The definitive guide to watching The Conjuring movies in order (2024)

The simplest way to watch the entire Conjuring series is by going in the order they were released.

It means you'll be jumping around the timeline, but you won't get confused as that's how everybody experienced the movies for the first time.

We've left The Curse of La Llorona off this list as it's now officially not part of the universe, despite the fact that Annabelle's Father Perez makes an appearance in it.

(If you wanted to be a rebel and watch it anyway, it was released in 2019 before Annabelle Comes Home.)

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The Conjuring is the movie that started it all in 2013 and, for many fans, it's still the best movie of the entire series to date.

It introduced us to Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) as they investigated the disturbing events taking place at the home of the Perron family in 1971.

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Before The Conjuring 2 turned the series into the horror version of the MCU, it dabbled in an extended universe with prequel spin-off movie Annabelle.

An expansion of the cold open to The Conjuring, it told the story of how the doll was first used by a demon and how it ended up in the Warrens' possession.

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Ed and Lorraine Warren returned in The Conjuring 2 tackling not one, but two major cases: the Amityville Haunting and the Enfield poltergeist.

It's the first appearance in the series for Valak who turns out to be the demon behind it all, and it also opened up the series to a further spin-off which we'll get to in a bit.

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It's that damn doll again, Annabelle, in a prequel to the prequel movie, Annabelle: Creation, that tells the actual origin story of the doll in 1958.

A group of orphans find out what happens when you mess with a doll that's a conduit for a demon, before one of them grows up to be the female killer we see at the start of Annabelle.

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With two Conjuring movies and two Annabelle movies done, it was time to turn to another spin-off movie with The Nun, which centres on the origin story of Valak.

In 1952, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) is about to discover the unholy secret at the heart of Saint Cartha's monastery, bringing her face-to-face with Valak.

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If you just can't get enough of Annabelle, the creepy doll returns in Annabelle Comes Home, set one year after the Warrens bring the doll back to lock up in their room of cursed artefacts.

With the Warrens out for the evening, Judy's babysitter's friend unwittingly lets Annabelle out, and the demon has a lot of fun releasing the spirits of every other cursed object.

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The Warrens returned in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and in a shake-up for the series, there wasn't a haunted house (or building) to be seen.

Instead, the third movie focused on the infamous trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson. It was the first case in history where a defendant used demonic possession as a defence, and the Warrens were in the thick of it.

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Valak is back in the sequel to the prequel, The Nun II, but luckily Sister Irene is also back to battle the demon nun again.

Unfortunately for Irene, her old pal Maurice (Jonas Bloquet) is still afflicted by Valak, who has been going on a murder spree in Europe on a hunt for a powerful holy relic.

A more in-depth way to watch The Conjuring series is in chronological order, which requires you to jump around the release order.

Most of the movies have cold opens and epilogues that take place in different years, such as The Nun's final scene taking place at the same time as The Conjuring. (If you wanted to be that dedicated, we've got the breakdown of The Conjuring timeline here.)

But the easier way is to focus on the year that the majority of each movie takes place in, which makes the chronological order of the series as follows.

(As with the release order, we've left off The Curse of La Llorona.)

• The Nun
• The Nun II
• Annabelle: Creation
• Annabelle
• The Conjuring
• Annabelle Comes Home
• The Conjuring 2
• The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

Don't fancy The Conjuring or demon nun antics and just want to focus on creepy dolls? Then you could also just watch the Annabelle trilogy.

Here's how to watch in release order:

• Annabelle
• Annabelle: Creation
• Annabelle Comes Home

And here's how to watch in chronological order:

• Annabelle: Creation
• Annabelle
• Annabelle Comes Home