The Conjuring films ranked

Ask anyone to name a horror film, I can guarantee you they'll day Halloween, Friday the 13th, or The Conjuring. A staple of 2010's horror and the introduction of quality horror and the "based on a true story" genre of ghost stories, James Wan's 2013 launch of the Conjuring series and the CCU (Conjuring Cinematic Universe), spurred a franchise of ghost stories and possessions surrounding a thread of continuity and introduced many fans to the horror genre.

As of writing this, there are currently 3 Conjuring films with The Conjuring 4: The Last Rites on the way later on this year and I wanted to take some time to rank, share some thoughts on each film, and why I ranked it in comparison to others in the series. This ranking will only be for the three main Conjuring films and will not include properties such as The Nun, La Llorona, or the Annabelle films.

As always, this is MY ranking of these films and you are entitled to your opinion on each film.

Ed & Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring (2013) - Image via Google

3. The Conjuring: The Devil Made me Do it (2021) - Directed by Michael Chaves

The most recent installment of the series is based on the true story of Arnie Johnson who murdered his landlord Alan Bono (Bruno in the film). Arnie pleaded not guilty under the idea of demonic possession to the Connecticut court system. This was the first case in the United States where demonic possession was the claim of innocence in court. The film sticks pretty close to the basis of the court case but obviously, we don't know for sure if any of the film's supernatural occurences actually took place. Compared to the other films on this list, it kind of loses its focus about ten minutes into the film. The Devil Made Me Do It feels much less like the case it's based on and much more just Ed and Lorraine Warren's movie. To be clear, I love Ed and Lorraine in the films and I love seeing them on screen together but I came for a Conjuring film and not an Ed and Lorraine film.

I wish they explored the case a bit more than what they did in the film but my main issue with this film is the cop-outs and contradictions that the production introduced that felt lazy and contradictory to the previous two films' established rules around possession and curses in the Conjuring Universe. The first contradiction that they introduced was that possession wasn't as serious as it seemed in the previous two films.

The Devil Made Me Do It includes 4 main possessions, the first is the opening conflict of the film with the exorcism of David Glatzell, a young child at the time, Arne Johnson, a flashback possession of a side character named Jessica, and finally Ed himself. Now, Arne and David's possessions seem to align pretty well with the other film's views of demonic possession and that it's not a fight for the solely physical body but the soul and the righteousness of the possessed. It's a much bigger deal and a longer process. Jessica is just a plot device and dies before being exorcised so she isn't a factor in this issue. My biggest issue overall is Ed's possession and actually, now that I think about it, Ed is my main issue with the story overall. First, with Ed's possession as a victim of a curse, he chases after Lorraine trying to kill her and all that possession jazz but Lorraine is able to save Ed with their love?

okayyy.... This can be up to the viewer as whatever but for me it felt cheap. It should have been higher stakes as Ed is usually the one who performs exorcisms and not Lorraine as she doesn't know the passages as well as Ed does but she looks into the possessed eyes of Ed's body and somehow he's saved? Ok then.

My other problem with Ed in this film comes right at the end when Ed is feeling the effects of his heart issues introduced at the beginning of the film, and Lorraine saves him with her love and all that, he says, "I forgot my pills" and while he seems fine at that moment he could actually die in a matter of moments without the pills but out of nowhere, Lorraine pulls one out of her locket. This just feels so cheap to me personally. We never had a deep reliance on Ed's pills before this and we never saw Lorraine pay much attention to the pills or put it in her locket so this whole little scene just urks me.

The story isn't the best by any means but it's fine, the visuals are great and the acting is too, it's just those cop-outs and contradictions that just don't sit right with me personally, but please feel free to disagree with me!

2. The Conjuring (2013) - Directed by James Wan

The launching pad for the franchise, the first Conjuring film explores the horrific true story of the Perron family and their cursed land and haunted farmhouse in Rhode Island in the 70's and the introductory work to Ed and Lorraine Warren in the films.

I've already published a thorough review of this film in my reviews section so please feel free to check that out for more in-depth thoughts on the film, the TLDR is that I like this film a lot! The visuals are chilling and great, the acting is incredible and it could stand alone as its own film or set up a future series (as it did).

The story is great and I liked how James Wan consulted two members of the actual Perron family to get many aspects just as they, supposedly, truly happened. He also had the real Lorraine Warren on set for many scenes to consult her on what she experienced. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that in real life, Ed and Lorraine Warren were not the heroes that they are in the films and did not actually help the Perron family in any way, but that discussion can be a future post.

In my review, I talked in depth about my one main issue with the film which was the overuse of jumpscares. This movie came out in the 2010s before jumpscares were really identified as tacky and overused so I gave it a bit of a pass for that but really that was the only negative I had about the film.

The costumes and atmosphere in the film were really effective on the viewers and the old New England farmhouse feel felt really legit to me (as a New England native). There was legitimate care and love for horror poured into this film and you can feel that when you watch it.

3. The Conjuring 2 (2016) - Directed by James Wan

The second and most widely loved Conjuring film echoes the strongest parts of the first film but adds more to the universe which is what any good sequel film should do. This film takes us out of New England to Old England (The UK), for the possession of a 12-year-old girl named Janet Hodgson. This film was, of course, also based on the "true story" of the case.

The real case is still incredibly debated to this day on its validity and if the family was faking it for the attention and media or not and I think this film handles that argument really well. There are many skeptics introduced in the team investigating the case alongside Ed and Lorraine and they do often make some really valid points as to why Janet was faking it all or not.

The second Conjuring film keeps the possession strengths of the first one and the household spectacles too but adds in something else, a named demon. The first film wasn't technically a demonic possession but rather a plain ol' regular possession. This one is similar in the fact that we are led to believe, for a large chunk of the film too, that an old man's spirit is possessing the girl and that is true but we then find out the chilling fact that the spirit is being controlled by a demon. This was the iconic introduction of the Nun from future films. This demon is terrifying and a wonderful subversion of something seen as holy and warm turned demonic and cruel in a way that only James Wan could create. The other perversion that I love in this film is the time of year the story takes place. It's around Christmas time, the birth of the most holy icon in Christianity but all of this unholy and evil stuff is going on. There's Christmas music and Christmas trees all around and the juxtaposition of it all in a film is really eerie and adds to the strange and unsettling atmosphere of the film.

The stakes in this film feel so much higher than in the other films and make every action feel so much more important. The main stakes concern Janet's family and their safety but also, but Lorraine's visions have shown her husband's death that his life is also now at stake, then there's the world's safety at stake because what if the demon Nun (Valak) got what it wanted? Would it be free to plunge the world into hell?

This is my favorite Conjuring film by far and I recommend giving it a watch as soon as possible!