It didn’t take long for director James Wan to make a name for himself. Only four years after his first feature length film premiered, he and actor, writer and director Leigh Whannell dropped a bombshell onto the horror film scene with “Saw,” which spawned a franchise that has grossed over $1 billion worldwide. While Wan has made ventures into other genres of filmmaking—notably “Furious 7” and “Aquaman”—he is most well known for his horror films. In 2010, “Insidious” was released, and in the same year as the release of its sequel, Wan directed “The Conjuring.” The stories of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s encounters with the supernatural became a smash hit both at the box office and with critics, and the seven films within the franchise have made it the second most profitable horror franchise of all time. The eighth film, “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” premiered earlier in June in theaters and on HBO Max, and I figured that it was about time that I finally delved into the franchise to see what it was all about and if it would live up to the hype. Here are the films of The Conjuring universe ranked from worst to best:

#8: Annabelle (2014) – Movie Three of The Conjuring Universe Timeline

Overall rating: 15/100

“Annabelle” is a spin-off film based entirely around the titular haunted doll that was featured for a mere few minutes at the beginning of the first “Conjuring” film. The plot follows a married couple, John and Mia, who are expecting a child. John gives Mia a beautiful porcelain doll as a gift for their child, but after being attacked by a satanic cult (who their estranged daughter Annabelle was a part of), a malevolent entity inhabits the doll and threatens the family. This film is dreadful in all of the wrong ways: not a single character is remotely interesting, the dialogue and plot are seemingly only there for expository purposes and there are only one or two decent scares out of the whole 100 minute runtime (which is possibly the worst offense a horror film could have). Despite the film’s budget of $6.5 million, not a single aspect of the production stands out in any way, shape or form. It’s one of the clearest examples of a film that was solely made because the previous film made a lot of money, another bland product from the Hollywood conveyor belt.

#7: The Curse of La Llorona (2019) – Movie Six of The Conjuring Universe Timeline

Overall rating: 34/100

“The Curse of La Llorona” is an adaptation of the classic Latin American folklore of “La Llorona,” or “The Weeping Woman,” which follows a social worker who investigates the disappearance of two children before realizing that her own children might be the next victims of the titular demon. Simply put, the first half of this film is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. I can’t remember ever falling asleep during a film because of the film and not because I was already tired. This didn’t even take thirty or forty minutes to not only make me feel like I was going to fall asleep, but it made me want to go to sleep. None of the characters are interesting, and it definitely doesn’t help that both of the main child actors give horrible performances. The second half of the film does get better with the introduction of Rafael, a former priest who manages to bring some humor to the film, and there are some well constructed—albeit still ineffective—scares. That doesn’t change that “The Curse of La Llorona” is a complete waste of potential as a horror film and what could’ve been a great depiction of Latin American culture and ultimately feels out of place in this list of films. The only connection this has to the other films in this universe is that the priest from “Annabelle” is in, what, one scene? The movie is barely interested in being a part of its own universe, and you should be even less interested in watching it.

#6: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) – Movie Eight of The Conjuring Universe Timeline

Overall rating: 62/100

“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” is the first film to directly follow characters Ed and Lorraine Warren that doesn’t have them saving a family from a haunted house. This time around, the Warrens are facing their biggest challenge yet; no, it’s not a demon but instead the U.S. legal system in the first court case in American history where demonic possession was claimed as defense for murder. I was fairly nervous to see that Michael Chaves, the director of “La Llorona” was going to be helming the project instead of James Wan, but either Chaves got his stuff together or this just further proves that actors Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson can make any of these films likable. (My bet is on the latter.) It’s a little disappointing to see this film stoop to the narrative and production quality of the more recent films instead of matching its strong predecessors, but “The Devil Made Me Do It” is still an alright entry. The biggest gripe I have with this is its subject matter; since it’s the only film in this universe to have a truly real story behind it, especially a murder and court case, it does make it inherently more problematic in its portrayal of these characters. That doesn’t fully dissuade me from enjoying what this movie does have: some great scares, cheesy padding for a plot and some amazing needle drops. You should also definitely stay seated for the end credits if you want to listen to the “real” recording of the exorcism that the film recreates in its thrilling opening scene; regardless of if it’s genuine or not, it’s still some fascinating stuff to hear

#5: Annabelle Comes Home (2019) – Movie Five of The Conjuring Universe Timeline

Overall rating: 68/100

“Annabelle Comes Home” follows Ed and Lorraine’s daughter Judy, her babysitter Mary and Mary’s friend Daniela as they face the full force of the haunted artifacts in the Warren’s house. The lore behind those artifacts is definitely interesting, and this film is the first in the universe to fully take advantage of the mere existence of them. This film couldn’t care less about the mythology behind all of the haunted objects and instead gleefully unleashes a bunch of demons on some teenagers. The result is something that I can only describe as a spiritual successor to the 2015 film “Goosebumps.” It’s a cheesy, perfectly enjoyable film that you’d throw on at a sleepover. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have some good scares to it, though, as well as a surprising knack for comedy and an amazing performance from Mckenna Grace. It’s not shocking that this didn’t receive glowing praise since it isn’t a super serious and dark movie like the others, but for those who are willing to accept a much more lighthearted tone, this is the film from the franchise for you.

#4: Annabelle: Creation (2017) – Movie Two of The Conjuring Universe Timeline

Overall rating: 70/100

The concept of more “Annabelle” films after the 2014 film was enough to discourage even the biggest horror fans, but then it was announced that David F. Sandberg, the man who made his debut in 2016 with the critically acclaimed “Lights Out,” was going to direct its sequel. Things were starting to look up for the film, and the end result is so good that it’s laughable to think that it has any connection to the first “Annabelle.” This isn’t a perfect film by any means, but it’s remarkably compact; even at a runtime that’s ten minutes shy of being two hours long, it does what it needs to do and goes by in what feels like a flash. All of the acting is substantial, which is especially impressive considering how many child actors have main roles. Sandberg’s main focus, though, is on horror, as any horror film should be. Considering how jam-packed this is with scares, it’s obvious that not all of them land, but it’s incredibly consistent. The third act of this film kicks into overdrive and is a near constant barrage of effective scares, and to cap it all off is a tie-in to the 2014 film that, as predictable as it was, made me smile because of how it was so ingeniously executed. 

#3: The Nun (2018) – Movie One of The Conjuring Universe Timeline

Overall rating: 71/100

I didn’t have high expectations at all for “The Nun.” My mind immediately thought back to the trainwreck that was “Annabelle,” another needless backstory to a character that was barely in the main installments of this universe. Couple that with recalled memories of this film’s annoyingly aggressive marketing campaign, and I was relatively unexcited to watch this. Maybe it was because of my expectations that I found myself so surprised, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t genuinely enjoy this film. This is the first film in this universe to take a jab at the organized religion that presides over the events of each of the entries, and even though it does so vaguely, I still found that it made the film that much more intriguing. The narrative here undeniably convolutes the bigger picture of this universe and is even more contrived on its own, but this is as atmospheric as any of these films get, and I’m willing to forgive it for that. Every second of this is drenched in a gothic atmosphere of rotting wooden crosses, decrepit chambers and corridors and a consistent layer of fog, and it’s never anything less than enchanting. I don’t have any other defense for my ranking here because I know that this is one of the less well received films of this universe; I just found this to be delightful.

#2: The Conjuring (2013) – Movie Four of The Conjuring Universe Timeline

Overall rating: 77/100

Ah, yes, the film that started it all. If there’s any horror film worthy of being called a modern classic, it’s “The Conjuring.” It took little to no time for the “true story” of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren to become one of the biggest horror films of the past decade, and one of the biggest appeals of it is how it portrays the two protagonists. If you ask me, the real life Ed and Lorraine Warren are frauds, but Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson do an exceptional job of making the two feel like real, likable characters. Every performance is strong here, and it helps make the whole film investing; it never feels like Wan is just stuffing it with filler in between the scares. It might not be perfect—on the contrary, I’d go as far to say that this is just another instance of a slightly above average horror film being showered with praise because of how consistently disappointing modern horror tends to be—but it’s a great haunted house film, and it’s hard not to have fun with it.

#1: The Conjuring 2 (2016) – Movie Three of The Conjuring Universe Timeline

Overall rating: 79/100

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the first two installments following Ed and Lorraine Warren are the only truly great films of the franchise, but “The Conjuring 2” takes the cake for my favorite film in this universe. It has the bigger-is-better mentality that a lot of sequels tend to have, which means that there’s more character development between Ed and Lorraine and more scares. Because of this, the film frequently feels bloated, but 1.) James Wan perfectly paces this so that by the time you reach the masterful climax, that hardly feels like an issue and 2.) all of it is so good that I couldn’t think of anything that I’d want to cut out. The cool atmosphere and color palette feel a lot more fitting than the first film’s warmer vibe, and the introduction of the demonic nun Valak is chillingly, flawlessly executed. Just one thing that I couldn’t help but notice: the Hodgsons must have some heavy sleepers for neighbors, because how did nobody notice their house exploding?

All in all, I had plenty of fun watching these films. It’s refreshing to see a cinematic universe centered around horror rather than another series of action films, and it’s especially nice to see one be pretty consistent, even if that standard is slowly being lowered. It’ll be interesting to see how much longer its shelf life will last—which, based on the eighth entry, might not be much longer—and if Hollywood will continue to churn out these films after it’s worn out. I also watched all eight of these films in three or four days, so maybe I’m just saying that because of how tiring that process was. As long as people are able to recognize above average horror movies, I’ll be happy to know that the genre is still alive and has potential.

Average rating: 60/100