Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Conjuring: Last RitesThe Conjuring: Last Rites acts as the finale of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s journey, which included battles against some of the most fearsome demonic enтιтies to ever invade the possession horror subgenre. Starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the fictionalized version of the real-world paranormal investigators, the four Conjuring movies chronicle exaggerated versions of the Warrens’ experiences.

The Conjuring series features four of the Warrens’ most well-documented cases, and for the most part sticks to the official record when it comes to the people, places, and documented occurrences involved with each ᴀssociated real-life haunting. However, where the real investigations are typically much less extravagant, the Conjuring movies typically give a name and face to the supposed paranormal enтιтies they encountered.

The series covers an entire spectrum of specters, ranging from nightmarish demons sent straight from Hell itself to formerly human spirits whose actions are governed by otherworldly enтιтies. We took a look at each of the different demons and demon-controlled enтιтies that the Warrens faced in the four main Conjuring movies (omitting the rest of the expanded Conjuring-verse) to discover which is truly the scariest.

9

The Young Woman – The Conjuring: Last Rites

The least-seen of the demons in The Conjuring: Last Rites is the seemingly human spirit of a younger woman. Via her gifts as a trance medium, Lorraine Warren is able to discern that the woman was one of three human spirits that haunted the Smurl family home, all three of which met horrific endings; the young woman was axe-murdered by her husband when the ground was still farmland.

The young woman is responsible for finally convincing Jack Smurl, the family patriarch, of the legitimacy of the supernatural occurrences. She appears to him while he’s in his bed, paralyzing his body and suspending him in midair. The occurrence is based on the real Jack Smurl’s claims that he was ᴀssaulted by a succubus (a female demon who seduces men).

We don’t see much of the woman during the movie, and while her ᴀssault on Jack Smurl is certainly intense, the spirit herself isn’t all that scary. The only other major moment she has is in the basement with Lorraine, who she warns off before reliving her own axe murder at the hands of her ghoulish husband (more on him to come).

8

The Elderly Woman – The Conjuring: Last Rites

The mother of the young woman murdered by her husband in The Conjuring: Last Rites was also murdered in his rage-driven rampage, and she manifests as an old woman to members of the Smurl family and Judy Warren. Her grotesquely large smile and pale visage is certainly frightening, and her use of the Smurl twins’ baby doll toy in the cursed mirror provides one of the movie’s best jump scares.

However, because she is a human spirit being manipulated by a greater evil, she isn’t all that terrifying on her own. She never does anything to actively torment or possess the Smurls or Warrens, although she does bother Judy and scare the Smurls.

7

Bill Wilkins – The Conjuring 2

The Conjuring 2 focused on the real-world haunting of the Hodgson family by what is now labeled as the Enfield poltergeist, which manifests in several forms in the movie. While the real Enfield haunting has largely been recognized as a hoax, the hauntings in the movie are among the most terrifying in the series.

Many of them are perpetrated by the spirit of an old man named Bill Wilkins, who was the former tenant of the building that the Hodgsons moved into. In the movie, a more demonic version of Bill torments the two Hodgson daughters. He is responsible for several high-quality jump-scares, but it’s soon revealed that the spirit of Bill is being used by a much darker and more dangerous enтιтy to torment the Hodgsons.

Bill Wilkins is a fairly scary ghoul in his own right, but he’s low on this list because there isn’t anything legitimately evil about him. Bill is almost as much a victim as the Hodgsons, as his spirit is being controlled by a legitimate demon against his will.

6

The Laughing Demon – The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

We never actually see the enтιтy known by Conjuring fans as the Laughing Demon, which is why it appears so low on the list. The demon appears right away in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, as the primary target of the exorcist that Ed and Lorraine are ᴀssisting with.

The Laughing Demon is inside the young boy David Glatzel, and is responsible for his stomach-churning contortion and maniacal laugh (hence the name). It’s the same demon that continues to jump into the victims of Isla Kastner, known as The Occultist, when they are marked with a witch totem. It victimizes David before jumping into Arne, and eventually into Ed Warren himself.

*Opening Weekend

The Laughing Demon’s conjuring was intentional on the part of The Occultist, and a result of her attempting to complete a dark power ritual involving murder-suicide. The demon finally collects the soul it craves at the end of the movie, when it kills Isla as recompense for her being unable to complete the ritual.

The image of David Glatzel bent like a pretzel is one of the movie’s most memorable and shocking images, to be sure. The Laughing Demon’s power is terrifying, but since we never see it in a form outside its victims, it isn’t as scary as others.

5

The Mirror Demon – The Conjuring: Last Rites

The enтιтy responsible for the evil that besets the Smurl and Warren families in The Conjuring: Last Rites never fully reveals itself, but we do get a couple brief looks at it. It appears in the corner of Lorraine Warren’s delivery room, only showing a pale body, long fingers, and small glowing eyes, and later briefly in the Smurl house.

The Mirror Demon presents itself as Judy Warren’s reflection in the wedding dress shop, and does manage to effectively possess her body in the movie’s climax. However, what makes the Mirror Demon truly scary is its incredible power. It manages to manipulate reality on a level unseen in the Conjuring movies at that point, recreating the previously-destroyed cursed mirror and placing it in the Smurl attic.

What keeps the Mirror Demon in the middle of this list and away from the top is the fact that it never gets a big visual payoff. We don’t ever get a full view of the demon, as it instead manifests in the form of the cursed mirror, which attacks the Warren family in the Smurl household, injuring Judy’s fiancé Tony and nearly killing Ed via his weakened heart. It’s scary in concept, but lacking in appearance.

4

The Crooked Man – The Conjuring 2

Unlike Bill Wilkins, who is a pawn of the demon plaguing the Hodgsons in The Conjuring 2, the Crooked Man is actually an alternate manifestation of the demon itself. Presenting as a grotesquely long-limbed wraith wearing a purple suit and hat over a pale smile lined with razor-sharp teeth, the Crooked Man emerges from the Hodgson boys’ homemade tent in one of the series’ best reveals and jump-scares.

The Crooked Man is all about presence and appearance, as he doesn’t actively torment the Hodgsons beyond his spine-chilling arrival. As an alternative form of the demon in their home, the Crooked Man visage appears to be an almost playful way for the demon to revel in torturing the Hodgsons, using it to stoke the fear that it feeds on.

3

Bathsheba Sherman – The Conjuring

Bathsheba Sherman is more demon-adjacent than an actual demon, as she is the manifestation of the spirit of a Satanic witch who committed suicide on the grounds of the Perron family home. She is no less frightening than any demon the Warrens encounter, and boasts one of the most blood-curdling appearances of any enтιтy in the Conjuring movies.

Bathsheba’s first major appearance atop the armoire is one of, if not the best true scare in the entire series. Her sheer power and evil in possessing Carolyn Perron is unmatched in the series; there may be more powerful enтιтies, but nothing is as deeply disturbing as her conquest of Carolyn. It’s what made The Conjuring such a phenomenon, and in reality spawned the entire Conjuring universe.

2

The Axe Man – The Conjuring: Last Rites

The spirit that lurks in the basement of the Smurl family home received woefully little screen time, but that doesn’t prevent him from making his mark as one of the scariest enтιтies in the Conjuring series. He’s responsible for the deaths of the aforementioned young and elderly women that the Mirror Demon uses, and that giddy rage and violence drips out of the character.

What makes the Axe Man so scary (in addition to his appearance in the background of several scenes) is the ghastly smile that marks his features as he wields his axe and lantern. His mᴀssive stature certainly helps him appear even more intimidating. It truly is a shame that he wasn’t made the final form of the Mirror Demon, because he’s frightening as can be.

1

Valak – The Conjuring 2

Valak is the ultimate combination of terrible power and sinister appearance, and it’s the reason he tops the list. Valak is a true demon, and one that appears in the real world’s greater demonology myths. Valak is powerful enough that he only answers to Satan himself, and the yellow-eyed creature that torments the Hodgsons certainly looks worthy of that level of esteem.

Valak’s background is explored in more depth in the two The Nun movies, which are part of the greater Conjuring connected universe. The demon chooses the form of a nun as a method of mocking the church, and the faith of those who would combat it (like Lorraine Warren).

It is unique in the Conjuring movies in that it can block Lorraine’s vision, making it even more difficult to stop. The expanded Conjuring universe lore even points to Valak as the enтιтy ultimately responsible for the demon Malthus jumping into the Annabelle doll.

The Mirror Demon of The Conjuring: Last Rites is treated as the de facto final boss of the series, but it’s Valak who is the real big bad. Terrifying in his own right, but even more so thanks to his ability to control other spirits and ability to “hide” from Lorraine, Valak is the scariest demonic enтιтy in The Conjuring movies.