A feckless teenager (Katie Sarife) comes face-to-face with a creepy doll in “Annabelle Comes Home.” (Atomic Monster / New Line Cinema)

A feckless teenager (Katie Sarife) comes face-to-face with a creepy doll in “Annabelle Comes Home.” (Atomic Monster / New Line Cinema)

It’s no classic, but ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ gets the job done

When teenagers foolishly enter a spooky basement, a demon doll gets loose to wreak havoc.

It’s a crowded field for scary dolls right now, what with Chucky newly amuck and those ventriloquist dummies from “Toy Story 4” staggering through the multiplex. But there should be room for Annabelle, the wide-eyed freak-toy from the “Conjuring” world.

“Annabelle Comes Home” slots into the unfolding “Conjuring” hustle with extended cameo performances from Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, returning as real-life — yes, I’m sure all this actually happened — paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren.

A prologue shows the Warrens taking (you should pardon the phrase) possession of the demon-attracting doll. “The evil is contained,” intones Lorraine, putting an end to this unpleasantness.

Then the Warrens get out of town, to allow their young daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace, from “Gifted”) and her babysitter (Madison Iseman) to spend a night in the house alone.

Alone. In the house. With Annabelle stored in a cabinet in the locked basement room that contains all the black-magic geegaws the Warrens have gathered in their long years of pitching the hoodoo.

Sure, the keys are left in plain sight on the desk in their office. But what are the chances the babysitter’s pal (Katie Sarife) will find the keys and go poking around in the locked room, deliberately tempting fate and doing a little spirit-raising?

If you have to ask that question, you don’t understand the mind of “Conjuring” chief James Wan, who penned the film’s story; original “Annabelle” screenwriter Gary Dauberman takes the writer-director duties this time. This movie revels in the haunted house conventions of people entering basements and opening forbidden doors.

For the most part, “Annabelle Comes Home” gets the job done within its shrewdly limited setting. It’s 1974, by the way, so the Warren house looks like the home of “The Brady Bunch,” except with more brown than avocado hues, and more demons. Although I always did wonder about the Brady house.

Some of the scares are well-earned (there’s a pizza-delivery guy who really nails the landing) and enough quirky ideas to keep things perking along, like the way a Badfinger record starts skipping at an especially suspenseful moment.

The young cast is decent, and Farmiga and Wilson saunter through as though sharing some kind of inside joke. It’s always been part of the appeal of these movies that their ghost-busting is treated as everyday employment. Need a poltergeist removal? Sure, we’ll get to that, after we fix the school lunches and give the car a tune-up.

Let’s say this: “Annabelle Comes Home” may not be a classic, but it’s at least an improvement over “The Curse of La Llorona,” Wan’s previous attempt to expand the “Conjuring” universe. Can we expect an Annabelle-Chucky crossover movie in the near future?

“Annabelle Comes Home” (2½ stars)

A generally well-managed haunted-house flick, as demon doll Annabelle gets loose while a babysitter tries to maintain order. Nothing too special here, but the scares are fairly earned and the young cast is decent.

Rating: R, for violence

Showing: Alderwood, Alderwood Mall, Everett Stadium, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Stanwood Cinemas, Meridian, Oak Tree, Pacific Place, Seattle 10, Thornton Place, Woodinville, Cascade Mall

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Photo courtesy of Graphite Arts Center
Amelia DiGiano’s photography is part of the “Seeing Our Planet” exhibit, which opens Friday and runs through Aug. 9 at the Graphite Arts Center in Edmonds.
A&E Calendar for July 10

Send calendar submissions for print and online to features@heraldnet.com. To ensure your… Continue reading

Snohomish County Dahlia Society members Doug Symonds and Alysia Obina on Monday, March 3, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How to grow for show: 10 tips for prize-winning dahlias

Snohomish County Dahlia Society members share how they tend to their gardens for the best blooms.

What’s Up columnist Andrea Brown with a selection of black and white glossy promotional photos on Wednesday, June 18, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Free celeb photos! Dig into The Herald’s Hollywood time capsule

John Wayne, Travolta, Golden Girls and hundreds more B&W glossies are up for grabs at August pop-up.

The 2025 Audi A3 premium compact sedan (Provided by Audi).
2025 Audi A3 upgradesdesign and performance

The premium compact sedan looks sportier, acts that way, too.

Edmonds announces summer concert lineup

The Edmonds Arts Commission is hosting 20 shows from July 8 to Aug. 24, featuring a range of music styles from across the Puget Sound region.

Big Bend Photo Provided By Ford Media
2025 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend Increases Off-Road Capability

Mountain Loop Highway Was No Match For Bronco

Cascadia College Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Midori Sakura looks in the surrounding trees for wildlife at the North Creek Wetlands on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Cascadia College ecology students teach about the importance of wetlands

To wrap up the term, students took family and friends on a guided tour of the North Creek wetlands.

Mustang Convertible Photo Provided By Ford Media Center
Ford’s 2024 Ford Mustang Convertible Revives The Past

Iconic Sports Car Re-Introduced To Wow Masses

Kim Crane talks about a handful of origami items on display inside her showroom on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Crease is the word: Origami fans flock to online paper store

Kim’s Crane in Snohomish has been supplying paper crafters with paper, books and kits since 1995.

The 2025 Nissan Murano midsize SUV has two rows of seats and a five-passenger capacity. (Photo provided by Nissan)
2025 Nissan Murano is a whole new machine

A total redesign introduces the fourth generation of this elegant midsize SUV.

A woman flips through a book at the Good Cheer Thrift Store in Langley. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Pop some tags at Good Cheer Thrift Store in Langley

$20 buys an outfit, a unicycle — or a little Macklemore magic. Sales support the food bank.

Kathy Johnson walks over a tree that has been unsuccessfully chainsawed along a CERCLA road n the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Granite Falls, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How Roadless Rule repeal could affect forests like Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie

The Trump administration plans to roll back a 2001 rule protecting over 58 million acres of national forest, including areas in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie area.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.