10 Horror Movie Franchises That Overstayed Their Welcome

James Wan's The Conjuring is one of modern horror's very best movies; a tense, terrifying, stylish offering brimming with magnificent performances and a compelling story. While that film spawned a wider universe of eight movies, two unofficial tie-ins, and one final Conjuring picture that's in development, it's unfortunately been way more misses than hits for this series.

In hindsight, this franchise should've called it a day after The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case back in 2016. Not quite reaching the heights of its predecessor, that movie was at least a solid effort featuring some great scares. Of course, sandwiched between those two Conjuring films was the Annabelle spin-off.

That Annabelle film was hugely disappointing, and it's since been followed by one horrendous sequel (Annabelle Creation) and one so-so-at-best follow-up (Annabelle Comes Home). Elsewhere, a third main Conjuring movie - 2021's The Devil Made Me Do It - was another solid but far from spectacular franchise entry, and we've had a couple of further spin-offs in the two frustratingly dull Nun flicks.

Realistically, the larger Conjuring Universe has one excellent movie, one good movie, two so-so movies, and four utter trash films. And if we're counting those unofficial tie-ins - as in, 2016's Wolves at the Door and 2019's The Curse of La Llorona - that's another two total duds for this series that's sadly these days merely a shadow of its former self.