The Conjuring Franchise Ranked

The Conjuring Franchise Ranked

This weekend the 10th film in The Conjuring franchise but the 4th film in the main-line Conjuring universe drops in theaters. That film is The Conjuring: Last Rites. I’ve watched and reviewed every movie in the franchise. How do I rank the franchise? What’s my favorite and least favorite? Let’s talk about it!

10. Annabelle: The second installment in this franchise is easily the weakest film of the franchise for me. I went into this film not expecting a great film because that’s what this film’s reputation has been for 11 years. With this film, it feels like they didn’t care about making a good movie; they just wanted to make a movie to print money. For The Conjuring WB got James Wan, a great horror director who’s been directing hit films for 20 years now. For Annabelle they got John R. Leonetti who directed Mortal Kombat: Annihilation that’s widely viewed as one of the worst movies of all time with a 4% on Rotten Tomatoes. When you watch this film, it’s so obvious that such wildly different creative teams were hired for these films. This is a totally generic and bland film that has nothing to offer. The film has a very basic haunted house tone and vibe to it except here you have Annabelle making weird and creepy stuff happening. You’re watching a 90 minute film where not much happens and it creates this very boring film. Like I said earlier, it feels like they made this film because Annabelle was a popular character in The Conjuring so they rushed out a film but they didn’t give her anything interesting to do that’s memorable. Had they not rushed this film and given the film more time to be made and maybe didn’t release the film until 2015 it could’ve been at least ranked higher on the list. I will say, the film was made better by Annabelle Creation and how they put that film into this film. But overall, easily the worst film of the franchise. 

9. The Nun: The language I used to describe Annabelle about the film being bland, boring, and generic can apply to The Nun. For whatever reason, I found The Nun to be a better and slightly more interesting film. The big reason for that is because the setting is more interesting to me. There’s something more horrifying about having a horror film take place at an old abandoned castle than a house in the suburbs. Damián Bichir as Father Burke in the film is a solid performance. He’s one of those character arcs that I enjoy whenever he shows up in things. But really besides that, this is another totally generic and bland addition to this franchise and a film that I have no rush to rewatch. This will sort of be a common thing in the films on the bottom half of this list but it relies too much on jump scares. When you use a jump scare to “scare” somebody, it doesn’t work but a jump scare doesn’t actually scare you, it startles you. When the entire film is people walking around an old castle then something pops out at you, it creates a film that’s not very exciting. In between the “scares” there’s a lot of exposition, the film even breaks the show and doesn't tell the rule of screenwriting multiple points in the film. You end up with a film that’s bland because of the “scares” and the amount of exposition that’s present in the film. There’s some good ideas and elements that could’ve worked in this film but the final result makes for a blah film. 

8. The Nun II: A sequel that improves upon the original but just barely and it’s still not a good movie. I found this film to be more engaging with the plot and characters and with it moving outside of the castle it creates a bigger story. Our characters in the film go to different locations and cities. There’s more forward momentum in this film as there’s a goal and a mission that our characters are trying to overcome. Storm Reid is the casting stand out of the film, she’s one of these up and coming actresses. She’s not giving a mind blowing performance that’s fantastic but is how little she’s given to work with, she does a good job. It’s also just a bit fun to see Anna Popplewell, Susan from The Chronicles of Narnia. I grew up watching those films and haven’t seen her in anything else since then. Seeing her show up was a nice surprise. But this film has all of the same problems as the other films I’ve talked about on this list so far. The film just relies too much on jump scares and not super clever ways of scaring people. It creates a film where you don’t really care what’s going on because it’s just so bland you sort of want the film to be over. I hate to sound like a broken record when discussing these bottom three films but they all have the same problems. Of the films on this list, this is probably the most forgettable of the bunch. It’s the one that’s just there for me. It doesn’t do anything that blows my mind, but it also doesn’t do  anything that frustrates me either. 

7. The Curse of La Llorona: Yet again another film on this list that feels like a totally generic and bland film. But at least there’s more elements about this film that I do enjoy. So of the totally bland and generic films from this franchise, this is easily the best of the bunch. A big part of that I found the characters to be more likeable and charming and better than most of the characters in this franchise. Linda Cardellini plays a mom in the film, she does a great job playing this very conflicted and broken mother trying to do what’s best for her and her children in a very horrific situation. Raymond Cruz plays a priest in the film. He just has a bunch of deadpan reactions to things that made me laugh. He has some charm and personality to him. From there, I appreciated that the film is an investigation where you don’t really know what’s going on and the characters don’t know. The film has a more forward momentum then I feel most bottom tier, mediocre horror films will. With all that said, this film still has all of the issues of the other Conjuring films I’ve talked about on this list. Where the film doesn’t really have scares, it’s a film that makes loud noises in dark locations to attempt to scare you. Jump scares don’t evoke fright they evoke startling you. It’s a film that just feels very bland. You’re going through the motions of the film, not really caring about what’s going on. Beyond that, there’s several points in the film where in order for the plot to progress forward there’s a lack of communication that needs to take place and I found that to be very frustrating. It’s better than the bottom three on this list, but if it wasn’t for the cast this would be more on par with the other films and in some ways it is. 

NOTE: From here on up, I like all of these movies. #6 to #1 I’m going positive on all of them. I’d recommend checking out all of these movies. Also 3-6 on this list are basically tied for me. There’s not really much of a difference between my thoughts on these films. Upon rewatch the order of these could change around. But as this is my first time watching through these films, I don’t have any nostalgia for personal ties to this franchise. 

6. The Conjuring: Last Rites: The latest (and possibly) last film in The Conjuring films, at least following Ed and Lorraine Warren. This film is interesting because the reviews for it have either been really good or pretty negative with a few in the middle. But the film is also breaking box office records for 2025 horror films and this franchise as a whole. For me, I liked the film. Is it fantastic? No, you can look at the film’s placement on this list and probably guess that. But there were enough elements about this film that made me enjoy it. It’s great to see Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga back in these roles and they continue to be great. Ed and Lorraine are at very different points in their lives with their career and their relationship with their daughter, so they’re having to play these characters very differently and they’re able to do that. If this is actually the final film with these characters I thought it was an emotionally satisfying conclusion and I’d be satisfied if this is where we leave them. There’s some great humor in here, especially between Patrick Wilson and Ben Hardy’s characters. But the film does have a little bit of that “been there done that quality to it.” The film is exploring a lot of the same themes as before. Even the scares of the film don’t really feel like scares because it’s just people in dark locations with things falling over and moving. It’s not the freshest movie on this list. I also thought that some of the cameos in the final moments were distracting and pulled me out of the film. 

5. Annabelle: Creation: This might be one of my hot takes on this list because I feel most people will probably rank this film in the top three. Like I said, I think this is a good film that does a lot of things right. David F. Sandberg is directing the film and he’s a great horror director. He should’ve taken over the franchise instead of Michael Chaves. He’s able to craft these horrific scenes and sequences that have all of the tension and thrills that you expect. It’s done with more creativity than the films lower on the list, that rely on jump scares and startling you. The film acts as a prequel to Annabelle and it does a good job of being a prequel. It doesn’t comprise the other film but it acts as a nice companion piece to that film. In some ways, I think this film makes Annabelle a better film (not better to not make last on this list). Of the films on this list I think this one does the best job of matching the tone and vibe of Wan’s Conjuring films as those are the best films of the franchise, I view that as a big positive. I do think the film does struggle with having some of the problems (though to a lesser degree) of taking place in a pretty drab environment. It’s an old creepy house out in the middle of nowhere, we’ve seen that done before in this franchise and that’s not the most interesting horror film setting in my mind. 

4. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It: This was the second film directed by Michael Chaves and his best film of this franchise. There were a lot of interesting ideas in here regarding what The Warrens’ relationship would be like with the police and the public. You have the police helping The Warrens during their investigation. In this film, we see how the public would respond to The Warrens and whether or not they can be trusted. Because of all of this, this film kind of turns into a court drama set in this universe which was just something new and different for this universe. Like all of the main Conjuring films, this film does a great job of transporting you back to a time and a place. Whether that’s through the soundtrack, the costumes, or the production design it feels like we’re being transported to a different time and place. It makes all of these films have more spark and charm to them. I do think the lack of James Wan is very present in this film. The scares and thrills of the film just aren’t as good as what Wan is able to do. The film has a very too many things going on where there’s ideas about The Warrens’ relationship that are set up early on, but isn’t really what the movie is about so when they’re paid off in the back half they feel out of place. I know that a lot of people don’t like this movie, I didn’t get the hate for it. It’s not as good as it should but it’s another solid adventure with The Warrens. 

3. Annabelle Comes Home: This might be another hot take of having this film in the top 3. Like I said, 3-6 are pretty much tied for me. There’s not that much difference between these films. Maybe this is a bad way to describe a horror film, but this is just a really fun movie. It has a lighter tone then some of the other films, it feels more like entry level horror compared to the other films on this list. The characters here are more lively and fun, they have more personality to them. It helps that The Warrens themselves are very prominent in the film, they bookend the film. The film takes place at their house with their daughter as the main character. Since I like The Warrens corner of this universe I think it just works better. McKenna Grace as Judy Warren has very solid casting, she’s a great talent and she’s able to lead a movie like this. This isn’t a perfect film, it certainly has its issues. I think the babysitter’s friend, Daniella, is a very stupid character. The only reason why the plot is able to progress forward is because she keeps on making stupid decisions. They try to give her layers and depth in the back half of the film to try and make up for her stupid choices, but it didn’t work for me. It felt a bit too forced and tonally it didn’t fit the film. Overall, I think this was just a nice change of pace for the franchise and delivered something a little bit more different. 

2. The Conjuring 2: The third film in this franchise, but the second film following Ed and Lorraine. I’ve been talking about James Wan all throughout this ranking, therefore his films are the best of the bunch. He’s just able to make these horror films have that dread and tension in a way that I don’t think the other films did. He uses practical effects so the thrills feel more real and like that they’re actually happening. You get two great new additions to this franchise with The Nun and The Crooked Man. I actually found The Crooked Man sequence to be more effective than The Nun. I wish we got a spinoff about The Crooked Man, but the rhyme he says and the way he looks is very interesting. Even having those ideas in here about how the news and journalism would respond to The Warrens and everything that’s taking place. If this weird stuff is happening, people are going to want to know about it. This film explores that in some very interesting ways and how that ties into the plot. I’ve praised Ed and Lorraine Warren throughout this ranking, but I think James Wan makes them the most likeable and charming. Patrick Wilson and Vera Fermiga are at their best when they’re directed by James Wan. This is a very solid horror sequel, one of the best horror sequels of all time. I know some people prefer this film to the original, they’re not wrong in their thinking. 

1. The Conjuring: The original film in this franchise is still the best of the franchise. What I love about this film is that it perfectly sets in motion what this franchise is and what it’s about. Ed and Lorraine Warren are the stars of this franchise, they’re part of the reason why we see these films. But they’re on the back burner for the first half of the film. The first half is establishing the characters and the horror nature of the film. It’s satisfying when Ed and Lorraine Warren come to save the day because the first half spent so much time building out this mythology and all of the creepy stuff happening. Like I said earlier, the fact that James Wan does all of this practical makes these sequences feel real and more versatile than you’d expect. While there’s of course fantastical stuff happening and you get to the third act and you know that none of it happened in real life. The film is still able to make it feel grounded in reality and you believe that some of this stuff actually did happen. The film is also a period piece film and it does a great job of transporting you back to the 1960s. There’s enough humor sprinkled throughout that doesn’t undercut the tension but it’s there enough to add some levity into the mix. All around, this is a great horror film that is one of James Wan’s best films.