Ranking The Conjuring Universe
A quick note regarding what is (and isn’t) included in this ranking…we’re only ranking the movies officially considered a part of The Conjuring Universe. That means no The Curse of La Llorona. Its own director (who went on to helm several official movies within the Universe) has stated that while it takes place within the same universe…it isn’t an official entry. If you are a completionist who needs to have it ranked…just throw it at or near the bottom of the list. It’s not good. You’ll find that to be a running theme with the installments directed by Michael Chaves…official or otherwise. This also goes for 2016’s Wolves at the Door which I didn’t even know was meant to exist within the universe until I sat down to write this rankings article. Throw it near the bottom and move right along.
Regardless of how this list…or any other list…ranks The Conjuring Universe, no one can deny the commercial success the franchise has enjoyed since 2013. It’s the highest grossing horror franchise in history. The quality may be an up and down affair…the box office receipts have not been. At the time of writing this article (at least the original version of it) The Conjuring: Last Rites has been out for three days. It’s destroying expectations at the weekend box office. There’s no slowing this thing down. Well…other than prematurely declaring that Last Rites will be the final bow for the mainline films in the franchise. Have to wonder how strong that resolve will hold when they see the final tally of the opening weekend.
That’s enough screwing around…we have serious business to attend to. It’s time for the official Scare Value ranking of The Conjuring Universe. From worst to best…as is our way.
9. The Nun
You Don’t Want Nun
Believe it or not, The Nun is the most commercially successful installment of the entire Conjuring Universe. It’s also the worst movie in the franchise. Based on a character first glimpsed in The Conjuring 2…audiences just couldn’t get enough of The Nun. For some reason. There’s no denying that Bonnie Aarons created a striking and memorable presence as the titular demonic Nun…but the movie itself is flat out bad. It isn’t remotely scary…and, clearly knowing this, pulls the lamest trick a bad horror movie can. It makes things VERY LOUD when they’re supposed to be scary. You’ll get audio whiplash watching Taissa Farmiga quietly walking around in the darkness waiting for LOUD MUSICAL STINGS when the horror imagery it accompanies fails to illicit a reaction.
The Nun isn’t the only bad movie in The Conjuring Universe…but it is the only one that I genuinely find unwatchable. The whole production feels like they went in with an outline and tried to figure out how to make it scary on the day. They never do. Post-production audio manipulation ruins any chance of having a watchable picture. It clearly didn’t stop people from flocking to theaters…but that doesn’t mean we have to pretend it isn’t an unmitigated creative disaster.
Read our review
8. Annabelle
Proof of Concept
Warner Bros didn’t wait long to spin-off from its mainline Conjuring films. Annabelle, based on the haunted doll that opens the original Conjuring film, hit theaters less than 15 months after The Conjuring was released. It beat a direct sequel to The Conjuring to market by over a year and a half. What Annabelle lacks in quality…it made up for in proof of concept. With the smallest budget in the entire franchise, Annabelle was a gigantic box office hit. It proved that people loved the universe so much…they’d gladly accept a lower budget spin-off while they waited for the next Warren-led adventure to hit screens.
The movie isn’t any good, of course. The Annabelle series would redeem itself in future installments…but the original is lucky that The Nun messed around with its audio levels because it has just as little excitement to offer. Still…Annabelle proved that The Conjuring Universe could do no wrong right out of the gate. The result is a series of commercial hits regardless of critical reviews or creative ability. Yay?
Read our review
7. The Conjuring: Last Rites
With a Whimper
Billed as the last chapter of the Ed and Lorraine Warren story, Last Rites sends the couple out with a whimper. Though, like every other release in the Conjuring Universe, quality has nothing to do with box office…this is easily the worst of the mainline Conjuring films. A prolonged goodbye to the characters…Last Rites refuses to settle on a tone…or a story…or a plan. You’ll spend a lot of time hanging out with the Warren family as they live their lives away from ghost hunting. It’s fine…but it makes the inevitable ghostly parts impossible to feel tense of frightened by. After watching Patrick Wilson cook hotdogs and play ping pong for twenty minutes…the exploits of a demonic mirror in another state just don’t hit quite as hard.
It’s not all bad. Farmiga and Wilson remain compelling leads even when they’re tasked with carrying an unfocused story. It is a shame for the Warren’s story to (allegedly) end on such a down note…but the financial success of the film leads one to wonder whether that will truly be the case anyway. They can always just move to an earlier point in the timeline and claim Last Rites was marketed that way simply due to examining their final case. If it truly is the last time we see Wilson and Farmiga in these parts…well…that would be a shame.
Read our review
6. The Nun II
Nun the Wiser
If you want to know how bad the original Nun movie is…The Nun II is an incredible step up in quality…and it’s still in the bottom half of The Conjuring Universe. The Nun II is almost a good movie. It has aspects that work very well. It’s a fine looking production. The atmosphere is good. Performances are strong. No one screwed with the audio in post-production. All wins for a sequel to a movie that struggled to do anything right. The problem is how little anything in the story feels like it matters.
The Nun II is starting from a bad place with the first movie giving us little reason to care about the characters or their ongoing story. While the sequel gives us some interesting and effective horror imagery and scenes…you still struggle to care about them. Maybe a third installment will see the offshoot series reach heights of later Annabelle movies…the sequel was another unqualified box office success and should warrant another try. In fact, The Nun II made more money than the two Conjuring Universe movies that preceded it…making it the most successful release since…The Nun. When you’re beating out a mainline Conjuring film and an Annabelle film marketed around the inclusion of the Warrens in the story…somehow this quality starved spin-off has become its most bankable property.
Read our review
5. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Diminishing Returns
The third main line Conjuring film sitting smack dab in the middle of these rankings tells its own story. It is…fine. The Devil Made Me Do It is perhaps best described as “unremarkable”. Nothing in it is egregiously bad…but nothing in it is altogether memorable either. If you were to stop right now and think of your favorite (or least favorite) part of The Devil Made Me Do It I would be willing to bet it would take you a minute. It doesn’t measure up to the first two entries in the Warren’s Conjuring series. It’s even outdone by the Annabelle movie the characters played small parts in that immediately preceded it.
The Devil Made Me Do It marks the beginning of the Michael Chaves era of The Conjuring Universe. He would go on to direct The Nun II and Last Rites…which you can see fell behind this on the list. I’m not sure how Chaves took over the entire franchise in the 2020s…especially coming off The Curse of La Llorna…but it’s just another example of how quality has never been the main concern of The Conjuring Universe. His films, like all the films in the universe, make money. Who cares if he can’t produce a movie that lands in the top half of the franchise? Not Warner Bros. That much is certain. In the end…a forgettable Chaves chapter is better than the ones you can remember.
4. Annabelle Comes Home
Back to Basics
The third Annabelle film is probably the most basic movie in The Conjuring Universe. A simple haunted house story…set at the Warren’s home. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga appear as Ed and Lorraine Warren…but the story is really about their young daughter Judy, her babysitter, and her babysitter’s friend. The friend does the one thing we are repeatedly told to never do (and have all wanted someone to do since we were first told that) and touches everything inside the Warren’s locked demonic artifact room. A simple story goes a long way when your film rests on the capable shoulders of McKenna Grace as Judy Warren.
This isn’t an installment overloaded with lore and exorcisms. It’s three girls trying to survive a demonic encounter…and little more. That focus lands Annabelle Comes Home in the top half of our rankings. Sometimes less is more. The more than the films below this one in the rankings tried to do…the more problems their respective films ended up having. Annabelle Comes Home simply asks you to spend a night in a haunted house…and have some fun while doing it. A fun watch…and a good movie.
3. The Conjuring 2
Steady as She Goes
The success of The Conjuring made a direct sequel inevitable. James Wan returns to direct Ed and Lorraine’s next adventure set 6 years after the first movie. The result was another smash box office and critical hit. The Conjuring 2 sees Ed and Lorraine investigating the Enfield Poltergeist. Another family needs their help…as is the routine in the main line Conjuring films. This is the movie that introduces us to The Nun…who would go on to have her own series of films. Also, The Crooked Man who has allegedly had a movie in the works within The Conjuring Universe for years.
The Conjuring 2 often lands in the top 2 (or 1) on rankings of The Conjuring Universe. If that’s where you want it…it’s perfectly fine. Very little separates the top 3 on this list. I have a strong belief in what lands at #1…but The Conjuring 2 is a high quality film that belongs near the top of any Conjuring Universe ranking. What keeps it down for me is, frankly, the feeling of “sameness” that creeps into all the Warren-based films. A family in trouble. Lorraine deals with visions and PTSD. A new artifact joins the collection. The patten is wildly successful…don’t get me wrong. But ties (or near ties) go to the original.
2. Annabelle: Creation
A Massive Leap Forward
Annabelle: Creation is the best spin-off movie in The Conjuring Universe. I don’t think it’s particularly close. Coming off the disappointment that was Annabelle…James Wan (in his producer role) turned to an accomplished horror director to helm the prequel. David F. Sandberg rose to prominence with his short film (which he subsequently turned into a feature film) Lights Out. He knows how to make something scary…and he made Annabelle: Creation exactly that. He even manages to tie it into the original Annabelle film in a way that slightly improves that movie.
Annabelle: Creation shows a path forward that franchise, frankly, should have been taken. There are plenty of creative filmmakers in independent horror who would kill for the opportunity to work with a bigger budget. Sandberg’s offering is one of the best movies in the entire Conjuring Universe. Imagine if subsequent installments had made it a point to seek out more accomplished yet hungry talents working in horror. Instead, they handed the keys to the guy who made The Curse of La Llorona…a movie nobody likes. But it made money. And that’s driven far too many decisions in a franchise where EVERYTHING makes money.
1. The Conjuring
A Worthy Clap
James Wan’s The Conjuring was an instant phenomenon. It’s still holds the highest domestic gross of the series…though it sits a close third worldwide. It was the film that launched the highest grossing horror franchise ever for a reason. It’s a great movie. We’re introduced to Annabelle and the Warrens. A family finds their Rhode Island farmhouse is haunted and calls the ghostbusters of the 1970s…Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The truth is that The Conjuring isn’t all that different from Wan’s previous franchise launcher Insidious. A family thinks their home is haunted…but the problem has actually attached itself to them. They need paranormal expertise to see them through the danger. These are patient horror films that prioritize characters over jumps scares. The scares that Wan builds here are endlessly effective. What separates The Conjuring (aside from being a period piece) is the grounded approach of using actual cases the real-life Warren’s documented.
Patrick Wilson (who also leads the Insidious franchise) and Vera Farmiga instantly create memorable and complex characters that have been a joy to watch for their entire run. The Perron family is full of cute kids and features a powerhouse performance from Lili Taylor. It’s the kind of confident production that can keep people coming back for over a decade. Which, of course, it did.
Read our review
