Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 27 June 2019

In latest ‘Annabelle,’ a babysitting gig goes awry

By JAKE COYLE ing to feel as cluttered as a dead appear in their head-
Associated Press kid’s play room, that pileup lights. That’s more or less
What a spell for sentient is nothing compared to the how “Annabelle Comes
toys. A week after the growing collection of mov- Home” begins. The Warrens
child-crafted plaything ies from the extended Con- are driving home when it
Forky found life in “Toy Story juring-verse. There have dawns on them that the
4” and Chucky was reborn been eight films in the fran- doll they’ve just acquired
in “Child’s Play,” the evil chise in the last six years, — which got not one but
vintage doll of the “Con- with offshoots for “The Nun” two origin stories in “Anna-
juring” spinoff series “An- and “The Curse of La Llo- belle” and “Annabelle Cre-
nabelle” is back, too, in rona.” Demonic forces turn ation” — is a kind of bea-
“Annabelle Comes Home.” out to be like Russian dolls. con for evil. When they get
Surely, a tea party must be Open one up and out tum- to their Connecticut split-
in the offing. bles a trilogy. level, they put Annabelle
If movie theaters are start- Almost as a rule, the “Con- behind glass in their locked
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Madison room of artifacts, a collec-
Iseman, from left, Katie Sarife and McKenna Grace in a scene tion of so much haunted
from the horror film, “Annabelle Comes Home.” stuff that it’s blessed weekly
Associated Press by a priest.
juring” movies are slavishly true of screenwriter-turned- But for much of “Annabelle
devoted to horror clichés, director Gary Dauber- Comes Home,” Ed and
and it can feel like they’re man’s “Annabelle Comes Lorraine are out of town,
simply going down a list: Home,” which echoes as leaving their 10-year-old
Creaking doors, check. much with sincerity as it daughter Judy (Mckenna
Possessed playthings, does screaming. It’s less Grace) in the hands of her
check. Lots of crosses, scary than spooky, and teenage baby sitter Mary
check. How about a ghoul- you almost feel as though Ellen (Madison Iseman).
ish bride? You got it. They if these movies keep going, She and Mary Ellen are hav-
collectively worship at the eventually Scooby and the ing a fine time together, but
altar of William Friedkin’s gang are going to solve trouble comes in the form of
“The Exorcist,” aping both one of these mysteries. Mary Ellen’s friend, Daniela
its Catholic hokum and title But for now we still have (Katie Sarife), who shows
font. These are proudly old- the central demonologists up uninvited and mischie-
school movies composed of the movies, Ed and Lor- vously curious about the
of simple frights and legit raine Warren (Patrick Wil- Warrens’ work. She’s also
craft. son and Vera Farmiga). hiding her own grief, hav-
They are also, for better or They have a calming pres- ing recently lost her father
worse, almost comforting ence over the whole or- in a car accident. Yearn-
horror movies, safely sealed deal. So versed are they in ing for some connection to
in a trope-filled movie the supernatural that they what’s beyond the grave,
world that doesn’t, like Jor- don’t bat an eye when she’s drawn intractably to
dan Peele’s films, claw at the clocks start speeding the locked room and, nat-
our own. That’s especially backward or the cemetery urally, to Annabelle.q

Alcoholics Anonymous’ ‘Big Book’

collection up for auction

Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A col-
lection of 19 first-edition
copies of the founding
document of Alcoholics
Anonymous, known to ad-
herents as the “Big Book,”
will be auctioned off in Los
Angeles next month.
The auction house Profiles
in History said Tuesday that
the collection will be part
of a single lot that includes
a 1940 stock certificate This undated photo provided by Profiles In History shows a
used at the time to raise collection of 19 first-edition copies of the founding document of
funds to continue printing Alcoholics Anonymous, known to adherents as the “Big Book,”
the Big Book. The books that will be auctioned off in Los Angeles next month.
are signed by the founding Associated Press
members of AA. They were nal working manuscript for The first-edition collection
collected over a lifetime by the Big Book. It sold for $2.4 is estimated to sell for up
Ken Roberts, who last year million to Indianapolis Colts to $500,000 when it hits the
put up for auction the origi- owner Jim Irsay. block July 11.q