Annabelle Comes Home is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital platforms and to mark its release in the UK yesterday, we recently had the opportunity to talk to writer and director Gary Dauberman. Best known for penning
The Conjuring Universe spinoff horror films
Annabelle,
Annabelle: Creation, and
The Nun, he makes his directorial debut with this latest instalment.
In
Annabelle Comes Home, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artefacts room in their home, placing her "safely" behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest’s holy blessing. But an unholy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, who all set their sights on a new target: the Warrens' ten year- old daughter, Judy.
The movie is a must-watch and, here, we talk to Gary about working with Mckenna Grace (Judy), his hopes to give "The Bride" her own spinoff, and his hopes for the
Annabelle franchise moving forward. Needless to say, we want to say a huge thank you to the filmmaker for taking the time to speak to us and you can find his comments on
IT HERE and
Swamp-Thing HERE.
There's something so special about her and I say that not just as a talent but also as a person. Our families have grown quite close during the process of making the movie and we're still in touch. She's just an exceptionally good person and was so game for anything. She wanted to do her own stunts and wanted the vomit to hit her mouth and not somebody else's! She wanted to make sure it was practical and not some CG thing and she really just was all in and is such a fan of the genre that she was always pushing me to do more. It was great to have that and she really helped set a tone on the set for a playful atmosphere which I think carries into the movie for the better. I hope I get to work with her again and again as she's just remarkable.
This movie made me jump a lot, so what would you say is the recipe for one of those scary moments you know is going to get the audience?
The recipe is a little bit of this and a little bit of that; it's kind of like when you ask your parent, 'How do they make this?' I do think there's very much a set up and pay off like telling a joke. It's a one, two punch kind of thing. I like to start with something that feels innocuous and that is inherently what Annabelle is as she's just a doll, something that's supposed to bring joy to someone's life but now brings terror and fear. We kind of apply that to a lot of the scares in The Conjuring Universe by creating something that seems relatively normal and then turning that on its head. When you're shooting it and putting it together, the tension sometimes gets cut when you move from one shot to another so you can then decide to hold on it a little longer. It's really crafted in post too which is why I was so fortunate to have Kirk M. Morri s the editor because he's worked with James [Wan] for such a long time and he understands the rhythm of these scares better than anyone. There's a musical quality to it too; not to sound silly but it's like when you listen to a piece of music and you can tell there's a bum note or there's something out of tune. There's something when you're watching a scary film, you'll just know that there's a bum note or a miscue there that we refine as we go through these movies.
I love the way the movie, like Halloween, allows us to spend some time with the characters before really upping the ante - was that something that was important to you?
That was very important to me and I'm glad you referenced Halloween which isn't my favourite but it's definitely up there in my top three or five horror movies. I looked at that to find, not the vibe I guess, but we hadn't done a story in The Conjuring Universe yet where it was all over one night so I referenced Halloween where it's a slower build and you organically wait for the stuff to go down and the scares to start. It provided that opportunity to see the girls develop that relationship with one another and the stronger bond they forge in the beginning, the greater the threat is at the end when it starts being severed and you start to feel it more.
You get to toy with a lot of the items and spirits in the Artefacts Room but were there any you wanted to use which you couldn't quite find a place for here?
That's a good question. I was thinking of one the other night and said, 'Man, I should have done something with that.' I think what I liked was teasing out the stories of these things. It's like the idea of The Bride where I teased the backstory and, actually, I wish I could have devoted a whole movie to her and maybe one day we'll get to do that. We saw that as this great iconic villain for another movie so there were almost trailers for other movies within this one. I wish I could have expanded on the monkey which has a cool backstory I wish I could have got into more because much like Annabelle when you cut to her and get a reaction, I feel like you could do that with the monkey as well. The ones I wanted to get into are the ones which are in the movie but there are a lot of artefacts in that room you could delve into.
It feels like Annabelle has already become one of those iconic horror movie characters - how gratifying is it for you to see the love people have for her whether its merchandise, cosplay, or what have you?
It's really surreal. I found an Annabelle costume online off Amazon that I bought just because I couldn't believe there were Halloween costumes and someone spent the time to make that. It's very flattering and very surreal but I feel removed from it in a weird way and it's hard to wrap my head around. I love that people love the doll and the character and have fun with it. Surreal is really the word to use.
Have you had thoughts about where you'd like to take the franchise next or would you rather focus on other characters like The Bride now that Annabelle's story has played out over three movies?
I love The Conjuring Universe and Annabelle was never conceived as a trilogy by any means so I don't think her story has been told. There's a lot of story left with her and the other artefacts such as The Bride as you pointed out. It really comes down to whether the audience want to see it or not and I think one of the reason this Universe is as successful as it is is because we're trying to make these movies happen organically rather than, 'Hey, we need to get one in theaters for August 2023, or whatever.' If we come up with the right story we'll do it but we're not going to do it just because or from a money grabbing standpoint. I find that refreshing and there are conversations I've had with New Line, James [Wan], and Peter [Safran] just to see what comes out of that. They're always fun conversation to have.
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