“The Conjuring” wouldn’t have been an obvious pick for launching the most lucrative horror franchise of all time when it premiered on July 15, 2013. James Wan had made a similar old-school haunting film just two years prior, “Insidious.”
What made “The Conjuring” special? First, the elite craftsmanship; second, the fact that it was based on a true story, and features the investigators – Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren – as characters.
While it can get a little confusing since both actors simultaneously starred in another horror saga (Wilson in “Insidious” and Farmiga in “Bates Motel”), the “Conjuring” Universe (CU) further distinguished itself with spinoffs not involving the Warrens and not directly based on true stories – three “Annabelle” films, a “La Llorona” and a “Nun,” with a second “Nun” coming later this year.
Here are my rankings of the films so far, from tamest to most terrifying. Click on each title for a full review.
8. “The Curse of La Llorona” (2019)
The title gets stuck in my head to the tune of “My Sharona” (or “My Bologna”), but unfortunately director Michael Chaves’ film isn’t so catchy. The main curse of the screenplay by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis is that it’s familiar. For one, I had already encountered the Weeping Woman lore in other horror fiction. For another, the film itself tells us her tragic backstory right away – killing her baby in a suicide-homicide, then stalking the Earth as ghost. As such, there’s no mystery. “Freaks and Geeks’ ” Linda Cardellini returns to the Seventies as a mother terrified for her children, so that’s something. But “La Llorona” is as by-the-book as it gets.
7. “The Nun” (2018)
Expensive looking in a good way as we move to 1950s Romania, “The Nun” avoids the bottom spot because it’s more ambitious than “La Llorona.” It’s moody under the direction of Corin Hardy, but it also has a confusing plot, even though Wan and “Annabelle” saga leader Gary Dauberman are the writers. Demian Bechir classes things up with his “Exorcist”-style priest. And it’s fun to speculate whether Taissa Farmiga’s nun (a good one, not the titular monster) is any relation to Vera Farmiga’s Lorraine. I would guess not, since the Warrens are real people, and the spinoffs venture quite far from the Warrens’ case files. “The Nun” ranks among the most disliked films to quickly get a sequel greenlit (despite the dislike, it’s the highest-grossing CU film), but there’s potential in the further adventures that’s not quite found here.
6. “Annabelle” (2014)
Before “La Llorona,” the first “Annabelle” was the textbook example of a horror film that’s perfectly fine, but so predictable that it resists staying in a viewers’ mind. Under the direction of John R. Leonetti, who lensed the original “Conjuring,” “Annabelle’s” Sixties vibe is present, assisted by the wardrobe and the blandly patriarchal family unit of two (soon to be three). Writer Dauberman deserves credit for riffing on “Rosemary’s Baby” inasmuch as Mia (Annabelle Wallis, no relation to the doll) frets over her child being possessed. That horror classic hit theaters in 1968, one year after this film’s setting. The difference is that everyone – husband, neighbor friend, priest – is supportive of Mia. If there’s such a thing as a perfectly pleasant haunted-doll film, this is it.
5. “Annabelle Comes Home” (2019)
One element that makes the CU films smarter than the competition is that its characters tend to react intelligently to what’s happening; indeed, the Warrens believe that evil can’t be stopped, but it can be contained if you’re vigilant. This early Seventies “Annabelle” sequel is an amusing exception. The Warrens trust their kid Judy (Mckenna Grace), a teenage babysitter (Madison Iseman of TV’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer”) and Judy’s friends to hold down the fort. Before long, Annabelle is on the loose. One cursed item in the Warrens’ infamous artifact room is a TV that can see a few seconds into the future, and writer-director Dauberman has fun with that.
4. “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” (2021)
The films with “Conjuring” in the title come from the Warrens’ files, and this is at first blush the most interesting case: In 1981, a young man named Arne (Ruairi O’Connor) commits a murder while controlled by a demon. He pleads not guilty by reason of possession, and his lawyers smartly argue that if the US courts recognize the existence of God, they should recognize the existence of the Devil. I got excited for a horror/courtroom drama. This is not that, as director Michael Chaves and writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick instead follow Arne’s subsequent stalking by a demon. That part is rote, but on the plus side, the Warrens actively participate in the story more than ever. Another positive: I sought out horror/court hybrids, and found the excellent “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” (2005), also based on a true story.
3. “Annabelle: Creation” (2017)
Writer Dauberman and director Gary F. Sandberg wonderfully set the stage with a chair lift, a dumbwaiter, a closet under the stairs and a creepy barn as we follow six girls at a 1950s countryside orphanage. Talitha Bateman’s Janice and Lulu Wilson’s Linda stand out from the pack, as they find room to be innocent youngsters under the sometimes overbearing eyes of their foster parents — dollmaker Anthony LaPaglia and wife Miranda Otto. While the doll’s origin isn’t as gripping as, say, the origin of the xenomorphs in “Alien: Covenant” from the same year, this prequel does have more mystery and mood than the first “Annabelle.” It’s the standout among the CU spinoffs.
2. “The Conjuring” (2013)
Director Wan – working from a true story about the paranormal investigating Warrens (via the screenplay by Chad and Carey W. Hayes) – takes us back to 1971 not only in setting, but also in the style of horror films from that time. Wan did not start the revival by any means, even with his own “Insidious” from two years prior. But the creaky doors and floors and the evidence-gathering techniques (photographs triggered by a drop in temperature) amid a haunted country house make the film engrossing. Although Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston are able leads, we also spend time with the Warrens, real (and controversial) demonologists who form the backbone of the CU. To be sure, “The Conjuring” has familiar pieces on its gameboard. But it plays the game well, and is worthy of more than a couple hand-claps in the dark.
1. “The Conjuring 2” (2016)
In the masterpiece of the CU, writer-director Wan takes us to 1977 London to explore the Enfield poltergeist. The sequel (co-written by the Hayses) emphasizes the screeching creakiness of every floorboard in the sound mix, but Wan stops short of parody by loading up on legit creep-outs and scares. We start with Ed flow-walking through a scene that’s also the prolog to “The Amityville Horror” (1979), and end with real-life recordings of an interview with possessed youngster Janet over the credits. In between, “Conjuring 2” balances the abode’s hominess with its hauntedness. The bedroom of Janet (Madison Wolfe) and sister Margaret (Lauren Esposito) is warm and vibrant with the lights on, a perfect hideout for a demon with the lights off. Even the cuts back to the Warrens in the US have mood, even though they are merely researching. Most horror films that clock in at 2:15 would feel too long, but “Conjuring 2” is engrossing enough to earn its run time.
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Main image by Pedro Figueras from Pixabay.