The Conjuring Universe is one of the most popular horror franchises, and people can’t stop talking about them. Annabelle took the franchise to another level; everyone loves the character and wants to see more of her (so much so that James Wan even created another killing doll for people to obsess over). The Conjuring franchise is a universe of highs and lows, but it’s still worth following and getting excited about new projects. Let’s check out how to watch The Conjuring Universe movies in two different orders.
How to Watch The Conjuring Universe in Order
As of now, The Conjuring Universe, created by Wan, has eight released movies and two upcoming ones, not to mention a potential TV show. You can watch most of them without knowing much about the others, but it’s always better and far more interesting to know the whole franchise. Here’s the first way to watch the franchise: following the release order.
The Conjuring (2013)
The universe already started with a bang. Revered as the best of the franchise, The Conjuring gives us a glimpse of the Annabelle doll but quickly moves away to another case. Ed and Lorraine Warren go to the rescue of a family haunted by people who died in their farmhouse. The movie becomes a sequence of increasingly tense with some exceptional scenes, like the exorcism and a hide-and-seek game you’ll never forget (neither the characters).
Annabelle (2014)
“Gifts gone wrong” definitely should be a horror subgenre because people just can’t stop giving the worst presents ever. A satanic cult attacks a couple, and conjure an evil spirit that makes the characters wish satanism was their biggest problem. Unfortunately, the first Annabelle is a letdown and probably the worst of the trilogy. The Conjuring spin-offs have the potential to be way better, but they are usually stuffed with bad characters and cheap scares.
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
A good follow-up to the first movie; it still borrows a lot from the first one as Ed and Lorraine perform an exorcism in a house haunted by evil spirits that terrify everyone living there, mainly the children. But The Conjuring 2 doesn’t feel redundant, and it’s great at surprising you with the scares. The film also creates some interesting characters that make the universe even more interesting, even though some might not get the chance to shine on a spin-off.
Annabelle: Creation (2017)
If you can’t wait to see Annabelle, this is the movie you should watch. One of the only good spin-offs in the franchise (sorry, Annabelle Comes Home is kind of fun too), Annabelle: Creation tells the story of a dollmaker and his wife. Years after losing their daughter, they welcome a nun and several girls into their home, but Annabelle won’t take a chance to make some great scares for granted. It really is the only one in the series in which the characters are good and you feel a bit bad for them.
The Nun (2018)
If you liked the demonic nun from The Conjuring 2, be prepared to still probably dislike this movie. After a nun takes her own life, a priest and a novitiate are tasked with investigating what happened. The film tries to create an interesting plot with the Vatican’s “unholy secret” and the nun, but it still fails.
The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
After two children disappear, a social worker fears her family might be the next target. It’s hard to say how bad this movie is. The biggest problem is the setting and the disinterest in La Llorona (really). It’s an incredibly popular and scary urban legend, but the director changed its entire setting, taking the appeal away. If you want a better version of the story, check out La Llorona, directed by Jayro Bustamante.
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
The second-best movie of the Annabelle trilogy and of all spin-offs. Ed and Lorraine lock Annabelle in their artifacts room behind sacred glass, but that proves to be a bad idea when the doll starts haunting their daughter and her babysitters. Even though it could’ve been a lot better, the movie uses the artifact room for many of the scares, making it more fun and distinctive from other films in the franchise.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
Focusing on discussing the Arne Johnson case, a boy who used demonic possession as an excuse for killing someone but, fortunately, was arrested as no one bought his argument. The movie proposes presenting Ed and Lorraine helping the boy prove the devil really made him do it. Despite the moral problems, the film has good performances and potential but never manages to fulfill it.
The Nun 2 (2023)
As the first movie bombed, it doesn’t guarantee a spot in our most anticipated horror of 2023 list, but let’s hope the director Michael Chaves gives Taissa Farmiga something good to work with in this sequel.
The Conjuring 4 (TBA)
The only information we have about this is that it is the next and probably the last chapter of Ed and Lorraine in the franchise. Wan seems to be coming back to co-produce it, so there’s a chance we might get a few good scares again.
The Conjuring TV Series (TBA)
If we know little about The Conjuring 4, the show is an even bigger mystery. There’s an interest in telling long-form stories in the franchise, so this might become an HBO Max eight-episode series focusing on the characters and evils. Here’s hoping we’ll get more of the Warren artifact room.
How to Watch The Conjuring Universe in Chronological Order
As we still don’t know much about The Nun 2 and The Conjuring 4, they won’t be featured in the chronological order.
- The Nun (2018)
- Annabelle: Creation (2017)
- Annabelle (2014)
- The Conjuring (2013)
- Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
- The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
- The Conjuring 2 (2016)
- The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
