The Conjuring Universe has been credited with rejuvenating the paranormal horror genre, but not all entries in the Conjurverse are equal when looking at the Conjuring movies ranked. Since director James Wan released 2013’s The Conjuring there have been 7 movies added to the franchise, including two The Conjuring sequels and five spin-offs. The Conjuring and its sequels, The Conjuring 2 and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It follow fictionalized versions of real-life paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga). The first Conjuring movie was a success for Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, but it’s the spinoff movies that truly propelled The Conjuring franchise to the supernatural horror household name it is today.
The first spinoff movie in The Conjurverse — before The Conjuring 2 in 2016 — was 2014’s Annabelle, which fleshed out the story of the cursed Annabelle doll seen in The Conjuring. The Conjuring 2 came next, set six years after its predecessor. This was followed by two more Annabelle movies, The Nun, and The Curse of La Llorona, and finally, 2021’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It brought the Warrens back with one of their most sensationalized cases. The Nun 2 and The Conjuring: Last Rites are on the way, and the Conjurverse is coming to HBO Max for a series. How these new entries will compare to the best (and worst) movies in The Conjuring franchise remains to be seen, as The Conjuring movies ranked contain some of the best supernatural horror films of the last two decades.
8 The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
Directed by Michael Chaves and produced by James Wan, The Curse of La Llorona was not marketed as being part of The Conjuring movies ranked. Still, its connection to the franchise was confirmed by the inclusion of Tony Amendola’s Father Perez from Annabelle and a direct reference to the Annabelle doll. The 2019 movie centers on a social worker who worries about the lives of a group of kids after they become the targets of a ghost who drowns children.
While the art direction and creepy design for the titular ghost certainly help the film live up to the expectations of a movie in The Conjuring Universe, The Curse of La Llorona still has a few problems. The jump scares lose their effectiveness by the second half of the film. Also, the story, which involves a folktale legend that turns out to be a real ghost, felt like it missed an opportunity to tie supernatural folklore into the paranormal tapestry of The Conjurverse. That being said, The Curse of La Llorona still manages to provide an enjoyable viewing experience, and while it’s the worst Conjuring movie, it’s by no means a bad film.
7 Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Annabelle Comes Home takes place in the Warrens’ own home, and once more makes use of their locked vault of possessed and cursed objects (which is based on an actual room owned by the real-life Ed and Lorraine Warren). In Annabelle Comes Home, chaos ensues when a friend of the Warrens’ babysitter unwittingly unleashes all the haunted artifacts in the Warrens’ vault. The third movie in the Annabelle trilogy contains plenty of thrills and scary moments as the three female leads struggle to survive through just one night at the Warrens’ house.
Annabelle Comes Home is also supported by a solid narrative and well-developed characters. Unfortunately, like too many Hollywood horror movies, the plot of Annabelle Comes Home is driven by the stereotypical horror genre “terrible decision-making” by one of the main characters. In this case, it is Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), who lets Annabelle out of her case and leads the cast in making the worst possible decisions to carry the plot, hurting its spot as one of the better Conjuring movies ranked.
6 The Nun (2018)
Although 2018’s The Nun fits into The Conjuring Universe, it is the most unconventional movie in The Conjurverse. While this helps it stand out, it does mean many view at as being at the lower end among The Conjuring movies ranked. Unlike many of the others, which are generally set in haunted houses (save for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It), The Nun takes viewers to a monastery in 1950s Romania where a priest, a nun, and a villager come into contact with the wicked Valak, the villain of The Conjuring 2.
The dark, gothic atmosphere helps to convey a deep sense of terror as Sister Irene and Father Burke look into the disturbances at the monastery. The Nun has several horrifying scenes involving Valak and great performances from the two lead actors, Demian Bichir (Father Burke) and Taissa Farmiga (Sister Irene), which nearly make up for the movie’s mostly predictable plot. Despite its flaws, The Nun was still one of the scariest movies of 2018.
5 Annabelle: Creation (2017)
While Annabelle provided an origin story for the creepy doll, the next installment, Annabelle: Creation, goes back even further in the Annabelle doll’s history and reveals that Annabelle wasn’t actually the beginning of the story after all. The movie chronicles the story of several orphaned girls. One believes that an innocent ghost haunts their new home, but a twist reveals that a demon is behind the supernatural occurrences in the house.
The main character’s inability to walk helps to create a particularly strong feeling of terror throughout the movie, as it makes the character’s struggle to escape the demon even more urgent, and at times, impossible. Annabelle: Creation, which is possibly the darkest movie in the trilogy, delivers enough shocks to serve as a more than satisfying prequel. However, distance from the central story of Ed and Lorraine Warren didn’t help the movie, and so Annabelle: Creation isn’t the best movie about the titular doll in The Conjuring movies ranked.
4 Annabelle (2014)
In the first The Conjuring spinoff, Annabelle, a young married couple has no idea what they’re getting into when they bring the Annabelle doll into their home. Following the formula of The Conjuring, Annabelle starts with the family drama between the two main characters and slowly builds up to the action. There’s enough room between the biggest jump scares in the movie for each one to be effective and scary as one of The Conjuring movies ranked.
Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard, and Tony Amendola all give stand-out performances in what is easily one of The Conjuring Universe’s best stories. Wallis perfectly channels a mother’s fear for the life of her infant daughter, and Alfre Woodard’s haunting portrayal of a woman who wants to find her purpose after her daughter’s death makes Annabelle a truly memorable film that’s about so much more than a demonically possessed doll. It can also take credit for establishing that The Conjuring would be spinning off into a shared universe-style franchise.
3 The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
The third installment of The Conjuring franchise centering on Ed and Lorraine Warren and the eighth in the universe overall, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is based on another of the Warrens’ case files. The film is different from all the ones that came before it because it isn’t centered on a haunting, but on an occultist whose chaotic ways target three different characters through a curse that leads to devastation. It also highlights the real-life court case of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who was convicted of first-degree manslaughter after stabbing his landlord to death.
The sequel is full of chilling and suspenseful scares and sees the Warrens tackling more than one case at the same time. The Devil Made Me Do It sees a change in directors, with The Curse of La Llorona‘s Michael Chaves taking over from James Wan, but this creative change doesn’t diminish the film at all. Rather, it infuses it with new energy and spectacularly terrifying moments that heighten the intensity and elevate the emotional stakes. Beyond the horror aspects, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is also focused on Ed and Lorraine’s deeply loving relationship, making it one of the betterConjuring movies ranked.
2 The Conjuring (2013)
Set in 1971, The Conjuring explored one of the case files of the famed demonologist couple Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga). The movie sees the Warrens investigate a family whose Rhode Island home was affected by a witch’s curse. Wan infused the period piece with a frightening mood and a chilling story about a haunted house. The movie’s connection to a real-life event adds to the impact it has on the audience.
James Wan’s The Conjuring uses his now signature style of filmmaking, helping to make it one of the most influential horror films of the decade. Long, handheld shots are able to put the audience in the perspective of the main characters, which makes the events of the film feel even more real. Wan’s approach to The Conjuring perfectly captures the dread that the characters are feeling in the film’s scariest scenes.
1 The Conjuring 2
The Conjuring 2, which is based on the supposedly true story of the Enfield poltergeist, has the rare distinction of being one of the few films that can top the first installment in The Conjuring movies ranked. In The Conjuring 2, Ed and Lorraine Warren return to help a young girl in England who’s possessed by a demon. The movie takes a deep, revealing look at the people surrounding the case, their motivations, and their reactions to the Enfield haunting with strong, heartfelt performances from nearly every member of the main cast.
When it comes to the movie’s horror elements, The Conjuring 2 kicks it up a notch with the introduction of the Nun, a demon that featured the franchise’s creepiest monster design to date. Though the Nun is a big part of The Conjuring 2‘s best moments, some of the film’s creepiest scenes involve the ghost of an elderly man named Bill Wilkins. Where the movie really shines though, is how these scares are created. Long tracking shots, a dark and chillingly quiet atmosphere, and brilliantly framed camera angles make The Conjuring 2 stand out as the best movie in the series.
