How To Watch All The Movies In ‘The Conjuring’ Universe In Chronological Order
Here's exactly how to follow Ed and Lorraine Warren's demonic adventures in order.
Of all the cinematic universes out there, The Conjuring has to be the most horrifying one.
This is because while the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe focus on make-believe action, the films under The Conjuring umbrella are spooky tales that started based on true stories.
The franchise started in 2013 when the original The Conjuring hit cinemas and introduced the world to Ed and Lorraine Warren, a pair of real-life paranormal investigators who documented their supernatural encounters. Naturally, the film was a hit and so director James Wan decided that another seven sequels in The Conjuring Universe were necessary.
But just because The Conjuring came out first doesn’t mean it’s the first movie within the franchise chronologically. Like most cinematic universes, films jump around with timelines so it can be hard to know what to watch so that all the stories line up.
So with the new addition of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, here’s a handy guide on how to watch all The Conjuring Universe movies in chronological order:
— Warning: Spoilers below, obviously. —
The Nun (2018)
Credit: New Line Cinema
Despite being one of the more recent Conjuring releases, The Nun is actually the first film in the franchise chronologically.
Based in 1952, The Nun tells the story of Father Burke and Sister Irene who head to a monastery in Romania to investigate the strange suicide of a nun. While at the monastery the pair discover that a malevolent nun named Valak — who also appears in The Conjuring 2 — has been terrorising those at the abbey in search of a human vessel to possess.
After a fierce showdown, the protagonists believe they’ve beaten Valak, but at the very end of the film it’s shown that Frenchie, a local man from a nearby village who helped defeat the demon, had actually become possessed by her.
In a 20-year time jump, the events of The Nun line up perfectly with The Conjuring as Carolyn Perron sits in on a demonology seminar the Warrens give about an exorcism (Frenchie’s) they had performed. And it’s Frenchie’s contact with Lorraine during this said exorcism that drives the entire plot of The Conjuring 2.
Annabelle: Creation (2017)
Credit: New Line Cinema
Moving across the pond to Southern California in 1955, Annabelle: Creation is all about how the possessed Annabelle doll came to be.
The film picks up 12 years after a toymaker’s daughter, Bee, is hit by a car and killed. Soon after their daughter’s death Samuel the toymaker and his wife Esther are tricked by a spirit — known as the Ram — pretending to be Bee, who moves into the now-haunted doll that is locked away after gouging out Esther’s eye.
In modern times, Samuel and Esther welcome Sister Charlotte and six orphans into their home and inform the kids that Bee’s old room is the only place off-limits. As kids do, one of the children called Janice ignores this warning and is eventually possessed by the Ram before running off before police arrive.
Now possessed, Janice finds herself in an orphanage and now goes by the name, you guessed it, Annabelle.
Annabelle is then adopted by Pete and Sharon Higgins, who gift their new daughter a ragdoll when they first meet her. Twelve years later, Annabelle grows up, runs away to join the Disciples of the Ram cult, then returns with her boyfriend to murder her adoptive parents.
Annabelle (2014)
Credit: New Line Cinema
Picking up on the same day seen at the end of Annabelle: Creation, John Form buys his pregnant wife Mia the creepy Annabelle doll to celebrate the impending arrival of their first child in 1967.
That night, the events at the end of Creation unfold, where the Forms hear the murder unfolding next door at the Higgins household. While John investigates the noise next door, Mia is attacked by human Annabelle (aka Janice) who sacrifices herself to allow the spirit of the Ram to enter back into the cursed doll in hopes of possessing Mia’s unborn baby.
A few days later, Mia gives birth to baby Leah and is haunted by a series of paranormal activities. Despite moving and throwing away Annabelle, the possessed doll follows the couple and Mia learns that the spirit wants her soul.
Calling a priest for help, the Forms realise that trying to escape from Annabelle is useless after Father Perez declares that an exorcism is impossible. So Mia prepares to jump to her death with the doll to protect Leah but Mia is stopped by her neighbour, who sacrifices herself instead after feeling guilty for her own daughter’s death years earlier.
But because this doll can never actually disappear in this cursed universe, the film ends with Annabelle being purchased again from an antique store as a gift for a nurse.
The Conjuring (2013)
Credit: New Line Cinema
And just like that, The Conjuring opens in 1968 with that very same nurse, who is now telling the Warrens how the possessed doll has been tormenting her and her roommates.
According to a medium they hired, a seven-year-old Annabelle Higgins had died in their apartment and had “taken a liking” to the doll. To fix the problem, Ed and Lorraine take Annabelle and place her into their room of possessed objects and artefacts.
With Annabelle seemingly at bay, time jumps over to 1971 where Carolyn Perron is seen sitting in on that same demonology seminar seen at the end of The Nun. Carolyn attends the lecture seeking help for her family who have been terrorised by an evil spirit after they moved into a Rhode Island farmhouse.
The Warrens soon discover that the land is haunted by a witch named Bathsheba, who sacrificed her week-old baby to the devil and then killed herself on the property in 1863 — vowing to curse anyone who took her land.
After a whole lot of jumps scares, Bathsheba ends up possessing Carolyn and tries to make the mum kill her children, too. But Ed and Lorraine manage to perform a rushed exorcism in the farmhouse basement and are able to lift Bathsheba’s curse forever.
When they leave, the Warrens take the cursed music box from the Perron’s home and place it in their room of artefacts, which will likely become another spin-off film in The Conjuring Universe.
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Credit: New Line Cinema
Now if you were really going to watch The Conjuring Universe correctly, you’d watch The Conjuring’s cold open, jump to Annabelle Comes Home and back over to the rest of The Conjuring as this film occurs after the Warrens gain possession of the doll. But that’s just too much work, so just watch this one after.
Comes Home takes place in 1968 when the nurse gives Annabelle over to the Warrens, who lock her away in a glass case made of church windows that is inside a room blessed by Father Gordon.
But when called to an overnight case, Ed and Lorraine hire babysitter Mary Ellen to look after their daughter, Judy, while away. While babysitting, Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela arrives and sneaks into the artefact room in the hopes of contacting her dead father. Instead, Daniela ends up releasing every demon that was once trapped — including Annabelle.
The three girls basically spend the majority of the film being terrorised by the spirits of the Ferryman, the Bride, Feeley Meeley, and the Black Shuck, until they finally lock Annabelle back into her case and all is calm again.
And instead of Daniela getting in trouble for causing one of the biggest demonic messes ever, Lorraine gives her a message from her dad and they all have some cake to celebrate Judy’s birthday.
The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
Credit: New Line Cinema
The only real connection La Llorona has to the wider The Conjuring Universe is that Father Perez, who is the main priest used by the Warrens, features in this film and Annabelle.
Set in 1973, La Llorona is centred on Anna Garcia, a widowed social worker who mistakenly invites a malevolent Mexican spirit in to kill her children after foolishly removing two boys from their mother who was just trying to protect them.
Once La Llorona latches on to Chris and Sam Garcia, the weeping woman tries to lure the children to their deaths as she did when drowning her own children in 1673. Attempting to drown Chris and Sam at any given opportunity, Anna seeks help from Father Perez who refuses citing his previous traumatic experience with Annabelle. (Ding:The connection!)
Instead, Father Perez recommends Rafael Olvera, a former priest who ends up helping Anna destroy the weeping woman’s spirit. The pair achieve this by distracting La Llorona with a necklace her actual son gave her and by stabbing her through the heart with a cross made from Fire Tree — the trees that grew by the lake La Llorona drowned her children in.
In a deleted scene, the movie ends with Anna giving La Lorona’s necklace to Father Perez, who says he knows “a couple on the East coast” who could safely store the item. This couple is, of course, Ed and Lorraine Warren. (Ding: Another connection!)
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
Credit: New Line Cinema
Three years later in 1976, Valak — the antagonist from The Nun — makes her appearance back in the franchise to terrorise Lorraine.
Despite Valak’s spirit originally latching onto Lorraine during Frenchie’s exorcism — that was shown during the demonology class in both in The Nun and The Conjuring — at least five years prior, Lorraine only sees Valak during a seance while investigating the Amityville murders. During this vision, Lorraine sees Ed get killed by Valak.
One year later, the Warrens travel to England to help out the Hodgson family when Janet, one of the children, gets possessed after playing with an ouija board and the family experience a bunch of paranormal events. During this time Janet’s body is taken over by Bill Wilkins, the man who lived and died in the family home, during a live TV interview.
While Lorraine is initially hesitant of getting too involved after fearing her vision of Valak killing Ed would come true, the couple decide to stay to help the Hodgson family. After thinking the whole thing might’ve just been a hoax, they soon discover that Bill Wilkins was only used as a pawn by Valak, and when the demonic nun tries to make Janet kill herself a showdown ensues where Lorraine’s vision is close to coming true.
But Lorraine manages to banish Valak back to hell by calling the demon by its name, thus freeing Janet and saving Ed from his fate. To add to their ever-growing collection, the Warrens place a cursed Crooked Man zoetrope in their artefact room, which is the basis for the yet-to-be-released Crooked Man spin-off.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
Credit: New Line Cinema
The latest addition to The Conjuring Universe, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is loosely based on the 1981 trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who tried to use demonic possession as a defence for the murder of his landlord.
The true Arne Johnson story linked back to Ed and Lorraine Warren when the defence claimed that a demonic spirit had hopped from 11-year-old David Glatzel and entered Johnson’s body during an exorcism that the Warren’s helped arrange.
In the film, the Warrens are similarly present for the exorcism of 8-year-old David and Ed has a heart attack after watching the demon jump from David body’s into Arne. A month later, the Warrens find out that a possessed Arne murders his landlord and so the couple try to get to the bottom of David’s original possession.
Ed and Lorraine seek help from Kastner, a retired priest who had spent a decade dealing with the Disciples of the Ram cult we saw in Annabelle: Creation and Annabelle. The Warrens find out that these demonic possessions stem from a witch totem that had been cursed by an occultist who used it to summon a demon that possesses anyone it is near.
Without spoiling the rest of the film, Ed and Lorraine Warren spend the rest of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It trying to defeat the demon and the occultist who summoned it.
The Crooked Man (TBA)
Credit: New Line Cinema
The Crooked Man is the next installment in The Conjuring Universe that has yet to be released.
The Crooked Man character was first seen in The Conjuring 2 and was the malevolent spirit who chased one of the Hodgson siblings through the house in the middle of the night.
However, despite being announced in 2017, there has been no solid update on when, and really if, The Crooked Man would ever actually be released.
Michelle Rennex is a senior writer at Junkee. She tweets at @michellerennex.