Nobody expected the Conjuring franchise to become the highest-grossing horror franchise of all time. With cumulative grosses approaching $3 billion, the franchise continues to fire on all cylinders since the first entry released in 2013. With the release of Conjuring: Last Rites last month, it is time to rank all the movies in the Conjuring Universe so far, from its weakest entry to its very best. We also include the Annabelle films here as they are connected (sometimes loosely, sometimes strongly) to the story of the main Conjuring films. So without further ado, lets begin Ranking All The Conjuring Movies.
7. Annabelle - 5.5/10
By far the weakest entry in the entire franchise is the first Annabelle. Directed by Leonetti, the film explores the origins of the demonic Annabelle doll, first made famous in The Conjuring. Released in 2014 as the second installment in the franchise, it drew heavy criticism for its low-budget feel and ineffective scares. However, riding the wave of great sentiment from the first Conjuring movie, it managed to make more than $200 million, but its poor reception led Warner Bros to course correct the latter installments.
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6. Annabelle Comes Home - 5.9/10
The second weakest entry in the franchise is another Annabelle film, 2019’s Annabelle Comes Home. While babysitting the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a teenager and her friend unknowingly awaken an evil spirit trapped in the Annabelle doll. Carnage ensues as the demonic doll unleashes her signature reign of death and destruction.
This Annabelle prequel is unique due to the fact that Ed and Lorraine Warren make an appearance in the film, but their presence is not enough to elevate the film in any capacity. With lacklustre scares and a pretty formulaic story, the Annabelle threequel fails to close the trilogy on a high note. No new Annabelle films have come out since the series fizzled out six years ago.
5. The Conjuring: Last Rites - 6.3/10
The latest Conjuring film, titled Last Rites, has already become the highest-grossing film of the entire franchise despite being released only 2 months ago. Billed as the final time we would see Ed and Lorrain onscreen, the film finds the duo travelling to Pennsylvania to vanquish a demon, only for their adult daughter to get mixed up in its consequences.
As a final goodbye to the Warrens, Last Rites is not the home run it should have been. Formulaic and lacking any real sense of genuine terror, the film feels like a recycled mess that should have spent more time in the writing phase to flesh out the story a bit more. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga do their best, but they fail to beat a disappointing screenplay, and thus, this is the third weakest entry in the franchise (in our opinion).
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4. The Conjuring: The Devil Make Me Do It - 6.2/10
The Devil Made Me Do It is the first Conjuring not to be directed by James Wan, and it absolutely shows. Michael Chaves takes on the reins from Wan here, and he absolutely fails to bring any genuine moments of terror that Wan so effortlessly managed to do again and again.
In this 2021 threequel, Ed and Lorrain investigate a series of murders in which the assailants claim that the devil made them commit the horrific acts. As they dive deep into the matter, the couple finds themselves dealing with an entity far beyond their capabilities. Even though Conjuring 3 looks amazing and the acting is top-notch, a weak script means that it fails to emotionally invest the audience in the trials of its characters. As a result, it has nothing to rely on except cheap jump scares, which become tiresome after a while.
3. Annabelle Creation - 6.5/10
We all knew David F. Sandberg (Lights Out, Shazam) would make an awesome Annabelle movie, but we didn't know he would make the best Annabelle film out of all three. For Annabelle: Creation, Sandberg went back to the drawing board, making an emotionally resonant horror movie that manages to include some pretty innovative scares.
Twelve years after the tragic death of their little girl, a doll-maker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, where they become the target of the doll-maker's possessed creation, Annabelle. As Annabelle begins her reign of terror once more, no one is safe. Annabelle: Creation does not take its audience for fools and thus manages to do more with its characters and story than most other films in the franchise. It was widely loved by critics and fans alike and turned out to be a fantastic box office success.
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2. The Conjuring 2 - 7.3/10
Despite the franchise having ten entries since 2013, the only other film that comes close to the original Conjuring in sheer terror is none other than its 2016 sequel by James Wan. The film takes the Warrens to England to assist the Hodgson family, who are experiencing poltergeist activity at their house. Things soon take a turn for the worse, prompting Ed and Lorrain to resort to desperate measures to survive.
Even though Conjuring 2 never manages to top the masterful horror of the first one, there are enough spine-chilling moments in here to keep audiences on edge. Wan knows the pitfalls of the genre and expertly manages to avoid them once again, delivering a potent sequel that plays to the strength of the original even if it never manages to surpass it.
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1. The Conjuring - 7.5/10
Even though The Conjuring came out back in 2013, it still stands as the strongest film in the franchise and one of the best horror movies of this century. The first outing of Ed and Lorrain Warren sees them help the Perron family, who are experiencing increasingly disturbing events in their newly occupied farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971. This is a potent horror movie that has plenty of genuine moments of terror. Add these to expertly crafted jumpscares coupled with a foreboding atmosphere of doom, and what we have is a film that takes its viewers by the neck and never lets go. Not only did it birth a string of copycats, but The Conjuring is horror at its very best; unnerving, tense, and wholly horrific.
Let us know in the comments what you guys think are the best and worst entries in the Conjuring franchise.
