Every Ed and Lorraine Warren Movie Based On Real-Life Paranormal Investigations

Everyone either loves a good ghost story or has one of their own to share, but no one has quite as many as the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Most people did not know such a profession even existed until The Conjuring was released in 2013 and drew in skeptics, horror movie lovers, and curious individuals from all over due to its “based on real-life events” label. The story that would unfold on screen was not just one person’s encounter with the supernatural, but rather, a whole family and two professionals would be featured fighting for their lives against evil forces.

The success of the first film spawned many others, and lucky for fans, Ed and Lorraine Warren certainly have enough cases to go off of to keep this franchise, as well as other independent films, going for a very long time. Check out every horror movie based on Ed and Lorraine Warren’s real-life paranormal investigations.

The Amityville Horror (1979)

While the beginning of The Conjuring 2 briefly touches on Ed and Lorraine Warren’s involvement with the Amityville haunting case, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are nowhere to be found in The Amityville Horror. The 1979 film is based on Jay Anson’s book of the same name that depicts the alleged paranormal experiences the Lutz family had after moving into a house that was previously a mass-murder scene.

The Claims Were Mostly Debunked

While the premise of The Amityville Horror (and the dozens of other films that follow) has been relentlessly criticized over the years, the Warrens claim the infamous house to be one of the most paranormal sites they have ever visited. The history of the story goes like this: A man named Ronald DeFoe shot and killed his parents and four siblings one night and, when put on the stand, pleaded insanity.

One year later, the Lutz family moved into the same house, but they only stayed for 28 days, claiming all sorts of paranormal experiences were going on. This became a worldwide case, and everyone wanted to get in on the story. Unfortunately, plenty of people have debunked a lot of the supernatural accusations.

The Haunted (1991)

The Haunted was the very first film to feature Ed and Lorraine Warren as characters, but it would not be until The Conjuring that the couple would reach a sort of celebrity status. The film follows the Smurl family after they have moved into what seems to be a regular little house in Pittston, Pennsylvania. However, after noises, smells, and physical altercations happen, they get their neighbors, the Warrens, involved and discover that there is a dark history to the house.

No Evidence Was Actually Found

To begin, the Warrens and Smurls were not neighbors, so there was no coincidence that the demonologists just strolled over the front lawn and sized up their neighbors’ paranormal activities. For more than a decade, the Smurl family claimed that furniture would shake, horrible smells would linger, strange shadows would appear, and, worst of all, there were stories of sexual assault from the spirits. The Warrens, like many others, went to investigate, and while they really believed some evil spirit was in the house, others could not find any evidence. Stream on YouTube.

The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

Based on Ray Garton’s 1992 book In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting, The Haunting in Connecticut depicts the paranormal experiences a seemingly normal family underwent after moving into a new home that just happened to be a former funeral home. The film is largely dramatized with possessions taking place, the iconic ectoplasm vomiting scene, and the huge discovery of dead bodies buried in the walls. However, even with all the critics and skeptics loudly voicing their opinions, Ed and Lorraine Warren believed horrible things went down in the quiet little country house.

They Weren’t in the Film

First, the Warrens are not portrayed or even mentioned in The Haunting in Connecticut, likely because they were not present with the family during the supposed paranormal events. The demonologists actually conducted their own investigation of the house after the alleged events took place and sent a team to meet with the Snedeker family to get their accounts of the events for a book. Even with all the negative talk surrounding the stories, many people agree with the Warrens that spooky things likely did go down in the home that used to house dead people.

The Conjuring (2013)

The Conjuring was the film that really brought Ed and Lorraine Warren into the spotlight, even though they had been actively working on haunting cases for the last 70 years. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga were cast to portray the paranormal investigators and authors, but they both knew that they could only do so much research to get the parts right.

Farmiga and Wilson headed out to Connecticut to meet with Lorraine Warren (Ed had passed in 2006) to learn as much as they could about their minds, mannerisms, and overall presence. From the success of the first film along with Warren’s praise, it is safe to say they did an outstanding job.

The Exorcism Scene Was Fictional

In the 1970s, the real-life Carolyn and Roger Perron, along with their five daughters, lived in a quaint little farmhouse in rural Rhode Island. When they began experiencing strange happenings around the house, the Warrens were sought out and ultimately said there were evil spirits terrorizing the family. While the ultimate exorcism scene was fictional, it was based on a real seance where one of the Perron daughters said she witnessed her mother levitate and speak in tongues.

Annabelle (2014)

Audiences were already introduced to the Annabelle doll at the start of The Conjuring when Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) were investigating the paranormal activities documented by a couple of college students named Debbie and Camilla. However, Annabelle follows a mostly fictitious story all the way up until the ending when a mother purchases a vintage doll for her daughter, a nursing student named Debbie.

A Largely Fabricated Plot

The second film in The Conjuring Universe is helpful in the sense that it gives viewers a backstory about how malevolent a possessed or cursed object can be, but the actual happenings throughout the plot up until the doll is purchased are largely fabricated.

The real story behind the Annabelle doll is that a nursing student named Donna was given a Raggedy-Ann doll by her mother in 1968 (per Screen Rant). She and her roommate Angie found that the doll would end up in different places, and notes eventually started to appear saying “Help me.” The girls were told by a medium that a little girl’s spirit was attached to the doll, but after several more incidents (some of which were violent), the Warrens were called. They said an evil spirit had tricked the girls and the medium, and it was likely after one of them.

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

Three years after the massive success of the first film, director James Wan was back at it again with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in the lead roles of yet another prominent case. The Conjuring 2 starts off with the Warrens (Wilson and Farmiga) investigating the Amityville murders, then the storyline jumps forward a year, taking Ed and Lorraine to the North London suburb of Enfield to see if a young girl named Janet Hodgson is faking being possessed or not. While the film takes several liberties to mold a suspenseful story, Ed and Lorraine Warren’s involvement in the real case was very brief; some would even say they were barely there.

It’s Been Called a Hoax by Investigators

In 1977, Peggy Hodgson lived with her four children in Enfield, and what she thought was a strange night turned into an 18-month-long terror. Between furniture moving and turning over and strange noises happening all over the home, the Hodgsons, as well as their neighbors, knew something was wrong.

Janet, who was only 11 years old at the time, started speaking in a low and raspy voice, claiming to be a former resident, Bill Wilkens — it was later proven that Bill Wilkens had previously lived and died in the house. Unfortunately, many skeptics and paranormal investigators came out and called the whole thing a hoax, especially after the girls later admitted to fabricating some of the spooky happenings.

Annabelle Comes Home (2019)

While Annabelle: Creation, the prequel to the first Annabelle film, was made up to give the character a better backstory, the third film, Annabelle Comes Home, brings the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) back into the spotlight with some truth behind the plot. Overall, the film focuses on the Warrens bringing Annabelle home and locking her away, but their babysitter’s friend decides to release the doll, and chaos ensues. Now, this did not particularly happen at the Warren residence, but their trip home being less than ideal along with unforeseen circumstances happening to visitors actually took place.

Based on Reports of Real Accidents

When Ed and Lorraine Warren took the doll from Donna, they claimed to have had a lot of car trouble on their way back home. Then, once they were back, they actually did lock Annabelle away in a glass case that had warnings as well as the Lord’s Prayer on it. Curious people have been to The Warrens’ Occult Museum, specifically to see the demonic doll, and there are several reports of people getting into accidents after leaving — one man who taunted the doll even died after losing control of his motorcycle. Rent on Apple TV+ or YouTube.

Related: Did the Real Annabelle Doll Escape the Warrens’ Occult Museum?

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

Read Our Review

Rather than primarily focusing on yet another haunting, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It takes a unique approach to the justice system when a young man named Arne Johnson (Ruairí O’Connor) claims to have been possessed when he stabbed his landlord to death. In the film, Ed (Patrick Wilson) witnesses the possession and fully believes Arne’s story, and he and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) go in search of evidence that a demon is really controlling individuals and having them kill people in a similar fashion.

The Paranormal Defense Was Ruled Out Immediately

The true story behind this film is a wild one because the real-life Arne Johnson really was present during an exorcism performed by the Warrens on a 12-year-old David Glatzel, and Johnson claimed that just a few days afterward, he was possessed by the demonic spirit that he taunted. Johnson’s girlfriend noticed a change in his behavior after her brother’s exorcism, and just a few months went by before Johnson was arrested for stabbing his landlord (who was also his girlfriend’s boss at the time) to death.

Just one day after the incident occurred, Lorraine Warren went to the police and tried to explain that Johnson really had been possessed. The media went wild with this idea, bringing all eyes to the court case. The judge ruled out the paranormal defense, and Johnson was convicted of first-degree manslaughter.

The Nun (2018)

To keep a franchise going, there have to be spinoffs of the original storyline where extra characters are added and backstories provide the audience with more information. When director James Wan and the real Lorraine Warren were chatting during the making of The Conjuring 2, Warren mentioned that she had experienced a presence at home and “saw a black whirlwind of black mass enter the room, it was like a vortex blacker than the night” (per Esquire). Warren then had to find a way to fit this encounter into the films, but wrestled with how to do it for a while. Then, the idea of a nun challenging Warren’s faith came to mind.

After The Conjuring 2, Wan and others got to work on the history of the entity that haunted Lorraine Warren. When it came to the storylines connecting, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) needed to have a tie to someone in the past who dealt with the evil entity that later haunts her. Farmiga’s real-life sister, Taissa Farmiga, was cast as Sister Irene, the character who would serve as the direct connection to Lorraine.

The Nun II (2023)

How and Why The Nun Films Feature the Warrens

While the nun version of Valak is a completely made-up idea straight out of Wan’s head, there is a historical account of a demon named Valac that was first documented in a 17th-Century grimoire titled The Key of Solomon. However, this spirit is depicted as a young boy with wings riding a serpent. Overall, those who love the terror that comes from horror movies with the label “based on true events” know that the plot is going to take at least some liberties with the real story, but knowing that the Warrens have actually dealt with all these stories still draws people in.