Film Best horror film franchise

Port Vale Devil

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In the 80s/90s I loved A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Friday the 13th films but over the last few years I think the Halloween films are the pinnacle of horror flicks.

I loved the Fright Night stuff but there wasn’t that many films to get to number 1 and be classed as a franchise

Iconic actors like Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence just steal the deal overall for the Halloween films with the emotionless baddie Michael Myers

Had never really got into the Hellraiser films and the Poltergeist dude in number 2 gave me the creeps but for pure horror fun it has to be the Halloween films which have their own different timelines and the odd standalone film like Halloween 3.
 
In terms of modern horror, the first two "The Conjuring" movies have got to be up there.
 
Shark said:
In terms of modern horror, the first two "The Conjuring" movies have got to be up there.
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Will have to watch them. Pretty much love the 80s stuff and the Final Destination films but not ventured into the newer stuff.
 
Port Vale Devil said:
Will have to watch them. Pretty much love the 80s stuff and the Final Destination films but not ventured into the newer stuff.
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The first conjuring is kind of old school and traditional in its haunted house set up, and it doesnt try easy scares. Good one for around Halloween.
 
Maybe the Alien franchise. 1 and 2 are brilliant, the directors cut of the 3rd is also pretty good. After that it descends into crap but still serviceable entertainment.
 
it will always and forever be underated as people aren't aware of the fact it's trilogy, but Carpenter's "Apocalypse" trilogy - The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. The Thing is a well known classic, but it's Prince of Darkness that is probably the scariest horror movie I've ever watched.

among newer movies... I think A Quiet Place 1 & 2 are holding better than anything else.

I never really warmed up to Conjuring movies.

The Haunting anthology by Flanagan, Bly Manor and Hill House is up there as well.
 
Ekkie Thump said:
Maybe the Alien franchise. 1 and 2 are brilliant, the directors cut of the 3rd is also pretty good. After that it descends into crap but still serviceable entertainment.
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Yeah enjoyed the Alien films but see them more as a Sci Fi franchise myself
 
obviously, the first three movies from the Night of the Living Dead series too ... how the feck did I forget :wenger:
 
Ekkie Thump said:
Maybe the Alien franchise. 1 and 2 are brilliant, the directors cut of the 3rd is also pretty good. After that it descends into crap but still serviceable entertainment.
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The Assembly Cut of Alien 3 makes a messy yet interesting nihilistic film watchable, while arguably being the best looking film in the franchise, irrespective of the stop motion/go-Motion involved in capturing the Alien on screen at times.

But it's my go-to horror franchise, even though the quality of the product is erratic and convoluted.
 
Bole Top said:
it will always and forever be underated as people aren't aware of the fact it's trilogy, but Carpenter's "Apocalypse" trilogy - The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. The Thing is a well known classic, but it's Prince of Darkness that is probably the scariest horror movie I've ever watched.

among newer movies... I think A Quiet Place 1 & 2 are holding better than anything else.

I never really warmed up to Conjuring movies.

The Haunting anthology by Flanagan, Bly Manor and Hill House is up there as well.
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Watched the entirety of Haunting Of Hill House last Halloween. Definitely a classic series. Wasn't a big fan of Bly Manor in comparison.
 
I don't actually think there is one (despite my love of the genre) :lol:

Alien - I think only the first two are really good. Didn't like any of the others until Romulus, although I keep hearing the Director's Cut of Alien3 is good. Either way, I would classify this more as a sci-fi franchise as only the first one is truly horror.

Nightmare on Elm Street / Friday 13th - Waaaaay too much nonsense and filler to be considered good franchises. Memorable? Yes. Good? no. Same goes for Hellraiser and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Halloween - The original is one of the best slashers of all time but nearly every movie afterwards is some shade of shit. The 2018 reboot had potential but then shat the bed with two of the worst sequels I have ever seen.

Exorcist - This could have been it. The first and third are really good but then they decided to milk the franchise with two prequels that came out at the same tiem and then Believer, which is awful.

The Grudge / The Ring - some great entries but also has too much filler.

Scream - This is a good franchise! There is some shit in the middle but the first couple were really good and the last few aren't that bad.

Insidious - I really enjoyed the first 3 of these but the last two weren't very good. Not a bad run overall though.

Conjuring - If we're talking strictly Conjuring movies, yes, this is a good one. The first two are really good and the third isn't the worst. But you have to include The Nun and Annabelle as those are a part of this franchise, and those pull it into the shits.

Saw - This is a good franchise for people looking for silly gore and fun (I would say the same for The Purge franchise). Interesting that this and the two above are all from James Wan, franchise king I guess.

Evil Dead - this is the best franchise. Pretty much every entry is somewhere between decent and excellent.

I take back what I said at the start of this message... there are a few. Evil Dead probably reigns supreme though.
 
Assembly cut!!
Fincher wants next to nothing to do with that film. He got majorly screwed over on A3.

The Evil Dead franchise is a interesting one. The first is a effective low budget, nuts and bolts cabin in the woods horror film with super natural leanings. The second is a straight up retelling but with a goofy, cartoonish tone but goes harder on the fantastical elements and the third is... Well, just rubbish, which I believe Raimi acknowledged at the time.

The Fede reboot is practically much like the original but goes harder on the violence while giving the characters a little more depth and grounding.

But, like the follow up tv show, I've always seen it as a dark goofy horror comedy.
 
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Rotten Tomato has it ranked as a top 10:

1. Hannibal Lector
2. Scream
3. Evil Dead
4. Alien
5. The Conjuring Universe
6. George Romero's Dead
7. Saw
8. Nightmare On Elm Street
9. Insidious
10. Predator

This is actually a pretty good list.
 
Forgot to mention The Shining also which is technically a series, the sequel "Doctor Sleep" is pretty damn good also. Very unsettling in parts.
 
Wibble said:
1 and 2 if you count them as horror. But it is the sci-fi that makes them great.

I don't think there is such a thing as a great pure horror film, much less a franchise.
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I hope you wake up tonight, needing a piss then step on a LEGO and piss all over the floor.
 
I love Carpenter but I don't care for Halloween. I think the Terminator is actually more effective film.
 
FrankDrebin said:
I love Carpenter but I don't care for Halloween. I think the Terminator is actually more effective film.
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The Terminator isn't a horror film though.

I think The Thing is the last vaguely horror film I really enjoyed and that is a) 42 years ago and b) more Sci-fi than horror (in the same way Alien is sci-fi with some nods to horror element).
 
Shark said:
Forgot to mention The Shining also which is technically a series, the sequel "Doctor Sleep" is pretty damn good also. Very unsettling in parts.
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The Shining is great and I find it funny how much Kubrick pissed off King.

Still, if you haven't seen it, King was involved in The Shining tv mini series in 97.
To save you the time, if you ever consider watching it, it's laughably rubbish.
 
The conjuring for me. Up until very recently it was the only film to ever make me jump.


Longlegs was the next.

Feel like I need to give insidious a proper go. Watched the first and didn't think much of it, however the ending is very unsettling.
 
Kubrick didn't miss the point. He just focused on the aspects of the book he wanted to explore more of.
 
I used to really enjoy the Friday the 13th and Halloween movies, but honestly, watching them back over the years they're not good. Similar with A Nightmare on Elm Street. I think the big bads in these films are really iconic and some of the best 'villains' if we can call them that, but the actual movies aren't amazing now.

I actually prefer the Friday the 13th reboot done in 2009 and Rob Zombie's take on Halloween. I'd have to rewatch A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) but the fact I can't remember it much probably means it wasn't as good a reboot as the others.

Since it's October, I've actually been watching the Saw films again. Enjoying them a fair bit, but it does get a bit repetitive after the 5th one.

My favourite one that is becoming a franchise now with a few new movies is The Strangers - the first one is by far the best, possibly my all-time favourite horror movie. I'd definitely suggest giving it a watch.

Barring that, films like Sinister, Insidious etc have taken horror to a new level IMO. These movies are far better and scarier than the older stuff. The usual take is 'the classics are the best' when it comes to movies and TV series, but in the case of horror, absolutely not. I can't understand how true horror enthusiasts would prefer the older stuff now. Although, depending on how you view 'slasher vs gore vs horror' etc maybe there is a debate to be had, but I'd drop it all under one umbrella for the sake of this thread.
 
Wibble said:
The Terminator isn't a horror film though.

I think The Thing is the last vaguely horror film I really enjoyed and that is a) 42 years ago and b) more Sci-fi than horror (in the same way Alien is sci-fi with some nods to horror element).
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I would say The Thing is horror first and sci-fi second, while it's the other way around for Alien. There's a sort of Lovecraftian, cosmic horror element to The Thing, which makes it such an effective horror story.
 
Omen, Scanners, The Thing, The Ring, Audition, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser, Last House on the Left, Cannibal Apocalypse all classics, but sequels of some of them were mostly weak.
 
Alien is my favourite horror film, I wouldn't say it's the best franchise though as the second one is more action than horror and after that things start to get a bit squiffy

I'd say Halloween is the best
 
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