The Conjuring 2 was the number one movie in the world the week of its release. It’s on track to be the biggest horror movie of the year. Many critics have responded positively to it and even fans seem impressed. It’s something that, for the most part, lives up to its hype. And that’s good, because there is a lot of it. Much of this hype is focused on the fact that Conjuring 2 is promising to set up—like just about everything else these days—its very own cinematic universe.
The only difference is that Conjuring 2 actually lends itself to the idea. In fact, it’s already been happening. The Conjuring had one spinoff before we even got Conjuring 2 (Annabelle). Now we’re going to have The Nun before we see a Conjuring 3. There’s so much potential and The Conjuring 2 successfully sets up a whole universe of stories.
Regardless of whether or not the Warrens were truly investigating the paranormal, truly believed what they were doing, or were outright frauds, they had many cases that would make for great haunted house movies.
Even aside from that, there are so many bits of backstory, so many specters and events set up by Conjuring 2 to warrant their own films. Here are a few possibilities we came up with.
The Smurl Haunting
One of the biggest Warren cases, which is honestly pretty much a shoe-in for the plot of Conjuring 3, would be the case involving the Smurl family. An intense story that gained much media attention, it centered on a family’s claims that a demon had moved into their home.
If the idea is to keep the Warrens’ involvement with spinoffs limited, or to do smaller-scale entries that aren’t necessarily under the Conjuring title, then a safe bet would be to adapt some of the Warrens’ lesser known cases like this bizarre story of werewolf possession that would no doubt make for an interesting and imaginative movie.
Amityville
I don’t think we necessarily need another version of The Amityville Horror, but after the opening sequence of The Conjuring 2, I would love to see something along the lines of a new take on Amityville II: The Possession. The opening of The Conjuring gave us just enough to crave the Annabelle movie. With this opening sequence, there’s enough to go deep into the DeFeo murders and explore what went on in that house in a supernatural or psychological context.
The Crooked Man
For me, The Crooked Man was the standout spook of The Conjuring 2. I don’t want to spoil too much for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but I think there’s plenty of room to explore this manifestation after the tease we’re given in the film. It’s such a unique visual with great practical execution responsible for some of the movie’s most frightening sequences.
The Warren Origins
After everything focused on the relationship between Ed and Lorraine Warren in Conjuring 2 I think giving us a dramatic, horror rom-com about the way they met would honestly be adorable. It could still be scary, but could also tap into all of the emotional elements that really work for many of the people who saw this film.
The Occult Museum
The Warrens’ occult museum still does tours and is still one of the most infamous details about the duo. This is where they kept artifacts from their cases that they believed too dangerous to be stored anywhere else. I think a film about something happening to the museum, about inventory being stolen or sold, could play out like a large scale Friday the 13th: The Series.
An Insidious/Conjuring Crossover
When talking about cinematic universes, the idea is to eventually create something really big. The best way to do that would be to find a way to tie together both of James Wan’s two supernatural franchises. It would have to be big. Maybe the two teams of paranormal investigators go toe to toe with the Devil itself, using its trickery and deceit to turn the two teams against each other—perhaps going a little meta, causing Lin Shaye’s crew to become extremely convinced that the Warrens are nothing but frauds.
