How to Watch the Conjuring Universe in Order (Chronological & Release)

The Conjuring universe is one of the most successful horror franchises ever made — but because it jumps between decades, spins off haunted dolls and demonic nuns, and weaves in “based on a true case” claims, the viewing order confuses almost everyone. Here’s how to watch all of it, in both release order and story (chronological) order, plus which films are actually rooted in the real Ed and Lorraine Warren case files. (If you like untangling sprawling franchises, our guide to navigating the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a good next read.)

The Conjuring universe in release order

If you want the films the way audiences discovered them — with each reveal and spin-off landing as intended — watch in release order:

1. The Conjuring (2013)
2. Annabelle (2014)
3. The Conjuring 2 (2016)
4. Annabelle: Creation (2017)
5. The Nun (2018)
6. The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
7. Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
8. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
9. The Nun II (2023)
10. The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

This is the order most fans recommend for a first watch, because the main Conjuring films anchor the timeline and the spin-offs make more sense once you’ve met the Warrens.

The Conjuring universe in chronological (story) order

If you’d rather follow the in-universe timeline — from the earliest events to the latest — this is the broad chronological sequence. (The films aren’t precise about every date, so treat this as the accepted story order rather than an exact calendar.)

1. The Nun — 1950s, Romania
2. The Nun II — 1950s, France
3. Annabelle: Creation — origin of the doll
4. Annabelle — late 1960s
5. The Conjuring — 1971, the Perron family haunting
6. Annabelle Comes Home — the Warrens’ artifact room
7. The Conjuring 2 — 1977, the Enfield case
8. The Curse of La Llorona — 1973 (loosely connected via a shared priest character)
9. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — 1981
10. The Conjuring: Last Rites — the Warrens’ later years

The Curse of La Llorona is the odd one out — it’s only tangentially tied to the universe through a supporting character, so some fans skip it or treat it as optional.

Which Conjuring movies are actually based on real cases?

This is where the franchise gets its marketing punch — and where it takes the biggest liberties. The films that draw on the real, documented investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren are the main Conjuring movies:

• The Conjuring — dramatises the Perron family’s claims of a haunting on their Rhode Island farmhouse.
• The Conjuring 2 — based on the Enfield poltergeist case in London, one of the most famous alleged hauntings in British history.
• The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — built around the real Arne Cheyenne Johnson murder trial, in which “demonic possession” was infamously raised as a legal defence.

The real Annabelle doll also exists — it’s a Raggedy Ann doll the Warrens claimed was haunted and kept in their occult museum. But the Annabelle films heavily fictionalise it (the real doll never moved around murdering people). And the scariest icon of the franchise, the demon nun Valak, along with most of The Nun and Annabelle: Creation, is essentially an invented mythology created for the movies — not a real Warren case.

In other words: the hauntings that inspired the main films are real claims the Warrens investigated, dramatised and amplified for maximum scares. Skeptics have long disputed the Warrens’ accounts, so it’s best to enjoy these as horror “inspired by” real folklore rather than documentary.

So which order should you actually watch?

For a first-timer: release order. It preserves the surprises and lets the strong main films hook you before the spin-offs. For a rewatch, chronological order is a fun way to see how the mythology fits together.

More from Quack Review: our review of the occult horror Late Night with the Devil, plus more scares and screen picks in our Hollywood section.