Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
The world’s first R-rated PG movie 🙄
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🎥 Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?
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😬 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview
This one’s rough. This is by far the weakest of the Annabelle trilogy, and honestly one of the weakest in the Conjuring universe period. It’s supposed to be R-rated… but nothing in this movie justifies that rating. No blood, no gore, no cussing, barely any violence. This thing screams PG-13 haunted house movie, but for some reason it got slapped with an R just to stay “consistent” with the franchise.
The plot is paper thin: the Warrens leave their daughter Judy at home with a babysitter. Babysitter’s friend sneaks in, opens the Warren’s cursed artifacts room, touches everything, and — worst of all — opens Annabelle’s case. Big mistake. All the evil gets out, the house goes crazy, and the girls have to survive until morning. That’s the entire film.
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🧑🤝🧑 Character Rundown
Judy Warren (Mckenna Grace) – The Warrens’ daughter, trying to survive a night of terror in her own home.
Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) – The babysitter, doing her best to keep Judy safe.
Daniela Rios (Katie Sarife) – The friend who causes all this mess by snooping, opening the room, and unleashing the horrors.
Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga) – Barely in this. They show up at the start and at the end.
Annabelle / Assorted Demons – Instead of focusing on one main threat, we get a “haunted house carnival” of different monsters… including, yes, a ghost werewolf.
🪑 The Babysitter Demons Problem
Here’s the biggest problem with Annabelle Comes Home: by the third movie, Annabelle herself still does nothing. Zero. Nada. She’s just a creepy porcelain prop that sits there while other cursed objects get their “five minutes of ghost fame.” And those ghosts? They don’t feel scary. They feel like glorified babysitters.
Think about it: the werewolf ghost doesn’t actually rip anyone apart, it just chases people like a Scooby-Doo hallway gag. The Ferryman is basically a flashlight trick. Even the wedding dress is just “spooky prom queen” vibes. These entities aren’t threatening — they’re like, “Now now, kids, don’t break anything in the Warren’s house or you’ll be grounded.”
And the whole film has this weird vibe like the demons are house-sitting for the Warrens until Ed and Lorraine come home. Seriously, the premise is just “Don’t make a mess while Mom and Dad are out.” That’s not horror, that’s babysitter energy.
Add to that the fact this was rated R — for what exactly? There’s no gore, no cussing, and no real scares. It’s tame, neutered, and honestly closer to a PG Goosebumps movie than an R-rated Conjuring spinoff.
By the time the credits roll, it’s clear: Annabelle is the laziest horror villain of all time. Three movies in and she’s basically done nothing except sit in her box, while other spirits awkwardly hover around like overprotective babysitters.
It honestly plays out less like “demons tormenting mortals” and more like a staff meeting in Hell. Annabelle’s basically running HR:
Annabelle: “Alright demons, the Warrens are gone. Judy’s here, but let’s not go overboard. We’re trying to scare, not get grounded.”
Demon 2: “How about we traumatize them for life?”
Annabelle: “Are you insane? If we wreck this place, Ed and Lorraine will never let us out again.”
Demon 3: “Uh, Annabelle? Aren’t we already grounded? We’re literally locked in this room 24/7.”
Annabelle: “Shut up, Jimmy. Any good ideas?”
Demon 4: “We could just… play peekaboo with them?”
Annabelle: “Perfect! But remember: no breaking stuff or we’re definitely in trouble.”
Werewolf Ghost: “Uh, Ms. Annabelle, what can I do?”
Annabelle: “You? Go guard the yard. Be a scary watchdog.”
Werewolf Ghost: “YES! Finally, my moment.”
And that’s basically the movie. Less “hellspawn terror” and more “babysitter orientation day.”
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⏳ Pacing / Episode Flow
It drags. It’s basically a series of jump scares strung together by filler conversations. There’s no escalation like Annabelle: Creation had, and the middle chunk is just: ghost shows up, jump scare, repeat. The finale is just… more of the same until they shove Annabelle back in her case.
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✅ Pros
Mckenna Grace does her best with what she’s given.
A few individual scares kinda land.
The cursed artifact room itself is a neat idea — like a mini horror museum.
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❌ Cons
Here’s where I gotta go on a tangent: these are the most polite demons ever put on film. Like, “excuse me ma’am, I’ll just open this door, make you jump, then tuck you back into bed” levels of polite. For two hours, they basically act like glorified babysitters. They never actually harm the girls — just float around, slam a door or two, maybe whisper “boo,” and then vanish.
Think about it: not a single kid gets scratched, no real injuries, no violent kill count. It’s like these demons showed up to chaperone a sleepover. Honestly, if you swapped out the ominous music for circus clown music, this would play like a Halloween carnival funhouse.
And then there’s the infamous ghost werewolf. Yes, we went from cursed dolls and witches to Scooby-Doo’s rejected cousin prowling around the backyard. How is that even scary? It’s goofy. It’s dumb. It’s Saturday morning cartoon dumb.
Which brings me back to the R-rating. R for what? The rating board must’ve fallen asleep, saw “Conjuring spinoff,” and rubber-stamped it. This is the tamest “R-rated” film I’ve ever sat through. This could’ve aired on Disney Channel at 9 PM with maybe two edits.
By her third movie, Annabelle still does absolutely nothing. She doesn’t kill, she doesn’t chase, she doesn’t even creak her head. She’s just a cursed Uber driver for other demons to come through. At this point, the doll is more of a prop than an antagonist.
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💭 Final Thoughts
This honestly feels like filler. Instead of building on Annabelle’s story, it just turns into a haunted house ride with random demons popping out at random times. And they’re not even threatening! They feel like demonic babysitters who just want to spook the girls into brushing their teeth before bed.
It’s not terrible, but it’s not memorable either. If you want a good Annabelle movie, go back to Creation. This one’s the cinematic equivalent of a lukewarm cup of tea.
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⭐ Rating
5/10
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🚨 Spoiler Warning
Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.
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🔥 Spoilers
The setup is fast: the Warrens bring Annabelle home, lock her in the blessed case, and leave town. Babysitter’s friend Daniela sneaks into the artifact room, opens the case, and suddenly the house is crawling with horrors.
We get a laundry list of monsters: the Ferryman, a creepy bride, some random ghosts… and that infamous ghost werewolf. Yes, a demonic werewolf spirit prowling the yard like it’s a Scooby-Doo episode.
Most of the movie is just Judy, Mary Ellen, and Daniela running room to room while these entities pop out. No real story, just encounters. By the end, the girls manage to shove Annabelle back into her case, the entities disappear, and the Warrens return home none the wiser.
That’s it. Two hours of set-ups for spin-offs that will probably never happen.
