The Conjuring universe is poised to overtake The Matrix as the most profitable R-rated
series of all time.
How did the cinematic exploits of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren
get so successful?
Let's get caught up before the return of fan-favorite haunted doll Annabelle.
After her first appearance in The Conjuring, the Annabelle doll became a staple of the
Conjuring universe and even got two spin-off films of her own.
Starting with Annabelle in 2014 and continuing with the prequel film Annabelle: Creation
in 2017, the spin-off series has been a modest financial success.
Though the first Annabelle received a relatively cold reception from critics and audiences,
the film still grossed over $257 million worldwide.
Annabelle: Creation performed much better than its predecessor, grossing more than $306
million worldwide.
It also was better received by critics and audiences, which paved the way for yet another
Annabelle sequel: the upcoming Annabelle Comes Home.
While the previous Annabelle films have featured scenarios separate from the rest of the Conjuring
universe, Annabelle Comes Home takes us back to the Warren household.
Married demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren keep a collection of artifacts recovered from
their supernatural cases in a locked room inside of their home.
This safe room is home to numerous haunted items, including the Annabelle doll.
In the Conjuring films, the Warrens' daughter, Judy, is explicitly told to stay out of the
safe room.
"You can't go into this room no matter what, remember?"
"Yes, dad."
However, in Annabelle Comes Home, Judy's babysitter, Daniela, shows a dangerous curiosity toward
the Warrens' artifact room.
Having recently lost her father, Daniela is obsessed with the afterlife, and, as a result,
she accidentally unleashes the evil spirits kept within the Warrens' home.
After the spirits are unleashed, Judy becomes the primary target for the evil entities.
Edward and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, are based on two
real-life paranormal investigators.
The Warrens are famous for a multitude of paranormal cases, including the Amityville
haunting, which spawned its own franchise of horror films.
The Conjuring is inspired by another of the Warren's cases that took place at a Rhode
Island farmhouse in the '70s.
The Warrens also founded the Warren Occult Museum in Connecticut, which is home to a
variety of spooky and supposedly haunted artifacts, including the real Annabelle doll.
Though the Warrens are well known, the two are considered controversial among skeptics.
Neurologist Steven Novella, president of the New England Skeptical Society, told USA Today:
"The Warrens are good at telling ghost stories.
[...] You could do a lot of movies based on the stories they have spun.
But there's absolutely no reason to believe there is any legitimacy to them."
Whether or not their work is legitimate, the cultural impact of Ed and Lorraine Warren,
particularly on horror films, is undeniable.
Ed passed away in 2006, while Lorraine passed away on April 18th, 2019.
In the Conjuring films, the Warrens' artifact room is shown to have numerous haunted objects
from the couple's previous cases.
Throughout the series, the Warrens have advised people in their house not to enter the room
or touch the objects, since the possibility of freeing any of the spirits contained within
could be dangerous.
Though we've only seen glimpses of all the artifacts housed in the Warren house, Annabelle
Comes Home places a bigger importance on the spirits in that room.
Producer Peter Safran told Den of Geek:
"The idea of actually setting a film around [the artifact room] was something that we
had in our mind for a while.
[We] just thought that the third Annabelle movie is the opportunity to really raise the
stakes."
Gary Dauberman, the director of Annabelle Comes Home, is no stranger to the Conjuring
universe.
Previously, Dauberman has served as a writer for multiple films in the franchise, including
Annabelle, Annabelle Creation, and The Nun.
Dauberman even got to go on location with the crew as they shot The Nun in Romania - a
level of involvement not always guaranteed for a screenwriter.
In an interview with Collider, franchise producer Peter Safran gave a blunt explanation as to
why Dauberman made the transition from writer to director for Annabelle Comes Home:
"He got to a place, as a writer, where he wanted people to stop f---ing up his movies."
Outside of his work on the Conjuring franchise, Dauberman also worked on the 2017 adaptation
of It and is slated as a writer for the upcoming horror projects Are You Afraid of the Dark?
and It: Chapter 2.
In the Annabelle Comes Home trailer, a new supernatural entity can be seen standing in
a corner of the Warrens' artifact room.
After Daniela goes against the advice of Judy and enters the room where all of the possessed
objects are kept, she hears the ghostly voice of a woman:
"I like your doll."
That wedding dress belongs to the entity known as the Bride.
Early reports say that the Bride is a new monster in the series that possesses women
who wear her dress and convinces them to kill their husbands.
After each woman is made to take out her new spouse, the Bride goes ahead and kills her,
too.
The introduction of a new demonic presence could be a sign of films to come, especially
since previous spin-off films have been introduced in a similar way.
In both of the main Conjuring films, Lorraine Warren has the ability to see and communicate
with ghosts and demons.
In the first film, this ability is demonstrated when she's able to see the evil spirit that's
haunting the Perron family.
The Conjuring 2, meanwhile, begins with Lorraine having a dark vision during a seance and communicating
with the demon terrorizing a family.
Lorraine is also able to see the evil nun entity throughout the film.
In the trailer for Annabelle Comes Home, Judy mentions that she can "see things" just like
her mother Lorraine.
This implies that a prominent plot point in Annabelle Comes Home will revolve around Judy's
apparent ability to communicate with the evil spirits.
A trend in the Conjuring universe is that the sets for many of the films are allegedly
cursed.
The unit publicist for Annabelle Comes Home told PopSugar that ever since The Conjuring
2, all of the sets have been blessed by Catholic priests prior to filming.
"On The Conjuring 2, we had an exorcist that was recommended to us by Lorraine [Warren]
- a friend of hers who's sanctioned by the church to exorcise buildings but not people.
Apparently there are different levels of sanctions for exorcisms."
With all of the films in the Conjuring universe, it can get a bit confusing trying to remember
how each story fits into the series' timeline.
Annabelle Comes Home sits at an interesting intersection in the timelines of both the
Annabelle spin-off series and the main Conjuring films.
Annabelle: Creation starts off in the year 1943, though the bulk of the film takes place
in 1955, with a group of young girls trying to survive their encounter with the demon
inside the Annabelle doll.
The original Annabelle takes place in 1967, as a young couple try to protect their souls
from the evil intent of the doll with the help of Father Perez.
Annabelle Comes Home will take place in 1971, but it's not the only film that takes place
during that year.
The new film shares its setting with the original Conjuring film.
In the opening of The Conjuring, the Warrens take the possessed doll into their custody
just before they leave for Connecticut.
With the addition of Annabelle Comes Home, the Conjuring universe has come full circle.
On the screen, Ed Warren is a devoted demonologist who works in tandem with his wife.
However, Patrick Wilson, the actor who portrays the late Ed Warren, started out far from the
tense atmospheres and spooky settings of horror films.
Wilson started his entertainment career by playing leading men in different Broadway
musicals - and not only did he act, sing, and dance on-stage, he excelled.
In 2001, Wilson was nominated for the Tony Award for the best actor in a musical, finding
himself listed alongside acting heavyweights such as Kevin Chamberlin, Matthew Broderick,
and Nathan Lane.
The following year, Wilson was the only member of the previous year's nomination list to
return, though he ultimately lost to John Lithgow.
Aside from starring in musicals and playing a demonologist on-screen, Wilson has a rather
diverse film portfolio.
He appeared in the 2009 Zack Snyder film Watchmen where he plays Nite Owl, a former superhero
reluctantly convinced to put his costume back on after a spree of mysterious deaths.
After getting to play a hero in Watchmen, Wilson returned to the world of comic book
adaptations to play King Orm in the 2018 blockbuster Aquaman.
Vera Farmiga has had a successful career on the stage, in film, and behind the camera.
But the story of how she got here is certainly unique, to say the least.
Farmiga grew up in a small Ukrainian community in Passaic, New Jersey.
She discovered her love of performance after auditioning for a high school stage production
and landing the principal role.
From there, she became part of a semi-professional Ukrainian dance group.
After high school, Farmiga went to Syracuse University to study acting, ultimately embarking
on a professional stage career, where she was noticed by television and film producers.
This attention led to roles in The Departed, Down to the Bone, and The Manchurian Candidate.
After appearing on-screen alongside the likes of Meryl Streep, Heath Ledger, and Robert
De Niro, she was nominated for an Oscar in 2010, for her supporting role in Up in the
Air.
Annabelle is a terrifying antagonist onscreen — and the ostensibly true story behind the
real-life Annabelle doll is just as horrifying.
Supposedly, the Annabelle doll was bought by a woman for her daughter, Donna.
Unfortunately, after Donna was given the doll, she and her roommate started to notice some
strange occurrences around the house.
A medium claimed that the doll hosted the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle Higgins,
who was found dead where their apartment was built.
According to the medium, Annabelle wanted to remain close to the girls.
Feeling compassionate, the roommates gave Annabelle's spirit permission to stay with
them in their apartment.
However, after recurring bad dreams and suspicious noises in the apartment, the Warrens stepped
in.
"We are beyond terrified.
We don’t know what’s going on, or what to do.
Can you help us?"
"Yes we can."
They told the girls that the Annabelle doll was inhabited by a demonic entity, and the
doll was exorcised and given to the Warrens for safekeeping.
After Annabelle allegedly attempted to have a priest killed, the Warrens moved it to their
Occult Museum.
There, it remains a popular attraction for tourists and supernatural enthusiasts.
While pretty much every film in the Conjuring universe has deep themes relating to Christianity,
the Annabelle films take a bit of a different tack.
They usually feature concepts regarding the nature of motherhood, and the sacrifices that
parents have to make to protect their families.
In Annabelle, Mia's willingness to sacrifice herself shows how the best mothers are willing
to give everything to keep evil from corrupting their children.
Annabelle: Creation shows just how desperate grief can make people.
In their desperation to get their daughter back, the Mullin family welcomes what appears
to be the spirit of their dead daughter into their house.
However, the spirit is actually a demon that goes on to terrorize the Mullins and the orphans
they'd taken in as a form of personal penance.
With Annabelle Comes Home, audiences may see some of these previously explored themes revisited.
In The Conjuring, Lorraine is extremely concerned with the well-being of her daughter Judy,
even seeing visions of her dead body floating in a river.
With Judy now targeted by Annabelle, it will be up to Lorraine to protect her daughter
from the doll's evil influence.
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