There’s nothing more terrifying than seeing the words “based on a true story” alongside a horror flick. In recent years, James Wan has assembled an entire Conjuring universe based around the real investigations of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. The couple, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, will soon be returning to the big screen in the spinoff Annabelle Comes Home, a haunting tale that involves a possessed doll targeting their daughter, Judy.
A new featurette from Warner Bros has the Warrens’ daughter Judy, all grown-up and still visibly shaken up by the thought of Annabelle. Take a look:
There’s something exciting and real scary about seeing the people being depicted in a horror movie talking about it. This video has the real Judy talking about the memory of her parents as a child and the room of haunted objects Annabelle Comes Home will explore. She said she didn’t know of their profession as a kid, but Ed would always go off to investigate cases and bring back objects in a room that she was not to be opened under any circumstances.
With the two previous movies centered on the haunted doll exploring its origins, it finds its way into the hands of the Warrens in Annabelle Comes Home, who lock it up in their artifact room. A young Judy (played by McKenna Grace) and her friends are targeted when her babysitter goes into the room and Annabelle is let out.
The movie seems loosely based on the Warrens’ life, but Judy does have memories of Annabelle specifically, talking about how sometimes her arms or legs have moved while behind that glass. She talks about how frightened she was of it and her parents would tell her not to look it in the eyes, and she still abides by this advice to this day.
Judy’s husband, Tony Spera, also recalled that Annabelle is likely the most haunted object in the Warren’s possession. Ed told him this based on “the havoc that it caused people”. Anyone getting chills yet?
We unfortunately can’t get a fact check from Ed and Lorraine Warren, since they’ve both passed. Lorraine died just two months ago at 92 after her husband passed back in 2009. Lorraine did get to become a consultant on a few of the Conjuring films though and see some of her cases shock and thrill audiences on the big screen.
The Conjuring franchise is a hugely popular series that has made over $1.5 billion worldwide between five films. Annabelle Comes Home is expected to have a solid opening weekend at around $40 million when it hits theaters on June 26.
