All the films in the Conjuring Universe are driven by and bound to Catholic theology, and its cosmology absolutely believes in the conquerability of evil. That can be part of good horror, even if it’s just theoretical. But after umpteen films, it’s getting harder and harder to maintain effective suspense, because you just know that in the last reel, someone’s going to bust out a rite or incantation or defixione that brings things back to just about where they started, cosmically.
Despite this, Annabelle Comes Home — the seventh Conjuring Universe film — is an enjoyable scare-delivery system, and it makes a point of bringing several beings/phenomena/objects from the Warren Reliquary up to the on-deck circle so we know what the next installments of the films in this universe are going to be.
At its best, this film — screenwriter Gary Dauberman’s directorial debut — is a sustained kind of creepy that never does anything too stupid or world-breaking. It’s also a scary sleepover movie, which is a subgenre that we do not get enough of. The cast is game, and charming, with Madison Iseman (whom Nashville media folk will recognize from Still the King) as the noble babysitter and Katie Sarife (from Supernatural’s magnum opus 2014 meta-musical episode “Fan Fiction”) as the not-so-bad girl with a heart of gold but no sense for navigating the mystical world making great impressions.
But this is Annabelle’s show, and she does a good enough job as a supercharged conduit for malevolent energy, making all the other items stuck in the Warren basement kick into high-gear mayhem. There are moments that have the sustained otherworldly kick of Friday the 13th: The Series, with maximum scare points to a cursed bride’s dress and a television broadcasting 30 seconds into the future.
If you enjoy the universe that these films take place in, this is an above-average entry, and you’ll jump — maybe you’ll scream as well. But if the mechanics of these stories and their bullet points are starting to impede your enjoyment, it's doubtful this one will overcome that.
