One of the most successful horror franchises of the last decade, The Conjuring has established its own mini-universe of hauntings since the original film in the series in 2013. While Ed and Lorraine Warren, the couple behind the paranormal investigators in the franchise, have a somewhat dubious reputation, it’s fair to say that Blumhouse Productions have created a series of movies that have exceeded expectations. And with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It hopefully arriving on September 11th, Screen Geek have now put together a chronological order for watching the franchise.
First up is Annabelle: Creation, which came out in 2017 and was a worldwide box office hit for Blumhouse. Focusing on the original story of the creepy titular doll, Annabelle: Creation takes place in 1933, 1945 and 1967, with most of the action happening in the middle date. And despite being technically the fourth movie in The Conjuring franchise, Creation is actually one of the strongest entries in the whole series.
We then move onto The Nun, set in 1952, where get to see a lot more of this incarnation of the demon Valak, which is getting up to supernatural business in Romania. OK, so it’s not the most critically loved film in The Conjuring universe, but was still a big enough hit for Blumhouse to be working on a sequel. We also get a brief look at Ed and Lorraine Warren at the end of the movie, setting up events in The Conjuring.
Next in the chronology is Annabelle, the first film starring the malevolent doll, which takes place in 1967, shortly before the events of the first movie in the franchise. You’ll probably want to get through this one pretty quickly, though, to its more accomplished sequel Annabelle Comes Home, which gives us more Warrens and the doll on the rampage in 1968 and 1972. From there, we’re into the main part of the franchise, with The Conjuring‘s haunted house scares from 1971 remaining some of the series’ best.
Chronologically, we then move on to The Curse of La Llorona, which technically also has scenes set in the earliest point in the timeline, in 1673. Most of the action takes place in 1973, though, where we get another haunting and a crossover with the Annabelle storyline. Finally, we’re into 1976 and 1977, the setting for The Conjuring 2, which is based on the Enfield Haunting incident and features both the Nun and The Crooked Man.
So, there we have it, a chronological order for The Conjuring series, with The Devil Made Me Do It likely taking place in the early 1980s, with a focus on a murder suspect claiming demonic possession as a defense. If you’re looking for other Warren-related material to keep yourself busy before then, the real-life house from The Conjuring is being live-streamed this week and is claimed to still be haunted.