Though the horror film Insidious first hit theaters in spring of 2011 — a full two years and change before director James Wan released the horror smash The Conjuring — it’s somehow been easy enough to see the former as the runty little sibling to that bigger cinematic universe. After all, Wan directed the first two installments of both series, both of which also starred Patrick Wilson and Insidious: Chapter 2 even came out within months of the first Conjuring.

Subsequently, The Conjuring went on to inspire multiple mini-franchises under its umbrella, like the Nun and Annabelle films. Insidious, meanwhile, has been a quietly consistent box office performer in its own right, without quite capturing the public imagination in the same way. Still, much like The Conjuring, the most recent Insidious was advertised as a series finale that became the franchise’s biggest hit yet, resulting in another one getting queued up. Hence the new sixth installment Insidious: Out of the Further, opening Friday, August 21, only in theaters.

While most of the Conjuring and related movies are period pieces, Insidious has a trickier chronology for those attempting to catch up before the new movie. Some of the movies follow the Lambert family, with characters played by Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Ty Simpkins. Others focus more on Elise (Lin Shaye), a character from the first film who has become the only one to appear in all six installments so far. Time gaps between movies range from weeks to decades. So if you want to watch the movies in strictly chronological order, you won’t be seeing them in the order they were released. But it is an interesting way to experience the story from a different angle. So here’s a quick guide to how — and where! They’re not all on the same streaming service! — to watch the Insidious movies chronologically.

Insidious Chronological Order: How to Watch The Insidious Movies in Order of Continuity

1. STREAMING ON: Peacock

   ORIGINAL RELEASE YEAR: 2015

   IN-MOVIE SETTING: 2007

   Despite the “Chapter 3” subtitle, the third Insidious film is really more Insidious Origins: Elise, Tucker, and Specs, as it follows the haunting case that first drew demonologist Elise (Lin Shaye) to the bumbling but lovable paranormal investigators Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (Leigh Whannell, who also directed after working on the first two films as a writer). The movie is mainly about Elise reluctantly agreeing to help teenage Quinn (Stefanie Scott) with her hauntings, and it’s one of the stronger installments, mixing a charismatic performance from young Scott with the trio of established characters who are equally easy to pick up whether first seeing them here or in the original film.

3. STREAMING ON: HBO Max

   ORIGINAL RELEASE YEAR: 2018

   IN-MOVIE SETTING: 2010, with some flashbacks to 1953

   OK, technically speaking, this is the Insidious movie that goes furthest back, opening with a 1953-set sequence with Elise as a child. But the bulk of the action takes place after she’s unretired as a demonologist and has begun working with Tucker and Specs, which happens at the end of Chapter 3. The flashback has to do with the 2010-set story of Elise being summoned back to her childhood home, where a new family is encountering some kind of paranormal force. Through the course of helping them, the audience learns more about Elise’s past, and she reconciles her familial guilt, specifically involving her long-estranged brother Christian (Bruce Davidson). It’s a very prequel-y movie, right down to its direct lead into the original film, but it’s also pretty cool to see a horror movie focusing on a seventysomething Scream Queen for its fourth installment; this is the only Insidious movie that unfolds largely from Elise’s point of view, and Shaye, once best-known for her enthusiastic dedication to grossing audiences out in Farrelly Brothers movies, is the unequivocal star.

4. STREAMING ON: Peacock

   ORIGINAL RELEASE YEAR: 2011

   IN-MOVIE SETTING: Later in 2010

   Insidious wasn’t released commercially until spring 2011, but it was completed in time for the fall festival season in 2010, so it’s actually set the year before its theatrical release. Its timeline actually overlaps with The Last Key, because it proceeds from the point of view of the Lambert family, whose son Dalton has fallen into a mysterious coma. Eventually, they call in Elise to help figure out if Dalton’s ailment might be supernatural. That phone call is seen in The Last Key, at which point Dalton has been comatose, trapped in the Further (sort of the series version of a demonic purgatory) for what seems to the outside world like three months. So technically, some of Insidious might take place before the fourth movie, but effectively, it follows that one. It also has a spookier, more downbeat ending than some of the other installments, not least because, well, not to get into spoilers, but Elise undergoes a life-altering change. However, James Wan and Leigh Whannell have experience with series that continue to employ their signature elderly actor no matter what the circumstances; they got their start on Saw, after all.

5. STREAMING ON: Peaock

   ORIGINAL RELEASE YEAR: 2013

   IN-MOVIE SETTING: Even later in 2010, with a flashback to 1986

   Though it opens with a flashback to 1986, when Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) first encountered Eloise and beings from the Further, most of Insidious: Chapter 2 takes place almost immediately after the end of the first movie, with Josh secretly possessed by a Further demon while his real self is trapped in the Further. This installment also introduces the fact that within the Further, it is possible to experience time in a non-linear fashion, which means that Josh is able to contact his younger self. Basically, the movie thematically seeds the idea of future installments being prequels, both with its flashbacks to 1986 and its trips across time. As a movie, it’s not quite the satisfyingly scary funhouse of Insidious, and despite the participation of Wilson, Byrne, and Wan, it may be the weakest of the six.

6. STREAMING ON: HBO Max and Hulu

   ORIGINAL RELEASE YEAR: 2023

   IN-MOVIE SETTING: 2019

   Here’s the big time-jump for the Insidious series: The installment that could, in retrospect, be more accurately titled Chapter 3 picks up again with the Lambert family, nine years after the events of the first two films. Josh and Dalton have both had their memories of their misadventures in the Further repressed, but they remain haunted in a less direct, more psychological way. Josh and Renai have divorced, and his relationship with Dalton remains strained. When he brings Dalton to college, the movie commences a two-track storyline, with Josh confronting his past as Dalton relearns his ability to astral-project into the Further. Elise only turns up briefly. This isn’t the scariest Insidious installment, but it’s a solidly earnest bit of horror-themed family melodrama, and Wilson thought enough of it to direct the film himself, wrapping up the Lambert family’s story.

7. Insidious: Out of the Further

   STREAMING ON: Nowhere! It’s in theaters only, though it will likely hit Netflix towards the end of the year.

   ORIGINAL RELEASE YEAR: 2026

   IN-MOVIE SETTING: Later in 2019

   The latest Insidious installment is the least tethered to the rest of the series’ continuity. During the film, it becomes clear that it takes place just weeks after the end of the previous film, which was set in 2019 primarily to make the Dalton character the right age to attend college. This one retains only one human character from the other films — yes, it’s Elise — and so it doesn’t seem all that important that it be set so soon after The Red Door. It also gives the series the unusual distinction of never yet taking place in a post-Covid world, and while that’s true of plenty of franchises set in realities that resemble our own but obviously employ different current events, it does feel a little strange that this smaller-scale series that has spanned 15 years offscreen takes place primarily in 2010 and 2019, with just a few flashbacks as needed. Out of the Further also opens with a flashback to the lead character’s childhood in 1999, so at least that adds another period to the franchise’s repertoire, however briefly.

   Weird time issues aside, Out of the Further does stand alone pretty well; it might be the easiest one to watch without having seen the others since at least Chapter 3, and maybe even since the very first installment. It’s mostly just a well-directed spookhouse horror thriller with some overfamiliar psychology attached. It’s also very much not a grand finale. I’d expect a seventh Insidious, perhaps bringing the series into the 2020s, within a few years.

Bonus: The Insidious Movies Ranked By Quality:

1. Insidious (2011)
2. Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)
3. Insidious: Out of the Further (2026)
4. Insidious: The Last Key (2018)
5. Insidious: The Red Door (2023)
6. Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.