Another week, another chance to impress us with a horror movie. This week, the Conjuring Universe continues its ride to the box office bucks in as much style as it can before the big films come. Yet, like many extended universe movies, you have no idea whether the next installment will succeed, or just make your wallet bleed. Welcome to another Robbie's Movie Review and tonight we see if the latest spooky film will ride the ghost train to the bank. As always, happy to share some opinions so let's get out there and get it done!

Movie: Annabelle Comes Home (2019) Director: Gary Dauberman Writers: James Wan (story by), Gary Dauberman Stars: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mckenna Grace

LIKES:

Acting Creepy New Types of Ghosts More Looks Into The Haunted Room Decent Pace Some Surprising Story Elements

DISLIKES:

Predictability Story Is A Little Fractured The Boyfriend Arc Not As Scary As I Had Hoped A Little Anticlimactic

SUMMARY:

The latest movie in the conjuring universe starts to go back to its roots and polish up things. Annabelle's latest story brings the creepy nature of the movies back to the home and that adds the realistic notion of scares that make fans like me love the series. In the sanctity of the home, one hopes to be harbored from ghosts, but Annabelle's minions prove that not even the familiarity of a home can save you. Nevertheless, the movie manages to bring new types of ghosts and scares that potentially will become movies of their own as the forbidden treasures of the Warrens surface and hint at the secrets in store. Surprisingly, the movie still manages to find some storytelling elements in it as well, but this time through the eyes of a new cast, whose younger members accomplish the goals of terror filled teenagers and adolescents trying to cover up their mistakes. The backstory and character development can be touching, but never quite engulfs the main goal of scaring.

Sadly, the movie suffers from the usual horror trade of imbalance and predictability. The use of foreshadowing, the same tactics for trying to build scares, and the trailers have spoiled much of the suspenseful parts for me and given the rushed component this sometimes blew through the scary parts too quickly to allow the audience to stew in the intensity of the moment. In addition, the movie held too much in terms of story lines, primarily in the number of artifacts they tried to use. Ambitious as it was to brings many guests to the party, Annabelle's focus on all the spirits led a fractured story component that did not quite have the majesty of the origin story we got a few years back. Ghosts aside, the story of the humans with more of a pulse did not come fully together, falling into some simplistic stories that did not quite have the bite I was hoping, especially in regards to the boyfriend arc, which while funny was not entirely necessary to the film. As you can probably guess the movie as a whole not quite that climactic in its finish.

Yet despite all the imbalances, Annabelle's latest trek is about the middle runner for this reviewer. With enough creeps in the realistic setting, one may find themselves afraid of what lies in the dark, becoming quite sensitive to sounds. With new ghosts, some new tricks, and a few new spins on the formula it works for those looking for a good ghost story. Yet, the movie sort of strayed from the story/scare balance of the first one and the characters don't quite have the same drive some of the stronger series installments (Conjuring and Annabelle Creation) has in terms of characters to latch onto or a story to ground it all. Still, it's got enough special effects to garnish a theater run, but only barely. Instead, this one may be better reserved for home, where the setting can help add some horror in itself.

My scores are:

Horror/Mystery/Thriller: 7.0 Movie Overall: 6.0