At the set visit for Annabelle Comes Home, we knew there had to be a set blessing or two to even get through depicting the real-life adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The cool thing about certain scary movies is that weird things start to happen when you talk about ghosts and spirits and demons (oh my). Just think back to the BGN set visit of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, where we noticed artifacts from real Satan worshipers. The production team even blessed that set and had protection spells etched into structures.
We were right, but that still didn’t stop weird things from happening. Take a look at what some of the cast experienced themselves. It’s wild when strange things happen, especially when they surround a horror film. Annabelle Comes Home makes its debut in theaters on June 28, 2019.
Blessing the set is a crucial part of the Conjuring Universe. Tell us more!
Mckenna Grace: [It was] very exciting! I was looking forward to it. They planned it one week, then they moved it to another week and kept on moving it, but then we finally got it done. Father Tom, our priest, who was very, very kind and nice, gave me a rosary that was blessed by Pope Francis. It smells like roses. So that was very exciting. He brought holy water and recited this prayer in the artifact room. I was like, goodness gracious! And he blessed me and Madison and Katie. I loved it. It was a really cool experience.
Madison Iseman: So far, nothing has gotten too much into the meat of any of the super scary stuff. We’ve played with [the doll] Annabelle some, which was very creepy. We had the set blessing, which actually was very nice. I wasn’t scared at all, until I started talking to James [Wan, producer]. He was telling me all these stories from previous movies. I was like, “Wait, what?! What did I sign up for?” [The story is] based on real people and real instances, but Mary Ellen is not a character that’s real, so I was like, “Oh, I’m fine. She’s not a real person.” Then I was like, “Oh, yeah, it doesn’t matter. There’s still weird stuff that happens.”
Tell us about some scary moments on set.
Mckenna Grace: On one of the first days I came and looked at the house that they built on set. We were rehearsing, and my nose was pouring blood all of a sudden. I remember the lights were off because they had to reset something. The lights were off, and I was like, “There’s blood!” As soon as I stepped outside to go to the restroom to get a tissue, it stopped. It was creepy. But then we had the set blessing, so I think everything’s good now. There was also this statue. It had its eyes closed, but to me, it looked like they were open. I was like, “Oh, that’s fun!” One day, our trailer lights were just out at the end of the day when we went back in, and none of the other trailer lights were off. It was so weird. They wouldn’t turn on and off. [The crew] had to go reset stuff. They reset it, and they were like, “Everything’s perfect! Why isn’t it turning on?” It wouldn’t turn on. It took them fifteen minutes to figure it out. It was crazy.
Katie Sarife: I did this thing, it’s called an intention candle that my friend had told me about that really works. I really wanted [to be cast in] this film, and I had a good feeling, but I wanted to make myself feel more confident. So, I went out and I bought this success candle. You write your intention on a piece of paper (which mine was obviously, “Let’s book Annabelle”). Then you light it with the light from the candle and you just let it burn. My boyfriend and I all did this. We started watching the movie after the candles were burning, and [when] we looked back at the rim of the candle, the glass was all on fire. I swear to God, I have a video. It’s so weird. The flames are dancing. It’s so creepy. And mine was the only one that did this. Then we looked away, and the next thing we knew mine was out — the candle was out. So we relit it, and then it went out again. And then we relit it one more time, and it went out again. I was like, “What?” I thought I was going to be haunted or something — or maybe I booked it. The next day, I found out I booked it. Apparently, the candle will go out if your intention is already done, fulfilled, or if you’re just not going to get it. Which in my case, it worked in my favor. I was a little creeped out by that.
Annabelle Comes Home hits theaters this summer, June 28, 2019.
