After the total snoozefest that was the first Annabelle, the Conjuring Universe's spin-off sub-series managed to redeem itself with Creation. David Sandberg put on his best James Wan impersonation and created a slow-burn frightfest that explodes into an full-on nightmare in its final act, and is backed up by a narrative and cast of characters that are almost as good as the ones you'll find in the two main Conjuring films. Gary Dauberman tried to do that exact same thing here, but his story and scares just aren't as strong. Annabelle takes her sweet time unpacking when she gets home, so don't expect her to settle back into her routine of freaking people out right away. The film drags for a while as we're introduced to its stars. Normally I would praise a horror movie for taking the time to flesh out its characters, but with the exception of the Warren's daughter they're just one-dimensional and uninteresting teenagers. Spending time with them simply isn't any fun, especially when one of them only exists to bring us the stupidest and least funny reoccurring joke ever conceived. They're also the kind of white people that will have non-white people yelling "WHITE PEOPLE!" at the screen in disbelief. When Dauberman does finally decide to capitalize on the film's excellent premise of having everything in the Warren's artifacts room go off at once it becomes a much more entertaining experience. It lacks an identity of its own though. The scare tactics used are the exact same ones you'll find in any of the other Conjuring Universe films and the titular antagonist ends up somewhat lost amongst all the other demons unleashed in the movie. You'll still get your jumps and jolts, but not in any ways you haven't seen before. At least the soul stealing demon behind Annabelle is just as terrifying as ever. Comes Home may be a sign that it's time to shakeup the Conjuring formula already. At the very least it's a reminder of how vital the story and characters have been to this franchise's success. Without them the most noteworthy aspects of this third outing with the evil possessed doll are that it plays off of the shared universe concept in the biggest ways so far by including the Warrens (if only briefly), appears to set up several more spin-offs, and that it is better than the first Annabelle. Other than that it's the cinematic equivalent of waiting 2+ hours in line for a haunted house that ends up being mediocre.