Horror writer Gary Dauberman (“It”), making his directorial debut, goes for a campy ’70s vibe as the Warrens’ daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) and her two baby sitters (Madison Iseman and Katie Sarife) unwittingly unleash Annabelle in the Warrens’ roomful of haunted objects.
It’s not unlike the recent “It” iteration (which Dauberman wrote the final draft of and has a sole writing credit on the upcoming “It: Chapter 2”), where the stellar “Stand By Me” dynamic between the young protagonists are interrupted roughly every ten minutes by a mediocre horror film.
Despite the ridiculous approach to Annabelle Comes Home that sees out of place creatures such as werewolves terrorizing the protagonists (it goes against the reality-grounded nature of the horror) that essentially functions as some kind of shameless ploy to sit back and wait what character becomes the next fan favorite or garners memes, so Warner Bros. can give the go-ahead for that character’s own origin story, writer and director Gary Dauberman (he has had a hand in writing all of the Annabelle movies including the widely successful adaptation of It, also making his directorial debut here) at least focuses on making us care about the characters, even though the fake-out deaths become quite annoying.
This third official Annabelle movie, from writer Gary Dauberman ( It, previous Annabelle movies ) , making his directorial debut, takes us into the early 1970s and trots out a tale as old as time in horror films: The Teenage Babysitter in the Haunted House.
Screenwriter Gary Dauberman, who contributed to “Annabelle” and “The Nun” in the series, as well as the recent Stephen King adaptation “It,” makes his directing debut, and it’s surefooted.
Yet Dauberman has also contributed to Annabelle: Creation (2017), a much-improved prequel, and the Stephen King adaptation It (2017), which was a huge hit .