If you love The Conjuring Universe, these paranormal horror shows are the perfect next watch. Since the first movie came out in 2013, The Conjuring movies have taken the world by storm. While plenty of paranormal movies existed prior to this, the Conjuring franchise was different because it took very loose inspiration from true stories of hauntings.
The Warrens were also based on real-life (albeit problematic) paranormal investigators. The Conjuring‘s actors, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, took the films to the next level. They made the demonologist main characters empathetic and easy to connect with. The franchise has only continued to grow.
Most recently, The Conjuring: Last Rites broke an IT record, becoming the biggest opening weekend of all time for a horror movie. After watching the most recent Conjuring movie, fans can move on to these eight TV shows, which are perfect for fans of the paranormal horror franchise.
The Enfield Haunting
The Conjuring movies are loosely based on real stories, and they aren’t the only versions of them made. Fans of The Conjuring 2 need to check out the British miniseries The Enfield Haunting, which is a more direct fictionalization of the Enfield Poltergeist that occurred from 1977 to 1979.
Set in the 1970s, The Enfield Haunting tells the story of Mr. Grosse, a novice paranormal researcher, and Guy Lyn Playfair, and experienced researcher, as they attempt to care for an 11-year-old girl terrorized by a supernatural entity.
The show has a skin-crawling effect due to its scary moments and “true story” angle. The paranorml investigator characters will also make it perfect for Conjuring fans. On top of that, it has elements of film noir, similar to The Exorcist.
American Horror Story (Seasons 1,5, & 6)
American Horror Story is one of the most prolific horror TV shows of all time in the same way The Conjuring franchise is one of the most prolific horror movie franchises of all time. Because American Horror Story is anthological, not all of the seasons cater to the same type of horror as The Conjuring.
However, seasons 1, 5, and 6 – Murder House, Hotel, and Roanoke, respectively – feel perfect for fans of the hit movie franchise. These three seasons of American Horror Story involve ghosts who wreak havoc on the living.
They mix together atmospheric fear, jump scares, and gore, all of which can be found in The Conjuring Universe‘s movies. They also center on specific locations that are haunted. What’s more, there are elements of ghost summonings and banishment, like in The Conjuring.
Evil
With 50 episodes across 4 seasons, Evil is an excellent choice for Conjuring fans seeking a paraanormal show they can watch for a long time before running out of episodes. The series started as a network show on CBS before transitioning to Paramount+.
The show centers on Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a non-believer forensic psychologist; David Acosta, a priest-in-training at a Catholic seminary; and Ben Shakir, an athiest technology contractor. The Catholic Church hires these three vastly different individuals to use their expertise to solve different paranormal occurances.
Evil is truly the perfect choice after watching The Conjuring because it involves demonic entities and terrifying hauntings to give you nightmares for days. Additionally, the show provided a proper conclusion for viewers rather than leaving the story open-ended like some streaming shows that get canceled.
Parasyte: The Grey
The Korean Netflix show Parasyte: The Grey, directed by famed director Yeon Sang-ho (who brought Train to Busan to life), is an excellent live-action show that connects to the Parasyte manga and Parasyte: The Maxim anime.
The show exists in a world where parasites start taking over human bodies, usually killing them and using the carcass as a host. The story follows a young woman named Jeong Su-in who gets attacked and turned into a parasite. However, she and the parasite try to co-exist in a world that wants to kill them.
While Parasyte: The Grey doesn’t necessarily sound like the more tame Conjuring movies, like Annabelle, it has many similarities to scarier movies within the same universe, namely The Nun and The Conjuring 2. However, it includes much more horror and gore, so viewers should be mentally prepared for that.
A Haunting
The Discovery Channel TV show A Haunting is the perfect blend of true stories and horror dramatizations. Like The Conjuring movies, A Haunting is theoretically based on real-life stories of paranormal events, ghosts, and demonic activity.
Each episode depicts a different alleged true example of supernatural incidents, using firsthand accounts and interviews. However, the show also features dramatic re-enactments in almost every episode, using fictionalized versions of the horrifying experience for narrative impact.
The re-enactments are often nothing short of terrifying, with some scenes being reminiscent of the movie franchise. Additionally, the atmospheric quality and genuinely scary stories make it perfect for The Conjuring fans.
The Exorcist
While the show is divisive within the Exorcist franchise fanbase, the TV show The Exorcist is perfect for fans of The Conjuring. The show is a sequel to the original movie, ignoring the sequel films’ stories. It follows Father Tomas Ortega and Father Marcus Keane, priests who try to help a family and foster home dealing with demonic entities.
Like The Conjuring movies, the premise is pretty simple, so it comes down to the execution. Rather than having a ton of jump scares, the show leans into atmospheric horror, like the Conjuring films. The show also has top-notch writing and character development, which the Conjuring franchise also excels at.
Unfortunately, the Exorcist TV show only lasted two seasons due to high production costs and low viewership. That being said, the smaller number of episodes makes it easy to binge-watch.
Marianne
Some of the best shows that are perfect for The Conjuring fans are made outside of Hollywood. The French horror show Marianne holds a rare perfect Rotten Tomatoes critic score and an 84% Popcornmeter score. It’s also one of the most perfect shows to watch after The Conjuring films.
The show follows a horror writer named Emma Larrsimon, who has spent her whole life haunted by childhood nightmares of a witch named Marianne. She turned these night terrors into bestselling books. However, she realizes that Marianne wasn’t a figment of her imagination when she returns to her hometown.
As a lover of all things horror, I can confidently say that Marianne is one of the best horror TV shows that I’ve seen within the past decade, and I think fans of The Conjuring will love it. The show builds a bone-chilling ambiance, and Marianne ends up being just as terrifying as the demons in The Conjuring. I recommend watching the series with subtitles, but there’s a dubbed version available as well.
The Haunting of Hill House
No supernatural horror list would be complete without at least one Mike Flanagan show on it. Of all the options, The Haunting of Hill House is the best miniseries for fans of The Conjuring.
The show follows the Crain family during two parts of their lives. First, the family moves into Hill House, unaware of the terrifying paranormal phenomena they are about to experience. This is interwoven with their lives 26 years later, when they have to confront their traumatic experiences at Hill House.
Like The Conjuring, the TV show is very loosely shaped by a real story, with Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House taking inpsiration from a group of psychic researchers from the 19th century who went to a haunted house. Additionally, the shows both rely heavily on a scary ambiance as well a horrifying storyline.
- Cast
-
Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy, Madison Wolfe, John Noble, Ruairi O’Connor, Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard, Tony Amendola, Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto, Brad Greenquist, Lulu Wilson, Talitha Bateman, Grace Caroline Currey, Mckenna Grace, Taissa Farmiga, Bonnie Aarons, Demián Bichir, Jonas Bloquet
- Movie(s)
-
The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, The Conjuring 3, Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, The Nun II
