The Conjuring Universe Explained - From Annabelle to Valak

The Big Picture

• The Conjuring Universe is a successful horror franchise that started with the fictionalized story of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren battling a ghost-witch in a haunted house.
• The franchise includes movies set in different time periods and locations, such as Romania, South California, France, and Rhode Island.
• Each film in the franchise introduces new supernatural entities, such as demons and ghosts, and explores their origins and connections to the main characters, creating a shared universe with plenty of jump scares.

The Conjuring universe hasn’t been exorcised of its popularity, not if the box office numbers have anything to say about it. The latest installment, this year's The Nun II, reached a milestone, earning over $250 million worldwide, surpassing the $206 million that The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It took in. Valak’s (Bonnie Aarons) second spin-off might have been more successful, but everyone still wants more of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. They were either bonafide demon-fighting badasses or a married couple who threw holy water onto several severely mentally ill people throughout their careers, depending on your beliefs in the occult. What no one expected them to be, though, were box office giants.

And yet, when director James Wan and writers Chad and Carey W. Hayes fictionalized the couple's 1972 Rhode Island battle with a ghost witch in 2013's The Conjuring — with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in the lead roles — a new horror franchise was born before our eyes. Not just new, but the franchise that would go on to be the highest-grossing in all of horror. Wilson and Farmiga were pitch-perfect and Wan's slight, slow-build set-pieces were masterfully spooky, but what arguably most captured fans' attention was the Warrens' cabinet of past case curiosities that practically screamed for a shared universe, like the MCU with more jump scares. A lot more jump scares. Thus, the Conjuring Universe was born, eight films released so far, set over 29 years, hopping from Gothic Romania to barren California to rainy England. If you're confused about which demon was possessing whose body/doll/Eastern Europe convent and when — we've got you covered. Here, in chronological order, is the entire Conjuring Universe, explained.

The Conjuring

What began with the paranormal investigation of a possibly haunted house has become a sprawling franchise that includes evil dolls, demonic nuns, and even more on the way, providing big thrills for fans of supernatural horror.

'The Nun'

Romania, 1952

To explain the earliest entry in the Conjuring Universe, we actually have to go back further, to the Middle Ages, when a demon-worshipping duke built himself an abbey in the Romanian wilderness to carry out some foul deeds. The Catholic Church intervened and claimed the abbey for themselves, dubbing it the Cârța Monastery, but bombing during World War II reawoken the evil that the duke originally stirred up. Most notably: Valak, the defiler, the profane, the Marquis of snakes. (Lorraine Warren posited the idea in The Conjuring 2 that Valak took the form of a nun to mock her crisis of faith, but nope. Homie has always been a nun. I guess old habits are hard to break, am I right? Right?)

In 2018's The Nun, after Sister Victoria kills herself to prevent Valak from claiming her soul, the Vatican dispatches Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and a novitiate, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) to investigate. In the Beauty and the Beast-ass village outside the abbey, the holy duo meets Maurice "Frenchy" Theriault (Jonas Bloquet), a friendly French-Canadian who aids them in their research.

After 90 straight minutes of people saying "hello?" at dark corners, Burke, Irene, and Frenchy manage to use the abbey's hidden artifact — a vial of Jesus Christ's blood — to banish Valak back to Hell. Or so they think! Before the crew rides off into the sunset, the camera catches an upside-down cross on the back of Frenchy's neck. This will be very important when we come back around to both The Conjuring and The Nun II.

But first...

'Annabelle: Creation'

South California, 1955

In 1943, a dollmaker named Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia), and his wife Esther (Miranda Otto) lose their daughter Annabelle in an auto accident. Flash-forward to 1955 and the Mullins have opened their remote SoCal shack to a crew of wayward orphans from St. Eustace Home For Girls. The group is overseen by Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman), who herself made a stop in her nun-ly journey at the Cârța Monastery before Valak cleared the place out. Sister Charlotte shows Samuel Mullins a photo from the abbey that reveals Valak lurking in the background. Mullins is very chill about one of the nuns having yellow eyes and shark teeth.

One of the children, the polio-stricken Janice (Talitha Bateman), discovers a horrific-looking porcelain doll. Immediately, a horned demon starts up on its demon nonsense, throwing orphans downstairs and demanding Janice's soul. It is revealed that, in their grief, the Mullins turned to some good ol' fashioned black magic to see their dead daughter again. But they were misled by that demon, who tricked the mourning parents into attaching the demonic presence to the doll, turning the children's toy into a conduit for all types of evil. The couple's housing of the orphan girls was their way of atoning for their actions because nothing says you're sorry like exposing young children to literal hellspawn!

Eventually, the demon succeeds in possessing Janice, who escapes the house through a hole in the wall, leaving the doll behind. The orphan, still extremely possessed and now calling herself Annabelle, is adopted by Pete and Sharon Higgins. Annabelle grows up, runs away from home, joins a Satanic cult — this is the normal career path in California — and returns with her boyfriend to murder her adopted parents. Which happens to be an early scene from Annabelle (2014).

‘The Nun II’

France, 1956

Across Europe, there is a trail of horrific deaths, the most recent being the immolation of a priest in Tarascon, France. The culprit is Valak the demon nun, back and vicious as ever, no longer confined to the St. Carta abbey, made possible because of poor demon-marked Maurice AKA “Frenchie" (Jonas Bloquet). Four years later, Frenchie does not know what is attached to him, endangering anyone he comes into contact with. Demián Bichir won’t be collecting another paycheck from the Conjuring franchise, as his character of Father Burke is killed off-screen through a lackluster explanation. The movie seems to forget how much of a major role he played last time around; nevertheless, The Nun II's brisk pace means there is little to no time to grieve him. This leaves two remaining survivors of the first Nun: Frenchie, who isn’t doing too hot, and Sister Irene, who is in a somewhat better condition. But that isn’t saying much. After defeating Valak, Sister Irene is left disturbed, reclusive, and having increasingly powerful visions. She’s forced into investigating these current deaths, and with the help of noviciate Sister Debra (Storm Reid), the women journey across France for answers.

Valak wants to get its unholy hands on another Catholic relic, the eyes of St. Lucy. But Valak didn’t just pick the Saint’s name out of a hat, Sister Irene learns that Valak is a fallen angel, eager to be powerful again, thus seeking out the relic to make this happen. The demon nun witnessed the murder of St. Lucy centuries ago, now killing the descendants, hence, the series of murders. Finally, the franchise introduces a link between the characters the Farmiga sisters play, revealing that Sister Irene and Lorraine Warren belong to St. Lucy’s family tree. As the good vs. evil struggle gets more dire, Valak isn’t the only threat, it brings along a goat demon as a minion. If Valak doesn’t have a phobia over the blood of Christ, it surely will after this installment. Sister Irene blesses barrels of wine into you-know-who’s blood, which then explodes, the escaping red waves smiting the unholy nun. Although it seems Frenchie is saved (yet again), Irene is left unsure if it’s over — because it isn’t!

'Annabelle'

Santa Monica, 1967

Before being slaughtered by their demon-possessed daughter for having terrible judgment of orphans, the Higgins were the next-door neighbors of John and Mia Form (Ward Horton and Annabelle Wallis). John gifts his pregnant wife with the most obviously demon-possessed-looking doll in existence — the Annabelle doll from the Mullins' farm. Look at that thing's face, John. Don't buy that. There's a demon in that.

After killing her parents, the real Annabelle and her culty boyfriend break into the Form's house; the boyfriend is killed by the police but Annabelle slits her own throat while holding the porcelain doll. With his host dead, the horned demon from Annabelle: Creation is stuck back in the doll's body and lookin' for a soul to steal. He sets his sights on Mia, disguised as Annabelle's ghost. Cue many, many slammed doors in the middle of the night as well as, real talk, one of my favorite scares of the past few years. Annabelle is not a great movie, but that three-second GIF is more effective than any season of American Horror Story.

How Accurate Are ‘The Conjuring’ Movies to The Real-Life Cases?

We don't recommend spending the night at these houses.

Anyway: Help arrives in the form of a bookseller named Evelyn (Alfre Woodard) — who is just like, "Oh yes, the exposition you need is in this book right here" — and Father Perez (Tony Amendola), who offers to take the doll to a couple of experts named Ed and Lorraine Warren. Before he can, the demon attacks; later, in the hospital, the demon manipulates Father Perez's body, using it to abduct the Forms' newborn daughter, Leah. In exchange for Leah Mia offers her own soul by attempting — in an image mirroring Sister Victoria's final moments in The Nun — to jump out a window. John stops her, but then Evelyn — who has the guilt of her own dead daughter on her hands — makes the leap instead while holding the Annabelle doll. For shakily explained reasons, this ends the demon's search for a soul.

Or does it? In Annabelle's closing moments, a woman buys the doll in a toy shop; it's a gift, she says, for her daughter Debbie. As it turns out, a nursing student named Debbie is discussing all the nocturnal shenanigans her inanimate doll is getting up to during the first scene of...

'The Conjuring'

Rhode Island, 1971

The film that started it all is still the most solid of the bunch, an incredibly old-school bump-in-the-night spookshow that relies less on things popping out of the shadows and more on characters staring into the shadows themselves. It's also barely related to the other Conjuring Universe films, barring the Annabelle doll's occasional appearances behind solid glass. (A real thing that you can actually spend the night with, a fun activity for people who hate themselves.)

Well-known demonologists and high-collar fashion icons Ed and Lorraine Warren are called in to help the Perron family, who have been experiencing some highly disturbing interruptions in the middle of the night. Further investigation of the family's Rhode Island home reveals that it used to belong to a devil-worshipping witch named Bathsheba. In 1863, Bathsheba had a son with a rich farmer, who caught her trying to sacrifice the son a week after his birth. Bathsheba immediately climbed a tree, declared her love for Satan, and hung herself, which is so incredibly extra you almost have to respect it.

Back in 1971, Bathsheba is none too pleased with a family of seven moving into her baby-sacrificin' grounds. The witch possesses Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor), forcing the Warrens to perform an impromptu, unsanctioned exorcism. It's a success, and the Perron family moves on with their lives witch-free.

Two important things, though:

1) The Warrens mention they already have a new case to check out in Long Island. This turns out to be the horrific happenings surrounding the Lutz family that came to be known as the Amityville Horror. You've heard of it. They made like, 14 movies about it. Jesus, remember Ryan Reynolds' beard?

2) When Carolyn Perron meets the Warrens, they're delivering a lecture on possession at Massachusetts Western University. The subject? Maurice "Frenchy" Theriault from the Nun movies, who is still very much possessed by Valak. During Maurice's exorcism, Lorraine encounters Valak for the first time, a relationship that is key to the plot of The Conjuring 2. But first...

'Annabelle Comes Home'

California, 1972

The fun thing about Annabelle Comes Home, besides the obvious fact that it includes a demon werewolf, is that it's essentially a dozen or so backdoor pilots for future Conjuring-verse spin-offs. That's thanks to a devilishly simple premise from The Nun and Annabelle writer Gary Dauberman, who makes his directorial debut here. A year after the Perron family exorcism, the Warrens are well-established in the demonology community. By well-established, I mean the media can't figure out whether they're legit or just a couple of insane people who come to your house and scream Bible verses at your empty closet. But the couple perseveres. Because they are good at banishing hellspawn but less-than-stellar at basic parenting, they head off to yet another case, leaving their daughter Judy (McKenna Grace) and a babysitter, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), alone in a house that has roughly 500 cursed trinkets in the spare room. Lord help me if I ever trust the teens not to look for the keys to the cursed trinket room.

One of those trinkets is, of course, the Annabelle doll, which the Warrens acquired at the end of The Conjuring. (This film establishes that the doll immediately tried to get Ed Warren run over by a truck.) Annabelle Comes Home explains, a little confusingly, that the doll itself is not actually possessed by evil, but is a conduit for evil. It's basically catnip for demons. It's demon-nip. Drop Annabelle into a room full of demons and shit's gonna get wild in a hurry.

Which is exactly what happens. Mary Ellen's friend, Daniela (Katie Sarife), disturbs the doll while looking for a glimpse of her dead father, unleashing all the ghouls in the Warrens' garage o' horrors. (Some of which are based on real-life artifacts and cases.) Here are the major monsters who come out to play:

• The Ferryman: If there isn't already a standalone Ferryman film in the works at New Line, I'd be shocked. This coin-eyed spookshow is based on the Greek mythology figure Charon, the grim reaper who ushers the souls of the dead across the river Styx. Much like another icon of the horror community, you must pay the Ferryman his toll—in this case, two coins over the eyes of the dead—or else.
• The Black Shuck: Ghost werewolf! We got a ghost werewolf! This terrifying creature, who spends most of the movie chasing Bob (Michael Cimino) in the Warrens' backyard, is based on the hellhound myths out of the British Isles. The Warrens actually claimed to have exorcised a werewolf demon from a man named Bill Ramsey in the late 80s.
• The Bride: A cursed wedding dress that causes the wearer to go Norman Bates on their fiancee. The dress that actually hangs in the Warrens' real-life occult museum has...nothing to do with that. Instead, it's a nod to The White Lady of Union Cemetery, a wedding gown-clad ghost who reportedly stalks a plot of land in Connecticut.
• The Samurai: A suit of Japanese warrior armor possessed by the spirit of its former owner, who was apparently quite the dick. When Mary Ellen brushes up against it, her head is filled with some nasty-sounding screams.
• Feeley Meeley: This is a legit game released by Milton Bradley 1967. Players draw a card with an item printed on it, then feel around in a box filled with 24 items to try and find the one on the card. The Feeley Meeley board owned by the Warrens in Annabelle Comes Home just happens to feel back.
• Evil Clapping Monkey Toy: I have no idea what this little guy's deal is but I do know for a fact he deserves a spin-off trilogy.

The assembled crew of terrors and ghosts horrifying the three girls en masse is a blast to watch but ends with a bit of an anticlimactic thud. Judy, following the advice of a ghost-priest who is shockingly helpful given the fact he looks like a melted Halloween decoration, simply locks Annabelle back in her case, which gets all the other artifacts to quit their yammerin'.

But, of course, the Warrens' work is never through, and there's plenty of evil not contained in their storage locker. As it happens, that includes yet another wedding dress-wearing horror...

'The Conjuring 2'

Enfield, England, 1977

While carrying out a seance at the sight of the Amityville murders, Lorraine Warren has visions of a demonic nun and the violent death of her husband, Ed. When the nun continues to pop up in Lorraine's dreams and visions, the demonologist demands to know its name. The nun, in return, is like "blarggghhh" which I can confirm after 12 years of Catholic school education is not a name. Money well spent.

Across the pond, the Hodgson family of Enfield, England is being assaulted by a hostile poltergeist. The ghost — which especially targets daughter Janet — mostly appears in the ghastly image of former home-owner Will Wilkins but also takes the shape of "The Crooked Man". Think like if Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas somehow copulated and birthed a horrific, lanky eight-foot-tall child. Actually, wait, don't think about that. Oh God, I'm so sorry.

Because of her ominous visions, Lorraine is hesitant to take on the Enfield case, but Ed, armed with a sweet-as-hell Elvis impression, is eager to help. As it turns out, help might not even be needed. Security footage catches Janet smashing plates in her kitchen, suggesting she's orchestrating a hoax. The Warrens leave, dejected about the lack of exorcisms performed, before Lorraine realizes the ghost of Bill Wilkins isn't the threat at all; it's Valak, using the ghost as a pawn to get to Janet Hodgson's soul. One of the rules in Hell is that all plans have to be needlessly convoluted. That's in the Bible. (I went to Catholic school for 12 years. I may have mentioned this.)

With this realization comes another breakthrough; Valak did offer up his name to Lorraine, which gives the demonologist power over the creature. With Ed Warren hanging out a window over the lightning-sharpened remains of a tree stump, Lorraine speaks Valak's name, sending the demon back to Hell.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

Connecticut, 1981

The premise is (very loosely) based on the real-life trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, the first American legal case where demonic possession was cited as the motive. The Warrens are back, helping the family of a possessed young boy, but unlike previous installments, the story picks up around what is usually the ending of a case. An exorcism frees the boy, yet the night ends very badly. Ed suffers a near-fatal heart attack and the entity hops into Arne (Ruairí O’Connor), the boyfriend of the boy’s older sister. It isn’t long before Arne is manipulated into killing his landlord.

The demonologist power couple convinces Arne’s lawyer he is under demonic possession — thanks to a little visit to see the Annabelle doll that shakes the lawyer up — but this isn’t enough. Because Ed’s health is fragile, Lorraine takes more risks in their investigation to uncover evidence. They believe a cold case in Davers, Massachusetts, is similar to what is happening with Arne, which is correct, leading the couple to realize this isn’t a typical haunting. Arne is cursed by the Occultist (Eugenie Bondurant), a member of the satanic Disciples of the Ram, the same cult associated with the murders that Janice “Annabelle” Higgins committed in 1967.

For the Occultist to complete the curse, Arne was forced to murder someone and must soon kill himself. The timeframe to save him is narrow. Ed goes through the wringer, from bad health to being targeted by the Occultist that almost makes him kill Lorraine. But he regains control to end the curse, saving Arne’s life while dooming the Occultist. With the Warrens’ help, Arne is sentenced on the lesser charge of manslaughter. And because the love between Ed and Lorraine is unbreakable and oh so mushy, he builds a gazebo for his wife in honor of the place where they shared their first kiss. It’s a happy ending, until the next case that is “malevolent, diabolical, sinister,” and whichever new adjective is added to the opening crawl.

So What's Next for the Conjuring Franchise?

Like the actual universe itself, the Conjuring playground is still expanding. A fourth movie to follow Ed and Lorraine Warren, officially titled The Conjuring: Last Rites, is confirmed to be in the works. The plot is unknown, as to whether this will be the final installment.

Really, though, Ed and Lorraine Warren led a life full of hauntings to fill a franchise for decades. Any of their allegedly true experiences are ripe for an adaptation. Am I only saying this because in 1991 the Warrens claimed to have exorcised a werewolf demon from an English man? Like most things in the Conjuring Universe, the answer lies in whatever you choose to believe. (UPDATE: The werewolf demon happened! He did it. The madman Gary Dauberman really did it.)

The Conjuring and its sequels are available to stream in the U.S. on Max.

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