Conjuring Movies Ranked: Best to Worst, All 10 Films

I ranked all 10 films in the Conjuring movies universe on how well each builds fear from its own setting and characters, how well it uses the Warrens or a strong replacement, and whether it earns its running time. Box office is shown as context only. The main films are presented as stories based on cases claimed by Ed and Lorraine Warren, and I report those claims as claims. Nothing here treats a haunting, a possession or a curse as established fact, and every verdict below is opinion. If you want the viewing sequence instead, our conjuring movies in order guide covers release and chronological order.

1. The Conjuring (2013), directed by James Wan. It cost $20 million and took about $321 million worldwide. In 1971 the Perron family moves into a Rhode Island farmhouse where clocks stop at the same time every night, Carolyn wakes with bruises, the dog dies and a cellar turns out to be sealed off. In my opinion that slow pile of small, ordinary wrongness is the best scare engineering in the saga, and it is rated R for violence and terror. The Conjuring 2013 remains the template the rest of the series copies.

2. The Conjuring 2 (2016), directed by James Wan. The budget doubled to $40 million and the film grossed about $323 million, according to Box Office Mojo. It opens with a séance at the Amityville house, where Lorraine sees a demonic nun and a vision of Ed in danger, then moves to the Hodgson home in Enfield, north London, in 1977. At 134 minutes it runs 22 minutes longer than the first film, and it is the bigger and more ambitious set piece machine. I rank it second because the length sometimes dulls the dread, but the conjuring 2 has the series' most memorable single monster in the demon nun played by Bonnie Aarons.

3. Annabelle: Creation (2017), directed by David F. Sandberg. On a $15 million budget it took about $307 million. A dollmaker and his wife lose their daughter Bee, then twelve years later open their farmhouse to Sister Charlotte and six girls from a closed orphanage, with one locked room they are told never to enter. Janice, weakened by polio, is the girl who opens the closet. Sandberg gives the doll a proper origin and a house with clear rules, so I think annabelle creation is the best of the spin-offs.

4. The Nun (2018), directed by Corin Hardy. It is the highest grossing spin-off, at about $366 million on a $22 million budget. The Romanian abbey was shot in historic Romanian castles, and the Corvin Castle set was left standing after filming. Taissa Farmiga and Demián Bichir carry a story that is thinner than its look. In my opinion the nun 2018 wins on atmosphere and loses a few places on plotting.

5. The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025), directed by Michael Chaves. This is the series' biggest hit, at about $499 million worldwide on a $55 million budget, and at 136 minutes its longest film. Ed and Lorraine face a cursed mirror in 1964, then the Smurl family in West Pittston, Pennsylvania in 1986, with their adult daughter Judy now in a relationship with Tony Spera. I rate the emotional send-off for the Warrens highly, but the conjuring last rites takes a long road to a story we mostly already know.

6. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), directed by Michael Chaves. It had the same $40 million budget as the second film and earned about $206 million, the lowest of the four main films. The 1981 Brookfield, Connecticut setup is clever, since Arne challenges the demon during David Glatzel's exorcism and later kills his landlord. That moves the Warrens from a haunting to arguing that possession caused a killing. The conjuring the devil made me do it has good ideas, though in my view it lacks the first two films' patience.

7. Annabelle Comes Home (2019), directed by Gary Dauberman. Dauberman, who wrote the first Annabelle film, made his directing debut here, and the film took about $231 million. The Warrens lock the doll in a blessed case in their artifacts room, then leave Judy with a babysitter, Mary Ellen, for a night. It plays like a haunted house ride, which is fun, but annabelle comes home stays lighter than the films above it.

8. Annabelle (2014), directed by John R. Leonetti. It cost only $6.5 million and took about $258 million, which in my view is a strong return on that small budget. Leonetti was the cinematographer on The Conjuring, and the 1967 Santa Monica setup, with cultists next door and a vintage doll for the nursery, is solid. Still, annabelle 2014 is leaner on scares and shorter at 99 minutes, and the doll reads better in later films.

9. The Nun II (2023), directed by Michael Chaves. It earned about $270 million on a $38 million budget. Four years after the first film, Sister Irene is sent to Tarascon, France in 1956 and is paired with Sister Debra, played by Storm Reid. I like the pairing, but the nun ii mostly repeats the first film's pattern of a demon chasing a nun.

10. The Curse of La Llorona (2019), directed by Michael Chaves. It is the smallest earner at about $123 million on a $9 million budget, and at 93 minutes the shortest. Linda Cardellini plays a 1973 Los Angeles caseworker whose two children are threatened by a weeping spirit, and Tony Amendola appears as Father Perez, a role he also played in Annabelle (2014). The curse of la llorona is competent, but in my view it feels the furthest from the rest of the saga, so I place it last.

Which is scariest? Among the four main films, I pick the first for pure dread and the second for the single best monster. Among the spin-offs, Annabelle: Creation has the most reliable frights. These are my taste, not a measurement. If you want the numbers behind each film, see the conjuring box office breakdown, and for what each film is based on, see conjuring true story. The next film, conjuring first communion, will join this list after release.