While their reception among film critics and horror aficionados alike is mixed, there’s no denying the cultural and financial footprint of The Conjuring Universe. Based, with the widest creative license imaginable, on the infamous and controversial careers of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film series began in 2013 with creator James Wan’s take on the Warren case that inspired The Amityville Horror, the story of a family being driven out of their Long Island home by incessant paranormal activity.
The film was a box office smash and a critical hit, leading to three direct sequels and six spin-offs to date, collectively propelling the extended universe to be one of the most successful in cinema history. It’s repeatedly been hailed as the only real competition to the MCU’s dominance, which is no mean feat for any franchise, let alone horror.
The secret sauce that pulls audiences in their droves to a Conjuring film isn’t just the signature flair that Wan, who is artistically underrated in my book, baked into their foundation, nor the haunted toy box of monsters powering the spinoffs. Without the chemistry and conviction that Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga bring to Ed and Lorraine, the main series simply wouldn’t work as well. I’d go so far as to say these movies, which are unabashedly mainstream, transcend horror in the way that their ‘elevated’ competitors do. At their heart, they’re simply classic tales of good vs evil, without irony or metaphor. For that reason, anyone after something truly unsettling should instead invest their time in modern horror series like Terrifier. Everyone else happy with Ghost Train-levels of thrill, meanwhile, can continue reading for my ranking of every Conjuring movie, from the least good to the very best.
10. The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
There’s some debate as to whether The Curse of La Llorona counts as part of The Conjuring Universe. Series director Michael Chaves views it as an unofficial outlier, as, despite it taking place within the same world and featuring Annabelle’s Father Perez, it has the least connection to the Warrens. This might be why the film sits at the bottom of the pile for me – it feels far too inconsequential.
Inspired by a vengeful, weeping spirit from Latin American mythology and taking place in the 1970s, La Llorona is a standard (to a fault) haunted house tale starring the always excellent Linda Cardellini. It’s refreshing to spotlight folklore that isn’t Biblical or Eurocentric in origin, but La Llorona is neither the scariest nor the most lore-enriching Conjuring film. However, if you’re interested in learning more about Hispanic supernaturalism, or enjoyed low-key domestic horror like The Woman In The Yard or Night Swim, it’s a perfectly fine night in.
9. The Nun 2 (2023)
Here’s where I begin my campaign to convince you that Valak, aka the ‘Demon Nun’ that plagues Lorraine in The Conjuring II, deserves to be the series mascot more than Annabelle. Unfortunately, that effort begins with the inferior sequel to the demon’s spinoff movie, but it speaks volumes about the character’s power that a disappointing series entry can still be worth recommending.
Actual nun Sister Irene is back in the habit in the 1950s French-set film, having supposedly exorcised Valek in mocking sisterly garb in the previous instalment. The film falls into the classic pitfall of retroactively fleshing out a hero’s backstory to explain their ‘specialness’ in order to justify continuing the story. Really, Sister Irene was compelling in The Nun because she was so ordinary – and because Taissa Farmiga (Vera’s younger sister) is an absolute trooper. The Nun II also doesn’t live up to the dark fantasy terror of the first one, though one especially inventive sequence involving Valak appearing on the covers at a magazine stand is one of The Conjuring’s most iconic.
8. Anabelle Comes Home (2019)
Proving that Conjuring spinoffs really do have diminishing returns the longer they continue, the (so far) final chapter in the Annabelle trilogy just beats The Nun for this lowly place on the list. Based on a real-life ‘haunted’ Raggedy Ann doll, the possessed toy is whatever the opposite of being pride of place is in the Warren’s infamous home collection of confiscated occult items.
Anabelle Comes Home completes a journey for the pigtailed menace we’ll get into later on, and the premise is really fun: the Warren’s daughter Judy, along with her babysitter and friends, breaks into the collection room and chaos ensues. Ghostbusters’ Grace McKenna (as Judy) doubles down on her horror kid credentials, and there’s a Ferryman-themed monster who really gives me the heebie-jeebies. However, a climactic projector-powered cameo from Patrick Wilson in full exorcism mode only serves to remind you how hollow most Conjuring films are without horror’s most wholesome couple.
7. Annabelle (2014)
After debuting in the first Conjuring movie as a shadow villain to the central antagonistic force, Annabelle cuts loose in this first spinoff, set a few years before the first film. Annabelle reveals how the demon possessing the doll was summoned and ended up attached to it, as well as its link to the Warrens via Father Perez, who is called to the aid of the family Annabelle terrorises.
The late ‘60s setting and a demonic plot revolving around a newborn might strike a chord with anyone who likes Rosemary’s Baby, or the more modern Servant. As a foundational lore-dropper, Annabelle is also essential viewing for franchise fans; for everyone else, there are more exciting and scarier films to come on this list.
6. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
The third Conjuring film in the main series is the least well-liked for a reason: based on another real-life event, in which the defence during a murder trial in 1981 rested on the claim that the 11-year-old defendant had been possessed during the crime, The Devil Made Me Do It transports the Warrens from their familiar haunted house territory to courtroom drama.
It’s an interesting twist on paper that, unfortunately, drains the undead life out of the film for much of its middle portion. However, that rather baggy, lax middle is bookended by some brilliant moments of tension, including Ed having an exorcism-fuelled brush with death and the Warrens uncovering the cavernous lair of Devil-worshippers – a nod to the satanic panic of the 1980s.
5. The Nun (2018)
Cue the baritone occult chanting… What makes The Nun a particularly strong spinoff movie is that it can stand alone from the rest of the Conjuring films. Taking place in a crumbling Romanian convent in the early 1950s, the film is the first chronological appearance of Valak, explaining how the demon came to take its titular guise and how it latched itself onto Sister Irene.
In the ‘Nunsploitation’ canon, it’s closer to the paranormal wildness of Immaculate than the subdued psycho-drama of Black Narcissus, making great use of its setting’s shadowy, gothic aesthetic to dial up the strange sense of both isolation and claustrophobia. The finale veers into the fantastical – The Pope’s Exorcist, but somehow more believable – but Taissa Farmiga grounds everything with a resolute, inner strength. It’s Bonnie Aarons’ Nun, however, that’s the driving force for me: floating through corridors with that dead-eyed, green stare, cementing Valak as one of modern horror’s most terrifying concoctions.
4. Annabelle: Creation (2017)
This middle instalment of the Annabelle spinoff trilogy takes us back even further than its predecessor, delving into the backstory of Annabelle’s protagonist and what motivates her to carry out a ritualistic slaying as an adult. The impetus for the horror is a grief-stricken couple praying for the resurrection of their young daughter, and the hell they unwittingly unleash on their foster children from the being who answers.
Creation is Annabelle at her fiendish best – hiding in barns, pushing kids down stairs, and in one sequence that still makes me shudder, simply lying in wait on a bottom bunk bed all night; masterful tension-building with pure paranoia. Obviously, it’s an important origin point for the character and a key Conjuring universe film, which is why it just pips The Nun to this position in the ranking. It’s also a must-watch for those drawn to creepy doll horror, like Child’s Play and M3GAN.
3. The Conjuring (2013)
The film that started it all was a surprise runaway hit in the early 2010s, raking in over $300 million against a $20 million budget. Over a decade later, The Conjuring remains a satisfyingly disturbing haunted house classic for the modern age: a likeable, normal family tortured by volatile supernatural forces, and the dedicated couple (the Warrens) who valiantly come to their aid against these forces.
Lili Taylor is fantastic as the mother targeted by a vengeful, ghoulish entity, with memorable scenes involving mouth-to-mouth black gunk and a viscerally harrowing exorcism in the Rhode Island estate’s basement. Despite its subject matter, this is the most grounded of the series, with a strong focus on practical effects and character-driven storytelling that elevate the film above mere shock value. It helped usher in a new era of thoughtful, high-end horror, like the It remakes and Mike Flanagan’s Hill House anthology.
2. The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
Last Rites looks to be the concluding chapter of Ed and Lorraine’s cinematic journey, and it’s a suitably eerie but affectionate note to end on. Taking place in the late ‘80s, the film promises there’s “a reason this was [the Warren’s] last case”, dragging their adult daughter Judy, the inheritor of Lorraine’s medium ability, into the home of another poor family with a demon problem.
Though it’s a bit of a slowburn, this is a return to form following the slight disappointment of The Devil Made Me Do It: the opening flashback should not be viewed by anyone about to give birth, and that wedding dress changing room scene – inexplicably built like a fairground hall of mirrors – rivals that car scene in Weapons for the audience gasps it induces. Scares aside, Last Rites is Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s triumphant swan song, and their commitment to these characters is as unwavering as the Warren’s devotion to fighting evil.
1. The Conjuring 2 (2016)
The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 are as close to perfect as blockbuster horror filmmaking can be, but for me, this first sequel is just that bit more special. All of the ingredients that go on to define the extended universe are formalised here: an array of entities with unique schticks (including our good friend Valak as the Final Boss), deeply sympathetic victims in a working-class British family beset by evil, and, in their second outing, Ed and Lorraine feel fully realised as a united force keeping hell at bay with nothing but a bible and a guitar.
Having some unusually robust source material helps, as well as some of the series’s most haunting imagery: Lorraine’s painting of the Demon Nun suddenly becoming real, the ghostly old man appearing in his armchair, the Crooked Man luring a child into a tent, and the climactic confrontation with Valak playing out with Old Testament grandeur. If you want to know what makes The Conjuring Universe tick, The Conjuring 2 has all bases covered.
