The Conjuring Universe has become a dominant force in modern horror. The stories at the center of their movies follow demonic possessions, haunted artifacts, and the paranormal investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren.

The narrative now spans over ten movies, and the latest entry, The Conjuring: Last Rites, has had a massive opening weekend at the box office, so I bet we keep getting more and more of these movies, even if they hinted this was the last.

Today, I wanted to rank the movies based on box office, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and a few other factors.

Let's dive in.

The Conjuring (2013)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
  • Metacritic: 68
  • IMDb: 7.5
  • Worldwide Box Office: $320.4 million

The film that started it all. James Wan's The Conjuring is a masterclass in horror. It has everything you want: jump scares, gross stuff, and creepy music. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play the Warrens, who investigate the paranormal and who captured our hearts as they deal with hell.

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
  • Metacritic: 65
  • IMDb: 7.3
  • Worldwide Box Office: $321.8 million

Another directorial triumph for James Wan, The Conjuring 2 expanded the world of the Warrens with the introduction of the demonic nun Valak, who would get her own spinoffs. The sequel delivered on more scares and helped establish this as a franchise with legs.

Annabelle: Creation (2017)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
  • Metacritic: 62
  • IMDb: 6.5
  • Worldwide Box Office: $306.5 million

Nothing like a creepy origin story of a psycho doll. Director David F. Sandberg delivered a tense and inventive horror film that dialed into what people find terrifying about dolls and capitalized.

Annabelle Comes Home (2019)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
  • Metacritic: 53
  • IMDb: 5.9
  • Worldwide Box Office: $231.3 million

Leaning into a more fun style of horror, Annabelle Comes Home was a crowd-pleaser that saw the Warrens' artifact room unleashed. I really thought this movie understood it had to shake things up in the tone and with the set pieces.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 55%
  • Metacritic: 53
  • IMDb: 6.3
  • Worldwide Box Office: $206.4 million

The third installment in the main series focused on a real-life court case where demonic possession was used as a defense. I thought this was a nice genre twist that kept these movies interesting.

The Nun II (2023)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 52%
  • Metacritic: 47
  • IMDb: 5.8
  • Worldwide Box Office: $269.5 million

A direct sequel to the 2018 film, The Nun II, had more consistent scares and brought back the original demon to do battle against a Nun. As a Catholic School kid, it was sort of the perfect horror movie for me.

The Nun (2018)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 24%
  • Metacritic: 46
  • IMDb: 5.3
  • Worldwide Box Office: $365.6 million

The Nun took the Gothic Horror to the next level. It gave us an exciting new protagonist in the universe and allowed for new settings and set pieces.

Annabelle (2014)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 28%
  • Metacritic: 37
  • IMDb: 5.4
  • Worldwide Box Office: $257.6 million

The first spin-off in the series, Annabelle, gave us a bad doll that was ready to hurt people. It's a familiar trope, but inside this universe, it is terrifying.

The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 28%
  • Metacritic: 41
  • IMDb: 5.1
  • Worldwide Box Office: $123.1 million

Okay, so this is like a very loose connection, but everything I found online said it was canon, so it's on the list. It's a cool folklore movie that takes us into a world we don't get to see very often.

Summing It All Up 

What I like about this universe is that it's so diverse within the horror genre. The people behind it are never afraid to change it up and cycle through kinds of stories or settings to deliver the scariest and most crowd-pleasing movies possible.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

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