When Ed and Lorraine go away, Daniela – the uninvited friend of the couple’s babysitter Mary Ellen – explores the artefact room... and in doing so, leaves the doll’s case unlocked. 

“Annabelle basically activates all the other haunted artefacts in that room,” says co-producer and creator James Wan, describing the film as “Night At The Museum with Annabelle!” So it’s up to the girls to rid the house of the recently released malevolent forces.

Want to know more? Read on for our freaky facts about Annabelle Comes Home.
 

It takes place in the early 70s

In terms of where the film fits into the wider Conjuring universe, the events occur after the first Conjuring film (set in 1971) and before The Conjuring 2 (set in 1976-1977). This is the third movie in the Annabelle film series (following 2014’s Annabelle and 2017’s Annabelle: Creation) and the seventh in the Conjuring universe.
 

Ed and Lorraine Warren were real paranormal investigators

The Warrens were so busy worrying about Annabelle, they failed to notice the possessed pumpkin... 

The Warrens are known for working on the Amityville haunting, which inspired several films (starting with The Amityville Horror in 1979), and at the home depicted in 2009’s The Haunting In Connecticut. The Conjuring is based on another of the Warrens’ cases from the 70s, where an 18th-century farmhouse in Rhode Island was said to be possessed by spirits.

Ed died in 2006, but Lorraine acted as a consultant on The Conjuring in 2013 and even made a cameo in the film. Annabelle Comes Home was dedicated to Lorraine, who passed away two months before the film was released this year. She was also good friends with Farmiga, who, following the news, tweeted that she “was so blessed to have known her and am honoured to portray her. She lived her life in grace and cheerfulness”.
 

And Annabelle is a very real doll

Don’t be fooled, Annabelle knows how to think outside of the box...

While the film depicts Annabelle as a porcelain doll, the real-life version is a Raggedy Ann doll. The story goes that she was given to a student nurse called Donna as a birthday gift from her mother in 1970. According to the accounts, the doll began to move and wreak havoc. She’s also supposedly responsible for injuring one man and killing another.

Annabelle is housed at the Warrens’ Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut in the Warrens’ own home. Just like in the film, she’s kept in a case with a message that says: “Warning. Positively do not open.” There’s also a devil tarot card attached to the front.

Mckenna Grace plays Judy Warren

Sterling Jerins (Divorce) played Judy in the first two Conjuring films, but because she had outgrown the role for this movie, Mckenna Grace took on the part. The real-life Judy has said her parents told her to never acknowledge Annabelle and to never look in her eyes… To this day, she never has.
 

The Conjuring franchise is more successful than The Matrix trilogy!

The Matrix trilogy’s combined box-office earnings totalled about £1.3 billion, making it the world’s most profitable R-rated franchise. Annabelle Comes Home only needed to reach approximately £50 million worldwide for The Conjuring series to break even with the sci-fi films – and it far surpassed that, raking in almost £178 million.

But wait, there’s more!

The Virgin Media Store’s The Conjuring Universe sale features the rest of the films in the franchise so you can get caught up to speed with that confusing timeline! Scares abound with The Nun, The Conjuring, Annabelle: Creation and more, each of which is available for less until Sunday 10 November!

Not heard about the Virgin Media Store?

It’s the place where you can buy the latest and greatest movies and TV Box Sets, yours to watch again and again, at home or on the go. Sign up now at virginmediastore.com, choose from hundreds of films and TV Box Sets and start watching instantly. 

Enjoy your purchases on your Virgin TV Box (TiVo^®/V6). Go to On Demand > Movies. Or you can access online and on your registered iOS and Android devices with the Virgin Media Store app.

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You can also rent the latest films on Virgin Movies

Go to On Demand > Movies. Search for a title, or browse by categories such as Out This Week, Top Rentals or Box Office Hits. Once you’ve found the movie you want to rent, select Watch now to start watching instantly. Then, sit back and enjoy! You’ll have up to 48 hours to finish watching your film.