Three stars

Director: Gary Dauberman

Starring: Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife

Rating: M

Running time: 106 minutes

Verdict: Deliciously retro haunted house horror

Annabelle has a relatively small amount of screen time in this lovingly restored threequel. Her reputation does most of the work (it’s an inspired move, since the doll is not actually that scary).

After a playfully creepy prologue, in which the blank-faced Victorian toy summons a graveyard full of lost souls, writer-turned-director Gary Dauberman concentrates much of his initial energy on his three human leads.

In Annabelle Comes Home, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren’s preternaturally mature 10-year-old daughter, Judy (Mckenna Grace), has control of the ouija board.

She is supported by a resourceful babysitter, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), and the babysitter’s transgressive best friend, Daniela (Katie Sarife).

(That’s one of the great things about horror, its ongoing commitment to grrrl power.)

Michael Cimino offers some well-placed comic relief as a smitten grocery store clerk and Judy’s neighbour.

The latest film in the cash register-clinking Annabelle franchise is set in the Warren’s own home — if you’re looking for a haunted house, you can’t do much better than the one in which the world’s leading demonologists store their evil collection.

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Being professionals, they keep the supernatural artefacts in the basement, under multiple locks and key. It’s blessed once a week as a precautionary measure. Being a special case, Annabelle is kept in a consecrated glass cabinet.

But the Warrens haven’t factored in someone like Daniela.

Consumed by her own dark secrets, the rogue teenager carelessly liberates Annabelle, along with the Warren’s entire back catalogue of ghosts, demons, werewolves, malevolent board games and vengeful brides.

“What did you touch?” asks Judy.

“Everything,” Daniela replies.

In Annabelle Comes Home, Dauberman assumes his audience is literate in the genre — and indeed the Conjuring Universe — as he is (although the film will still work for novices).

Since we already know the score, the first-time director plays it with a light, sure touch, artfully referencing the era in which the film is set.

Jennifer Spence and Leah Butler deserve a shout out, too, for their exquisite production and costume design.

The Warren’s house is a 70s museum piece.

There’s something both warmly familiar and a little bit too perfect about their matching mid-century modern furniture and geometric brown linoleum floor.

The floral wallpaper in the hallway is so vibrant, it almost feels alive.

Butler’s costumes — from the textured knit of Daniela’s striped, long-sleeve T-shirt to Mary Ellen’s corduroy miniskirt and suede knee-high boots — also sit on the right, wrong side of a department store catalogue.

Being the daughter of a medium, with nascent powers of her own, Judy takes care of nocturnal business in a floor-length flannelette nightgown.

Annabelle Comes Home maintains a surprisingly high level of tension for such a low body count.

* Now screening