Top 10 Conjuring Universe Deaths!

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Who already has there ANNABELLE: COMING HOME tickets in tow? Come on now, the movie copped a solid 7/10 around these parts, so you could do a lot worse!

Seriously though, have you ever noticed how few graphic onscreen deaths the entire CONJURING universe has given us over the past half decade? Outside of a bunch of ominous animal killings, no one really bites it that hard in the original CONJURING. And outside of some demonic taunting and retro-visions, same goes for THE CONJURING 2. Of course, ANNABELLE, ANNABELLE CREATION and THE NUN have done what they can to atone for such, as they tend to trade the atmospheric terror of the former for graphic carnage. And so, to whet your blood-lusty appetite before you go out and see ANNABELLE 3, have a peek at our Top 10 Favorite Conjuring Universe Deaths!

#10. BIRDEMIC (THE CONJURING)

While nobody really dies in THE CONJURING, there’s one head-spinning salvo of supernatural bird murders that ranks among one of the franchise freakier scenes ever constructed. The way in which James Wan starts the scene with the camera inside the house, as possessed birds cordon the house and begin flying headlong into various windows, only to fluidly move outside of the house in one seamless cut, where an even larger aviary massacre takes place. Ed Warren tries to figure out what the f*ck is going on when the last bird crashes through the basement window, where he and Lorrain are conducting an exorcism. Less of a gnarly kill than a freaky, well-executed scene, it’s the kind of BIRDEMIC James Nguyen would be proud of!

#9. BEE’S DEATH (ANABELLE CREATION) 

Since this technically constitutes the beginning of the demonic doll’s death dealings, there’s little chance we’d omit the opening scene of the best film in the franchise thus far – ANNABELLE CREATION – in which the accursed toy taunts little Bee into committing suicide in front of her poor parents. Clutching the doll for dear life proves to be instant death for Bee when, In 1947, her parents’ car blows a tire. When an oncoming car approaches, one of the lug nuts from the wheel rolls into the middle of the road. Annabelle manipulates Bee to run into the road just as the passing car intersects, effectively murdering the girl in a way that looks accidental. It’s a deeply duplicitous death that perfectly encapsulates Annabelle’s murderous M.O.

#8. EVELYN’S HEROIC SUICIDE (ANNABELLE) 

Full disclosure, I f*cking love Alfre Woodard and always have since seeing her in SCROOGED as a child. Perhaps this is why, despite being the only god honest death scene in ANNABELLE following the opening sequence, her heroic suicide as Evelyn at the end of the movie must be included. In the attempt to makes amends for Ruby’s death, when John and Evelyn burst into Mia’s bedroom and find her ready to leap out of the window, Evelyn takes it upon herself to pick up the demonic doll, and without hesitation, lunge to her death from the second-floor window. The camera tilts down to find Evelyn’s grue-soaked corpse with the doll maniacally grinning by her side. Moments later, the camera returns to show the doll missing. It’s a noble and valiant effort by Ev, but unfortunately all for naught.

#7. HIGGINS’ GRISLY SUICIDE (ANNABELLE) 

If for no other reason than the brilliant shot of Annabelle’s porcelain face framed in extreme close-up, held perfectly until a drop of blood falls onto the doll’s face before rolling into her eye socket and disappearing (as if being absorbed), the somewhat inconsequential self-inflicted throat-slashing of the Annabelle Higgins’ mother in the first franchise entry had to make the cut. Shite’s f*cked up! Committed under the guise of a home invasion murder, the truth comes out to reveal that Annabelle and her satanic cult worshipping boyfriend broke into her parent’s house with intent to kill. Poor John and Mia Form ended up being collateral damage as neighbors trying to save the day, kicking off the entire franchise.

#6. RELIQUARY MASSACRE (THE NUN)

While this particularly fatal onslaught isn’t all that graphic, the sheer number of lost lives makes it worthy enough for a spot on the list. THE NUN is a tricky one because so many of those who die end up being imaginary, or ethereally conjured through the demonic nun, so it’s hard to get a precise read. However, the scene in which Irene is summoned into the reliquary with a gaggle of surrounding nuns in an effort to pray the evil away is pretty staggering. Just as an octet kneels to pray, a malevolent force lashes out, throwing seven of the nuns across the room so violently that they immediately die on impact when crashing into the stone furnishings of the church. That’s seven for the price of one!

#5. DE FEO KILLINGS (CONJURING 2)

While we’ve seen the particularly slayings portrayed a few times onscreen over the decades, there’s something extra chilling about the way in which Lorrain Warren channels Ronald De Feo’s accursed soul in THE CONJURING 2. She gets into the sick young man’s homicidal headspace and proceeds to relive all four senseless and emotionless shootings of De Feo’s two parents and two siblings. The slow-mo reenactment of little children being shot to death in their beds with a shotgun while they sleep is hard as f*ck to bear, and even harder when remembering such a tragedy actually occurred back in the 1970s in what kicked off THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. Not only do we get four kills for the price of one, they’re all based on reality, which is most disturbing of all!

#4. VALAK’S DEATH (THE CONJURING 2)

Believe it or not, outside of a bunch of bizarre animal deaths – dogs, birds, etc. – and a few visionary reenactments, the two CONJURING movies have very little human deaths. As such, we focus our extolment on the Valak’s unceremonious return to hell at the hands of Lorrain Warren at the end of THE CONJURING 2. Remember, not only has Valak, who has taken the form of a nun, tormented Ed and Lorrain throughout the movie by altering form and playing a series of supernatural tricks on the couple, but in the end, Valak makes a serious attempt on Ed’s life. Not one to simply let her hubby fall by the wayside, Lorrain summons the strength and proper biblical incantation to evaporate Valak’s humanly form and return the evil entity back to hell where it belongs.

#3. SISTER VICTORIA’S HANGING (THE NUN)

One might argue that the opening death of THE NUN was the nastiest and gnarliest one of the entire film. In a pre-title-card salvo, set in 1952 Romania, a pair of unsuspecting nuns is suddenly assaulted by an invisible demonic force dressed as a nun. The surviving nun, Sister Victoria, is balefully brainwashed into hanging herself. And yet, it isn’t necessarily the death mode but that concomitant imagery that really sells this one. When we witness the sister’s fetid corpse dangling from the ceiling, we sense her body has been there for such a long time that scavenging ravens have turned her face into a goddamn birdhouse feeding box. Look at that shite! The poor bitch looks like Jordan Ladd fresh out of the CABIN FEVER shed!

#2. SAMUEL MULLINS DEATH CRUCIFIX HAND BREAK (ANNABELLE CREATION)

Straight up, I that Anthony LaPaglia was dead already, so this one comes doubly startling. In ANNABELLE CREATION, LaPaglia plays Samuel Mullins, whom, along with his wife Esther (Miranda Otto), is so religious that he tends to waltz around his accursed abode with a crucifix locked in his hands to parry evil spirits. No match for the odious Annabelle, who takes the form of a little girl to trick Samuel into sudden death. The girl retreats into the darkness, where her eyes begin to glow yellow in the dark. Sam tries to jam the crucifix in her face, but his fingers are summarily broken and bent backwards, one by one, before the demon deals Sam a grisly death blow that leaves a thick puddle of gore on the hardwood.

#1. ESTHER MULLINS DEATH (ANNABELLE CREATION) 

Any chance Annabelle is a Hannibal Lecter fan? Hell, there’s names literally rhyme. Either way, Esther Mullins’ gnarly-ass demise in ANNABELLE CREATION is easily among my all time favorites in the CONJURING universe. Why? Well, not only is the slow-built lead-up with Miranda Otto clutching her crucifix really suspenseful, her actual execution is arguably the most disturbingly graphic of all of the franchise kills. And if it weren’t enough for the audience to discover her body, remember, a room full of children happens on Esther’s corpse – which is brutally carved in half from the waist down, her arms strung up and splayed out like the cop Lecter waylaid, with her chest-cavity gorily hollowed out as her entrails leak to the floor. Shite’s emetic!