In a franchise of creativity, this installment in the Conjuring Universe feels lackluster.

By:Mia G. Francis

Oh Annabelle… how did you become the backseat driver in your own film. I am an avid horror enthusiast and I have thoroughly enjoyed the reemergence of well written , directed and scored horror in recent years and among them is my favorite franchise , The Conjuring Universe. This horror universe has brought us such films as the The Conjuring , The Conjuring 2, Annabelle , Annabelle Creation and few other films that have grossed $1.690 billion on a collective budget of only $112.5 million, so needless to say this franchise has been a commercial success.

However within this universes success there have been some films that are a stark contrast to the creativity of the first installments in the franchise. Annabelle Comes Home seems to take the idea of Ed & Lorraine Warren’s Occult Museum and turn it into a generic jump scare fest. The premise of the film was poorly implemented and what should’ve been a nerve racking thrill ride of encounters with demonic and ghostly entities and artifacts turned out to be predictable. The Warrens were only present throughout the first 30 minutes of the film with the rest being focused on their daughter (who arguably was the best part of the film) her babysitter, the babysitters friend and the babysitters love interest. The only redeeming quality were a few moments where there were some encounters with the actual Annabelle doll/entity and a couple of the entities who presented more of a threat such as the Ferryman (a soul collector). All in all Annabelle comes home does not draw on the genuine terror presented in Annabelle Creation before it or any of the more original films in the Conjuring Universe , I’d give this film a C-.