The original *The Conjuring* stands atop the franchise hierarchy with a 7.5/10 IMDb rating, followed by *The Conjuring 2* at 7.3/10 and *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* at 6.2/10. The 10-film Conjuring Universe, which spans from 2013 to 2025, shows a clear performance split: the main trilogy films cluster above 6.2, while the spinoff films—centered on the Annabelle doll, The Nun, and other ancillary characters—range from 5.3 to 6.5.
This ranking reflects a consistent pattern in how audiences and reviewers have received the franchise over more than a decade. The highest-rated film lands nearly 2.2 points above the lowest (*The Curse of La Llorona* at 5.3/10), a significant spread that indicates meaningful differences in how viewers perceive each entry. Understanding where each film falls on this spectrum helps fans and new viewers navigate which entries resonate most with general audiences.
Table of Contents
- How Do the Core Conjuring Trilogy Films Compare in IMDb Ratings?
- Why Do Spinoff Films Underperform the Core Series?
- How Has Critical Reception Evolved Across the Franchise Timeline?
- Which Conjuring Universe Films Should You Watch Based on IMDb Ratings?
- What Do IMDb Ratings Exclude About Conjuring Universe Quality?
- Notable Rating Anomalies Within the Conjuring Universe
- What the 2025 Release Tells Us About the Franchise’s Current Standing
How Do the Core Conjuring Trilogy Films Compare in IMDb Ratings?
The three main *Conjuring* films directed by James Wan and his follow-ups form the emotional and narrative spine of the franchise. *The Conjuring* (2013) achieves the franchise’s highest rating at 7.5/10, establishing the template that subsequent films would either strengthen or dilute. *The Conjuring 2* (2016) follows closely at 7.3/10, maintaining audience confidence in the central characters and storytelling approach. The third entry, *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* (2021), drops to 6.2/10—a notable decline of 1.1 points from the second film, suggesting that audience enthusiasm may have fatigued or that the shift in direction resonated less broadly.
The trilogy’s internal consistency contrasts sharply with the spinoff lineup. All three main films remain in the upper tier of the entire franchise, above 6.2/10, while the Annabelle and Nun films—despite substantial theatrical budgets and promotional campaigns—struggle to crack 6.5/10. This performance gap indicates that viewers distinguish between established properties (Ed and Lorraine Warren investigations) and derivative horror concepts. The original *Conjuring* benefits from novelty and strong source material (the true case of the Perron family), giving it a structural advantage that sequels inevitably lose.
Why Do Spinoff Films Underperform the Core Series?
The Annabelle films consistently underperform, with the original *Annabelle* (2014) at 5.5/10, *Annabelle: Creation* (2017) at 6.5/10, and *Annabelle Comes Home* (2019) at 5.9/10. None exceed 6.5, despite creation stories and expanding mythology. Similarly, *The Nun* (2018) sits at 5.4/10 and *The Nun II* (2023) at 5.6/10. The spinoff limitation appears tied to narrower character focus: a doll or a singular supernatural entity lacks the dynamic detective work and character relationships that define the Warren films. Audiences rating these films may perceive them as repetitive explorations of the same antagonist without sufficient narrative evolution.
The gap between the core trilogy and spinoffs reveals a critical weakness in the Conjuring Universe strategy. While spinoffs maximize IP value, they often compress storytelling to a single supernatural threat and its backstory. The original *Conjuring* benefited from a mystery structure—what is the haunting, and how do investigators solve it—whereas *Annabelle: Creation* essentially tells a prequel explaining why one doll is cursed. This structural limitation may explain why spinoff ratings plateau around 6.5 and decline as the filmography expands. Viewers cannot rate what they haven’t seen, but those who do rate tend to mark these films lower than the core trilogy, suggesting diminishing returns in audience satisfaction.
How Has Critical Reception Evolved Across the Franchise Timeline?
The franchise’s trajectory reveals a downward trend from 2013 to 2019. *The Conjuring* (2013) at 7.5/10 represents the peak. Over the next six years, each major release or spinoff generally declined in rating: *Annabelle* (2014, 5.5), *The Conjuring 2* (2016, 7.3), *Annabelle: Creation* (2017, 6.5), *The Nun* (2018, 5.4), *Annabelle Comes Home* (2019, 5.9), and *The Curse of La Llorona* (2019, 5.3). By 2019, the franchise had released six films, with only the second *Conjuring* maintaining a rating above 7.0.
The 2020s saw a stabilization pattern rather than further decline. *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* (2021) scored 6.2/10, *The Nun II* (2023) achieved 5.6/10, and *The Conjuring: Last Rites* (2025) matched the third film at 6.2/10. These ratings suggest that after the 2019 low point, audience expectations either adjusted downward or filmmaking quality stabilized. The newest entry, *The Conjuring: Last Rites*, does not break new ground in critical reception—it matches the 2021 film—indicating that franchise fatigue may have plateaued. Viewers appear to have settled into accepting 6.0–6.2 as the expected standard for post-original *Conjuring* content, while main trilogy films occupy the 7.0+ tier.
Which Conjuring Universe Films Should You Watch Based on IMDb Ratings?
For viewers prioritizing audience reception, starting with *The Conjuring* (7.5/10) and *The Conjuring 2* (7.3/10) is the obvious choice. These two films account for nearly all the franchise’s highest ratings and deliver the strongest viewer approval. If those satisfy your interest, *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* (6.2/10) provides closure to the core trilogy, though with diminished returns. Skipping this third entry would leave a narrative gap, but the rating drop warns that some viewers found it weaker.
For spinoff content, *Annabelle: Creation* (6.5/10) represents the spinoff line’s highest point and is worth watching if you want to understand the Annabelle mythology. However, *Annabelle* (5.5/10) and *Annabelle Comes Home* (5.9/10) offer diminishing value; the first film suffers the lowest rating for an Annabelle movie, while the third relies on familiar home-invasion tropes. *The Nun II* (5.6/10) slightly outperforms the original (5.4/10), suggesting the sequel refined the concept, though both remain in the bottom half of franchise ratings. *The Curse of La Llorona* (5.3/10)—the franchise’s lowest entry—carries minimal mythology ties to the core series, making it the safest film to skip if you’re rating-conscious.
What Do IMDb Ratings Exclude About Conjuring Universe Quality?
IMDb ratings measure aggregate user satisfaction but cannot capture individual viewing preferences or specific strengths. A film scoring 5.5/10 might excel at cinematography, creature design, or atmospheric tension while failing at plot coherence or character development. *Annabelle* (5.5/10) may feature effective doll cinematography that individual viewers praise, even as the overall rating reflects broader dissatisfaction with the narrative. Conversely, high-rated films can have significant flaws that some viewers notice but that don’t prevent overall approval. Ratings flatten nuance into a single number, making them useful for baselines but misleading as complete judgments.
Another critical limitation: IMDb ratings skew toward users who feel compelled to rate, creating potential bias. Extremely satisfied or extremely dissatisfied viewers may be more likely to submit ratings, while moderate audiences might skip the step. This bias could inflate extreme ratings (very high for beloved films, very low for disliked ones) and underrepresent middle-ground opinions. Additionally, the franchise’s spinoffs launched after the core trilogy established high expectations, meaning *Annabelle: Creation* and *The Nun* faced skepticism before release that may have depressed ratings regardless of their individual merits. Release order and franchise momentum can distort ratings in ways that raw numbers don’t reflect.
Notable Rating Anomalies Within the Conjuring Universe
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- Annabelle: Creation* (6.5/10) stands as the highest-rated Annabelle film despite being a prequel to a 2014 film that scored 5.5/10. This 1.0-point improvement suggests that director David F. Sandberg’s second entry corrected perceived issues from the original, incorporating lessons from early audience feedback. The improvement is notable because most franchises struggle to gain ratings as installments multiply; *Annabelle: Creation* bucked that trend, at least temporarily, before *Annabelle Comes Home* (5.9/10) retreated to the lower range.
- The Curse of La Llorona* (5.3/10) occupies a unique position as the franchise’s lowest-rated entry despite being a theatrical release with promotion equivalent to other spinoffs. This extreme low point may reflect audience perception of its tangential connection to the Conjuring mythology—it introduces a pre-existing legend rather than expanding established lore, potentially feeling more like a standalone horror film wearing a franchise label. The rating gap between *La Llorona* and *Annabelle Comes Home* (0.6 points) is small, yet *La Llorona* edges slightly lower, suggesting that even peripheral Conjuring Universe status cannot fully overcome weak audience reception.
What the 2025 Release Tells Us About the Franchise’s Current Standing
The fact that *The Conjuring: Last Rites* equals rather than exceeds its 2021 predecessor demonstrates that 12 years of franchise filmmaking has not improved mainstream audience ratings for anything outside the original trilogy. The 2013 original and 2016 sequel remain isolated peaks at 7.5 and 7.3, while everything subsequent—regardless of budget, director, or narrative approach—clusters between 5.3 and 6.5. This structural ceiling suggests that the franchise’s core appeal was the novelty of the Warren investigators and the 2013 narrative, with later films unable to recapture that combination.
- The Conjuring: Last Rites* (2025), the newest franchise entry, achieves a 6.2/10 rating that exactly matches *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* (2021). This tie is significant because it suggests no meaningful trajectory change in the core franchise’s critical reception. Between 2021 and 2025, the franchise released *The Nun II* (5.6/10) and other properties, yet the main *Conjuring* line maintained its established 6.2 baseline. The 2025 film does not represent a resurgence (which would break 7.0) or further decline (which would drop below 6.0), indicating that audience expectations have genuinely stabilized at this level for post-original content.
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