Film / Annabelle Comes Home

"It’s the doll, Ed. It’s a beacon for other spirits."

Daniela: So, Judy, don’t your parents, like, keep any creepy stuff around?
Judy: No. They keep it all locked away in a room.
Daniela: Well, can we at least go in and look?

Annabelle Comes Home is a horror film and the sixth entry in The Conjuring Universe. Chronologically, it is an Interquel and mostly takes place between The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2. It is the directorial debut of Gary Dauberman, who previously worked as screenwriter of three films in the franchise and also co-wrote this film with James Wan. It was released on June 26, 2019.

After taking Annabelle from a pair of nurses, paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) place the cursed doll inside a glass box in their occult museum. Sometime later, they leave behind their daughter, Judy (Mckenna Grace), to be cared for by a babysitter, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), and her friend, Daniela Rios (Katie Sarife), while they are away on a case. Daniela, who has recently lost her father, becomes interested in the museum. As a consequence, Annabelle begins terrorizing the girls by making the rest of the museum's artifacts come alive.

Previews: Trailer 1, Trailer 2.

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Annabelle Comes Home contains examples of:

• The '70s: The film briefly opens in 1971, before cutting to a year later.
• Big Bad: The ram demon who uses Annabelle as a conduit once again serves in this role.
• Blessed with Suck: Judy views her sixth sense as this. She cannot go anywhere without seeing dead people standing by.
• Bright Is Not Good: One scary scene involves Judy's color wheel lamp being pushed from the table. As the lamp switches color, Annabelle's silhouette gradually changes; first the doll, then Annabelle Mullins, before finally settling on Annabelle Higgins... only to shift one last time to the ram demon.
• Brutal Honesty: One of Judy's friends when explaining why she can't come to her birthday party (her parents are creeped out by the Warrens' business).
• The Brute: The Black Shuck is a powerful and vicious spirit, but it's apparently not too bright. It spends most of its time keeping the girls in the house while trying to find Bob.
• Call-Back: Near the end of the film, Mary Ellen enters a dark room while Judy is praying in front of the room's door, just like the abbess and Sister Victoria did in The Nun. Unlike those poor nuns, however, Judy and Mary Ellen survive.
• Caretaking is Feminine: Judy Warren takes the mantle of main protagonist in this prequel movie, and because of her young age, when her parents leave, they have the beautiful blonde-haired Mary Ellen babysit her for the night. Mary-Ellen isn't supposed to have anyone over, but her friend Daniela is considered okay, while her crush Bob is outright not allowed at all. He even says that there aren't supposed to be any boys over at the end when Judy's parents come home after he stayed up all night to keep the girls safe after they contained the demonic presence. Daniela does make a comment that that's the least of their concerns considering the demonic presence she accidentally unleashed.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The ghost of a priest who haunts Judy at school. He shows up near the climax to help her and Mary Ellen find Annabelle.
• Chronoscope: An artifact in the museum is a television screen that is somehow able to predict everything that will happen in front of it. Well, almost everything; Judy stops Daniela at the last second from answering a phone that would lead to her death.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Ed plays guitar during Judy's birthday party, a reference to a scene in The Conjuring 2.
  • There is news and gossip regarding the Warrens being a hoax, just like in The Conjuring 2.
• Creepy Cemetery: Ed and Lorraine are haunted by spirits summoned by Annabelle while they are driving near a cemetery.
• Disappeared Dad: Daniela's. This forms a part of the story; she wants to summon her father's spirit to apologize to him for causing the car crash that killed him.
• The Dragon: The Bride is the first spirit awoken by Annabelle, and does more to torment the heroes than any of the other spirits. It's also the last of the ghosts to be confronted by Judy before she faces Annabelle.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Bob's Got Balls" Palmer. He tells Mary Ellen he got it because he's the equipment manager of the basketball team, and the one responsible for getting the balls out.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Other than the opening and ending, the film takes place within 24 hours.
• Everybody Lives: Unlike two previous Annabelle films, there are no human casualties here. While the Warrens are Saved by Canon, there are several hints and teases that either Daniela, Mary Ellen, or both will be killed since "Annabelle wants a soul". But, ultimately, they survive.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: The samurai armor in the museum, which joins the action after serving as a curious prop in the previous films. When Mary Ellen is accompanying Judy to find Annabelle, she is briefly confronted by the armor and hears what sounds like its morbid backstory (in untranslated Japanese). In the climax, it teleports back to the museum and almost crushes her.
• Evil Phone: When the girls attempt to call Lorraine for help in the midst of being terrorized by the demon, it appears to be her on the other end at first, but then her voice slowly takes on a more sinister tone as she tells them it wants a soul. There's also the cursed antique phone in the museum, which would have apparently killed Daniela had Judy and Mary Ellen not stopped her from answering it.
• The Ferryman: One of the artifacts in the museum is the coins of the Ferryman, a being said to ferry souls to the afterlife in exchange for coins placed on the eyes of their dead bodies.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Mary Ellen.
• Haunted Technology: Several items in the Warrens' museum, including an early TV that predicts the near future, an antique telephone, and a telegraph machine.
• In the Blood: Judy inherits her mother's psychic abilities to a certain extent. She is able to see things normal humans cannot, but does not appear to have psychic dreams or access someone's memories by touching them.
• It's All My Fault: Daniela blames herself for the accident that killed her father, as she was the one driving the car.
• Locked Room Mystery: Daniela is trying to peek inside the museum while Judy and Mary Ellen are playing rollerblades. She finds it shut with a three-key lock. Of course, the Warrens know how dangerous it is for the uninitiated (including their daughter) to enter the room and they will make extra sure to protect them from it. Later on Daniela does find the keys, but that is because the demon beckons her to them.
• Little Miss Badass: Judy.
• Meaningful Background Event: The film is filled with subtle movements, watching eyes, and shadows in the background, creating an unsettling atmosphere.
• Museum of the Strange and Unusual: Although the Warrens' occult museum has been shown in the previous films, it gets to be the central location here.
• Mythology Gag: A Raggedy Ann doll (Annabelle's Real Life counterpart) appears in a television show Mary Ellen watches.
• Non-Malicious Monster: The Samurai. While it's very creepy and nearly ends up crushing Mary Ellen, it does not actually do anything to torment the protagonists. Also the ghost of the priest, as he ends up helping the protagonists as well.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: One of the artifacts in the museum is revealed to contain a werewolf spirit. When all hell breaks loose, it escapes into the front yard and terrorizes Bob all night. When it almost catches Judy, Bob smashes his guitar on its face, causing it to disappear.
• Saved by Canon: Ed, Lorraine, and Judy will have to survive no matter what happens, since they all appeared in The Conjuring II, which is chronologically set after this film.
• Schmuck Bait: To people not previously acquainted with the reality and lethality of the supernatural phenomena the Warrens deal with, their museum proves to be be an irresistible lure, as Daniela comes to find out.
  Mary Ellen: What did you touch?
  Daniela: Everything.
• Shout-Out: The way that the ram demon attempts to suck Judy's soul is similar to how Dementor sucks its victim's soul in Harry Potter films. Of course, both Harry Potter and Conjuring Universe films are distributed by Warner Bros.
• Quieter Than Silence: Twice in close succession, Daniela screams for help once she's locked inside the museum room, only for the camera to dramatically pan out and have her scream fade to nothing once outside, so Mary Ellen can't hear her cries for help. Soon after Mary Ellen screams and bangs against Judy's door to wake her once she discovers there's ghosts afoot, only for all of it to be muffled to silence inside Judy's room so the Annabelle doll can prey on her.
• Sexy Sweater Girl: It isn't emphasized as much as most examples of the trope, but Mary Ellen and Daniela wear well-fitting sweaters for most of the film.
• Tarot Motifs: A tarot card for The Devil is seen sticking in the inside of Annabelle's glass box at one point.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Lorraine's mother, who used to babysit Judy in The Conjuring, is nowhere to be seen or mentioned. In fact, the main story starts with Ed and Lorraine hiring Mary Ellen to babysit Judy and they also mention that it's not Mary Ellen's first time in babysitting Judy.
• Widowed at the Wedding: Another artifact in the museum is a wedding dress haunted by a spirit known as the Bride. She possesses brides who wear it, forcing them to kill their would-be husbands at the altar. By the time the Warrens confiscated it, she had goaded seven brides to commit murder.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: At one point, Mary Ellen and Judy attempt to call Lorraine via the telephone to tell her about the rampaging spirits in the house, but the one that answers the call is a demon imitating Lorraine's voice and tell them that they have to give Annabelle a soul. At the climax, Annabelle's ram demon tries to suck Judy's soul.

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