabelle Comes Home is a curiously old-fashioned story of things that go bump in the night. As characters emerge battered and bruised, for us, it’s a far less unsettling experience.