The Conjuring‘s four main installments are among the most popular horror movies of the last 15 years, which has secured the franchise as a staple of the genre. Beginning with 2013’s The Conjuring, each film centers on the real-life endeavors of paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga). From haunted houses to demonic possessions, the Warrens encounter all kinds of ghoulish cases. While The Conjuring movies deliver plenty of terrifying scares, they are also revered for their focus on the Warrens’ family life and the toll their supernatural work takes on them. Spinoff franchises like Annabelle and The Nun additionally figure among The Conjuring Universe‘s nine total films and have expanded the lore around the Warrens’ investigations.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Now that The Conjuring‘s fourth and final main title is out, it’s worth looking back and ranking the installments from worst to best, according to their overall quality.
4) The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It released in 2021 as the franchise’s third main installment and first directed by Michael Chaves. Set in 1980s Connecticut, The Devil Made Me Do It bases its story on the real-life trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor), whose defense claimed that he was under the influence of a demon when he murdered his landlord. Although the movie boasts a fascinating premise, as the case was the first of its kind in the United States, The Devil Made Me Do It doesn’t do anything spectacular with its material.
Even in its most horrifying moments, the film often devolves into ridiculousness. Its themes rooted in satanic worship aren’t nearly as creepy as haunted houses or ghoulish apparitions, leaving The Devil Made Me Do It‘s extreme gore as its only unnerving element. From a character standpoint, The Devil Made Me Do It also disappoints, failing to enrich the Warrens’ relationship to the same degree other Conjuring movies have. Lacking in effective scares memorable moments, The Devil Made Me Do It ranks as the least memorable of The Conjuring‘s core films.
3) The Conjuring: Last Rites
2025’s The Conjuring: Last Rites concludes the franchise’s main saga with only a moderate level of success. Michael Chaves’ follow-up to The Devil Made Me Do It revolves around the Warrens’ reckoning with a harrowing demon from their past, which involves their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) and a Pennsylvania family in the film’s 1980s present day. In Last Rites, audiences get to see the Warrens live out their retirement as happy parents before the aforementioned final case throws them back into the paranormal world.
But the movie leans so much into family melodrama that genuine frights are too few and far between. An intense final act and heartwarming ending somewhat make up for Last Rites’ sluggish first half, but the movie still ends up underwhelming, bloated, and beneath expectations of a final installment. Wilson and Farmiga’s portrayals of the Warrens are as layered and enjoyable as ever in Last Rights; however, one can’t help but feel that a scarier and more powerful sendoff was possible.
2) The Conjuring 2
2016’s The Conjuring 2 takes Ed and Lorraine to London, where they meet a mother and her four children tormented by a poltergeist in their home. Directed by James Wan, the second core Conjuring movie deftly balances horror and family drama as the Warrens strive to rid a demonic spirit from one of the children while keeping protecting one another in such dangerous circumstances.
The Conjuring 2 delivers some chilling sequences involving the ghost of an elderly man and the nun; however, it isn’t as terrifying as its predecessor. The second installment’s greatest triumph remains its focus on Ed and Lorraine’s love story. Fueled by Wilson’s heartfelt rendition of ย Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” The Conjuring 2 reinforces how Ed and Lorraine serve as each other’s strength in their darkest moments. Although not a perfect horror movie, The Conjuring 2 has tons of heart, cementing it as the second-best of the universe’s main entries.
1) The Conjuring
The movie that started The Conjuring Universe is still the best. Wan proves himself a master of the horror genre in 2013’s The Conjuring, which introduces the Warrens and sees them take on one of their highest-profile cases. Set in Rhode Island in 1971, The Conjuring follows a family terrorized by a ruthless demonic presence after moving into an old farmhouse with a sinister history.
The Conjuring is a traditional haunted house story executed to near-perfection, generating spine-chilling scares and compelling narrative and character groundwork for the franchise’s subsequent movies. With an elevated scare factor thanks to its (loose) basis in true events, The Conjuring uses jump scares, frightening imagery, and heart-pounding tension to petrify audiences, and it all works wonderfully. Among the best 2010s horror movies, The Conjuring delivers the most impactful horror story of all the franchise’s core installments and is a blast to re-watch every fall.
How would you rank The Conjuring‘s four main movies? Let us know in the comments!
Most Viewed
-
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios -
Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios
