While some horror movie franchises only get a few sequels, there are other series that simply refuse to die even after endless reboots, remakes, and follow-up films. It is tough to keep a horror movie franchise feeling fresh after numerous sequels. While the first appearance of Jason Voorhees was enough to terrify moviegoers when Friday the 13th was first released back in 1980, by the seventh time the masked murderer graced the silver screen, he was nowhere near as unsettling. Similarly, while The Amityville Horror and Paranormal Activity franchises could get a lot of mileage from a haunted house setting in their first outings, the premise fell flat by their fifth movie.
Despite these issues, there are several horror series that simply refuse to die. Even horror franchises with only one good movie can last for decades by adding an absurd number of follow-ups to their first outing. Some franchises survive via endless sequels, falling from the grace of theatrical debuts and into straight-to-DVD ignominy after a few entries. Others manage to stay in theaters despite dreadful reviews as viewers continuously flock to see these middling outings and grow their box office totals. Some other horror franchises will live on through a string of reboots, re-imaginings, remakes, and other phrases that promise audiences more of the same, but slightly different, with no end in sight.
A lot of horror franchises start strong and gradually grow less critically successful as they continue. Credit where it is due, the Leprechaun movies did buck this trend. The original 1993 horror-comedy Leprechaun was already critically lambasted, meaning the series seemingly had nowhere to go but up in subsequent outings. Instead, the Leprechaun movies continued to wallow in mediocrity for a staggering seven sequels. Leprechaun 4: In Space and the two movies set in “The Hood” did at least try something new. However, thanks to Warwick Davis’s hilarious central performance, the Leprechaun movies have primarily been defined by a great horror franchise villain in search of a good story.
The Evil Dead series might be the best horror franchise that refuses to die. With five movies and a TV spinoff to its name, the Evil Dead franchise has yet to produce an installment that critics and audience members widely opposed. Admittedly, Sam Raimi's trilogy-ending installment Army of Darkness is a little too silly for some and Ash Vs Evil Dead season 4 was uneven. However, almost all entries in the Evil Dead series are brutal, bloody, and brilliant, and even 2023’s second reboot Evil Dead Rise was able to keep the critical and box office fortunes of the franchise alive.
When John Carpenter directed Halloween in 1978, there was no way the legendary filmmaker knew just how popular the slasher would soon prove. While Halloween wasn’t a horror movie studios thought would fail, the low-budget slasher was projected to be a relatively minor success. Instead, the $300,000 movie made $70 million at the box office and launched the entire slasher sub-genre. Halloween has since spawned four direct sequels, one unrelated spinoff, a ‘90s sequel that reset the franchise timeline and earned a direct follow-up, a remake that spawned its own sequel, and a 2018 trilogy that reset the canon of the series again. As the movies declare, "Evil doesn't die," and neither does the franchise.
Like Halloween, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an unexpectedly huge success upon its 1974 release. Director Tobe Hooper’s uniquely intense horror movie was an immersive road trip into Hell whose production process was almost as tortured as the movie’s victims. Surprisingly, it took over a decade for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 to arrive in theaters. However, the series soon made up for lost time with two further direct sequels, one remake, a prequel to the remake, an additional sequel, another unrelated prequel in 2017’s Leatherface, and finally a 2022 Netflix sequel.
The news that Bryan Fuller’s Friday the 13th TV show reboot Crystal Lake will bring Jason Voorhees back to the screen is just the latest case of studios reviving the un-killable slasher villain. The franchise began in 1980 with the absurdly successful low-budget slasher Friday the 13th which, ironically, didn’t feature Jason until its closing scene. The original movie's success prompted nine direct sequels, the last of which took place in space. After that, Jason faced off against A Nightmare On Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger in the 2003 crossover movie Freddy Vs Jason, before appearing again in 2009’s serviceable re-imagining creatively titled Friday the 13th.
The 2004 horror movie Saw was a surprise success for director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell. While Wan and Whannell’s other franchise, the convoluted Insidious movies, earned numerous sequels, that supernatural series couldn’t compete with the grisly Saw movies. Saw earned seven direct sequels, although the series never reclaimed its initial critical success. In 2021, Spiral: From the Book of Saw became the first spinoff of the franchise, with a tenth movie scheduled to hit theaters in October 2023.
The Grudge franchise might have one of the longest histories in all horror cinema. The haunted house horror series began with Katasumi and 4444444444, two short films featured in a TV movie. After this, there were two straight-to-video Japanese movies, three theatrical Japanese movies, two rebooted Japanese sequels, and one 2016 crossover movie with The Ring franchise. Meanwhile, as Hollywood began remaking Japanese horror movies in the 2000s, the franchise also produced two American theatrical movies, one American straight-to-video sequel, and finally an American reboot in 2020.
The 1984 Stephen King adaptation Children of the Corn changed the ending of the original short story, wherein both of the protagonists are killed by the eponymous cult and the monster they worship. In doing so, Children of the Corn doomed viewers to no less than nine sequels, one TV movie remake, and another 2023 prequel to this slow-burn horror effort. Ironically, Children of the Corn was not even well received upon the original movie's release and the franchise’s follow-up films haven’t fared any better with critics.
The Child’s Play franchise, unlike most horror series, has maintained the same screenwriter for all but one of its outings. However, viewers would never know this from the wild tonal shifts seen throughout the series. There are three original Child’s Play movies, two meta-sequels that parodied these original movies, and two more direct sequels that returned to the horror-forward tone of the original trilogy. After that, there was a misjudged 2019 remake that dropped the original screenwriter and lost the magic of the series. This effort was followed by two seasons of Chucky, a TV show spinoff that brought back writer Don Mancini to once again revive this horror cinema mainstay.
Despite these issues, there are several horror series that simply refuse to die. Even horror franchises with only one good movie can last for decades by adding an absurd number of follow-ups to their first outing. Some franchises survive via endless sequels, falling from the grace of theatrical debuts and into straight-to-DVD ignominy after a few entries. Others manage to stay in theaters despite dreadful reviews as viewers continuously flock to see these middling outings and grow their box office totals. Some other horror franchises will live on through a string of reboots, re-imaginings, remakes, and other phrases that promise audiences more of the same, but slightly different, with no end in sight.
10 Leprechaun
Leprechaun watching a young woman in a hospital in Leprechaun 4 in SpaceA lot of horror franchises start strong and gradually grow less critically successful as they continue. Credit where it is due, the Leprechaun movies did buck this trend. The original 1993 horror-comedy Leprechaun was already critically lambasted, meaning the series seemingly had nowhere to go but up in subsequent outings. Instead, the Leprechaun movies continued to wallow in mediocrity for a staggering seven sequels. Leprechaun 4: In Space and the two movies set in “The Hood” did at least try something new. However, thanks to Warwick Davis’s hilarious central performance, the Leprechaun movies have primarily been defined by a great horror franchise villain in search of a good story.
9 Evil Dead
Possessed Ellie in Evil Dead Rise and Ash Williams in Evil DeadThe Evil Dead series might be the best horror franchise that refuses to die. With five movies and a TV spinoff to its name, the Evil Dead franchise has yet to produce an installment that critics and audience members widely opposed. Admittedly, Sam Raimi's trilogy-ending installment Army of Darkness is a little too silly for some and Ash Vs Evil Dead season 4 was uneven. However, almost all entries in the Evil Dead series are brutal, bloody, and brilliant, and even 2023’s second reboot Evil Dead Rise was able to keep the critical and box office fortunes of the franchise alive.
8 Halloween
Corey in Halloween Ends Michael Myers and Laurie Strode in Halloween H20When John Carpenter directed Halloween in 1978, there was no way the legendary filmmaker knew just how popular the slasher would soon prove. While Halloween wasn’t a horror movie studios thought would fail, the low-budget slasher was projected to be a relatively minor success. Instead, the $300,000 movie made $70 million at the box office and launched the entire slasher sub-genre. Halloween has since spawned four direct sequels, one unrelated spinoff, a ‘90s sequel that reset the franchise timeline and earned a direct follow-up, a remake that spawned its own sequel, and a 2018 trilogy that reset the canon of the series again. As the movies declare, "Evil doesn't die," and neither does the franchise.
7 Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Feature Image Rachel Zellwegger in Texas ChainsawLike Halloween, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an unexpectedly huge success upon its 1974 release. Director Tobe Hooper’s uniquely intense horror movie was an immersive road trip into Hell whose production process was almost as tortured as the movie’s victims. Surprisingly, it took over a decade for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 to arrive in theaters. However, the series soon made up for lost time with two further direct sequels, one remake, a prequel to the remake, an additional sequel, another unrelated prequel in 2017’s Leatherface, and finally a 2022 Netflix sequel.
6 Friday The 13th
Jason Voorhees bag mask in Friday the 13th Part IIThe news that Bryan Fuller’s Friday the 13th TV show reboot Crystal Lake will bring Jason Voorhees back to the screen is just the latest case of studios reviving the un-killable slasher villain. The franchise began in 1980 with the absurdly successful low-budget slasher Friday the 13th which, ironically, didn’t feature Jason until its closing scene. The original movie's success prompted nine direct sequels, the last of which took place in space. After that, Jason faced off against A Nightmare On Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger in the 2003 crossover movie Freddy Vs Jason, before appearing again in 2009’s serviceable re-imagining creatively titled Friday the 13th.
5 Saw
Tobin Bell as Jigsaw with hood down in SawThe 2004 horror movie Saw was a surprise success for director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell. While Wan and Whannell’s other franchise, the convoluted Insidious movies, earned numerous sequels, that supernatural series couldn’t compete with the grisly Saw movies. Saw earned seven direct sequels, although the series never reclaimed its initial critical success. In 2021, Spiral: From the Book of Saw became the first spinoff of the franchise, with a tenth movie scheduled to hit theaters in October 2023.
4 Ju-On: The Grudge
Kayako appears under the covers from The GrudgeThe Grudge franchise might have one of the longest histories in all horror cinema. The haunted house horror series began with Katasumi and 4444444444, two short films featured in a TV movie. After this, there were two straight-to-video Japanese movies, three theatrical Japanese movies, two rebooted Japanese sequels, and one 2016 crossover movie with The Ring franchise. Meanwhile, as Hollywood began remaking Japanese horror movies in the 2000s, the franchise also produced two American theatrical movies, one American straight-to-video sequel, and finally an American reboot in 2020.
3 Hellraiser
The Hellraiser series was always a little more trippy and psychedelic than most straightforward slashers. This allowed the gruesome movies a lot of leeway when it came to producing sequels that barely connected to their predecessors. The original 1987 adaptation of author Clive Barker’s The Hellhound Heart spawned a whopping ten loosely-linked Hellraiser movies, the worst of which had barely any connection to the franchise. These were followed by a 2022 reboot that, for all its flaws, was at least always intended to be a Hellraiser movie.2 Children of the Corn
A teenager talking to a girl in Children of the Corn 2023The 1984 Stephen King adaptation Children of the Corn changed the ending of the original short story, wherein both of the protagonists are killed by the eponymous cult and the monster they worship. In doing so, Children of the Corn doomed viewers to no less than nine sequels, one TV movie remake, and another 2023 prequel to this slow-burn horror effort. Ironically, Children of the Corn was not even well received upon the original movie's release and the franchise’s follow-up films haven’t fared any better with critics.
1 Child’s Play
Chucky in Child's Play 1988The Child’s Play franchise, unlike most horror series, has maintained the same screenwriter for all but one of its outings. However, viewers would never know this from the wild tonal shifts seen throughout the series. There are three original Child’s Play movies, two meta-sequels that parodied these original movies, and two more direct sequels that returned to the horror-forward tone of the original trilogy. After that, there was a misjudged 2019 remake that dropped the original screenwriter and lost the magic of the series. This effort was followed by two seasons of Chucky, a TV show spinoff that brought back writer Don Mancini to once again revive this horror cinema mainstay.