Annabelle 3: Viene a casa

I was disappointed with Annabelle Comes Home because they had an immense list of material to use and they didn't. There were too many ideas and they all clashed and the story didn't make sense at times. The "comedy" scenes felt awkward and forced, just like The Nun, and overall came across like it was supposed to be a teen suspense film rather than a horror film. It kept me at the edge off my seat a bit but never went beyond that. Annabelle Creation and the first Conjuring are still the best films out of this whole franchise.

Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) lock the evil doll Annabelle in a sacred glass cabinet in their demoniac artifacts room. One year later, they need to travel and leave their daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) with the babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman). However the local newspaper question if the Warren are heroes or hoax and the snoopy teenager Daniela Rios (Katie Sarife), who recently lost her father, lures Mary Ellen and enters in the locked room expecting to contact her father. She releases the powerful Annabelle and the girls spend the night haunted by evil spirits.

"Annabelle Comes Home", the third film of the franchising, is not bad and startle the viewer in many scenes. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are part of the cast basically to give their names to the credits since their participation is a cameo in the beginning and in the ending. But the three girls have good performances. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Annabelle 3: De Volta Para Casa" ("Annabelle 3: Back Home")

Although horror is not my favourite film genre, and have made that known more than once before in the past, there is still high appreciation for it. Although there are a fair share of average at best films or even clunkers (even when trying to take them for what they are or intend to be), there are also an equal fair share of good horror films as well as classics, which won't be named in order to be fair.

Really enjoyed the two 'The Conjuring' films for the same reasons to each other, that they were well-made, well-crafted, suspenseful, entertaining and had genuine shocks. 'Annabelle' is inevitably compared to them, but to me it doesn't compare favourably and could have been much better. Its prequel 'Annabelle: Creation', although far from perfect or great with some of the same mistakes being made, again to me fared better, though again not close to the quality of 'The Conjuring' films. 'The Nun' meanwhile was a mediocre disappointment. Put 'Annabelle Comes Home' in the middle and personally found it a difficult film to rate and review, though it will be easier for others.

'Annabelle Comes Home' looks good. There is a great Gothic atmosphere, lush and darkly atmospheric production design and stylish photography. The supernatural effects are surprisingly excellent too. The music is haunting and the direction brings a genuine eeriness and mysteriousness in places. There are parts that are suitably uneasy and eerie once 'Annabelle Comes Home' gets going.

The pace, again once the film gets into gear, it has been said that the mute vision in the television is the scariest part and do have to agree with this. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga do good jobs, though take a backseat to the younger cast. Was worried that this would not work, but the younger cast carry the film quite well and don't bore and annoy as feared.

However, the story is near-non existent with few surprises and can get very silly. Especially towards the end. Although there are moments of scares and suspense, there are not enough of either and could have done with more build up that would have made them less predictable.

Did feel that the pacing was still very flawed. 'Annabelle Comes Home' takes too long to get going and then the climactic parts feel very rushed. The ending is one of the film's biggest issues, as well as being rushed it was very anti-climactic and bordered on plain ridiculous, as well as illogical. The dialogue is no improvement too, very awkward-sounding and banal, doing little with developing rather clichéd characters.

Summarising, difficult to rate and review. Watchable but never rises above borderline between average and decent. 5/10

The first thing you'll probably notice is just how much better 'Annabelle Comes Home (2019)' is, immediately, than 'The Nun (2018)', 'The Curse Of La Llorona (2019)' and its oft-forgotten predecessor, 'Annabelle (2014)'. I mean, it seems like a masterpiece in comparison to those; it's actually engaging, features a variety of successful scares and centres around compelling characters. However, the second thing you'll probably notice is just how much worse it is than 'The Conjuring (2013)', 'The Conjuring 2 (2016)' and, even, 'Annabelle: Creation (2017)'. That's because its plot is incredibly slim - I'm talking almost anecdotal - and it starts to wear thin far faster than it, perhaps, ought to. As such, the piece ends up somewhere in the middle, quality-wise, of the overall 'Conjuring' franchise; it's by no means bad but it's certainly not great, either. Thankfully, though, it's a decently enjoyable, competently constructed experience throughout. The reason for this is, I feel, two-fold. Firstly, its characters - on whom it relies solely because its plot is almost non-existent - are mostly well-rounded and believable. One of them does make some odd decisions that aren't explained until long after they've been made and, even then, don't stand up to all that much scrutiny. Still, this isn't too detrimental and the development done for all the main players is serviceable enough, with some of it actually going a long way to plugging the potential leaks caused by those previously mentioned poor choices. Plus, everyone on screen is, essentially, as likeable as they could be. Unfortunately, they aren't quite interesting enough to keep you wholly engaged during the movie's slower segments. It has a really strange, somewhat disjointed pacing that practically paints most of it as an extended build-up for a seemingly fifteen-minute finale. Luckily, then, it's competent when it comes to the second 'fold' of that two-fold reason I mentioned earlier: the scares. While there's nothing outstanding here, it's also not just jump-scare central. There are are variety of occasionally quite inspired gags that often play on audience expectation, building up genuine suspense that isn't deflated every two minutes by an obnoxious 'false' fright. It does sometimes get a little too overt for its own good - though, the overall series is no stranger to bold, effects-based 'creatures', either - but it's refreshing, and sadly so, for a film like this to not be made of abrasive, repetitive, 'cattle-prod' stuff. Generally, the flick is a fairly fun time. Sure, it wears thin and is only ever so compelling in the first place, but it's a solid haunted house - literally and figuratively - that will certainly satisfy fans of the franchise. 6/10

I'm a fan of The Conjuring and the other Annabelle movies but this one was disappointing. The acting was fine but the story a as weak and the ending was horrible. At least they kept the time period feeling. I expected more from this series.