Favorite Horror Franchises

[t hedge coke]

No other genre goes in for sequel after sequel quote like horror movies. Sequels, prequels, vaguely similar movies repackaged as sequels. Horror flicks are committed to franchising.

So, what are your three favorite horror movie franchises? Not necessarily the best, the most famous, or anything else, just your personal faves.

[Enigma]

Scream - for the shear stabbiness.
Saw - for the 'design' aspect of the traps, which I find interesting.
Final Destination - for the hilarity.

[Carabas]

Nightmare On Elm Street.

The Alien series.

Hammer's version of Dracula.

And in other media, the Cthulhu mythos by Lovecraft and various others, and Silent Hill, but only the first three games.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

Scream

And that's it.

[j9ac9k]

"Nightmare on Elm Street" - Freddie had a real sick sense of humor, a horrifying origin, a *great* look, supernatural powers and the killing was always creative and weird instead of just stabby.

[Panfoot]

I think my favorite series would probably be Alien. Alien and Aliens are both fantastic and I actually really like Alien 3 too, Resurrection less so and we can just pretend the AvP movies don't exist, still a pretty good track record though. I always loved watching the Leprechaun movies on Saint Patricks day, and I'm always down for watching the Chuck movies(though I think after the 3rd one they got too self aware).

[tsaimelemoni]

Scream
Alien
Resident Evil

The last franchise is too much of a guilty pleasure to not be on my favorite list

[t hedge coke]

Night of the Demons probably counts on the strength of the first two. The third and the remake were disappointments, though.

Eko Eko Azarak. Changes gears each movie, but they all look great and they all creep me out in different ways.

Halloween. Even a bad Halloween is great. And the whole run is stronger than the sum all its parts. But, some of the single films are just brilliant.

Resident Evil

The last franchise is too much of a guilty pleasure to not be on my favorite list

My best friend and my brother both love them and can't understand how I can't get that into them. (Same with Underworld.)

[j9ac9k]

This is all subjective, but I wouldn't consider "Alien" or "Resident Evil" to be "horror." Aside from the first "Alien" I'd say they were action movies - monster movies if you want, but does everyone else consider them horror?

[t hedge coke]

This is all subjective, but I wouldn't consider "Alien" or "Resident Evil" to be "horror." Aside from the first "Alien" I'd say they were action movies - monster movies if you want, but does everyone else consider them horror?

I'm biased about the RE movies, but with the Alien franchise, I'd say even the most action-heavy ones still put a fair emphasis on creepiness or jump-scares. Action-Horror, maybe, the way The Final Girls is Comedy-Horror and The Convent is Horror-Comedy. Or, vice versa.

To contrast, while several Godzilla movies are horror movies, I wouldn't consider it a horror franchise.

[Scott Taylor]

Jason/Friday the 13th - Slightly edges out the Halloween franchise for me. Mainly because the best Jason movie is better than the best Halloween movie.
Final Destination - I just love the creative deaths and notion of death being a predator.
Jaws - Mainly because no one has mentioned it yet. Love the first movie, its probably my favorite flick. The second wasn't horrible, and I even like the 3rd one. Jaws the Revenge, though, yikes. You could say the series literally jumped the shark at that point.

[tsaimelemoni]

This is all subjective, but I wouldn't consider "Alien" or "Resident Evil" to be "horror." Aside from the first "Alien" I'd say they were action movies - monster movies if you want, but does everyone else consider them horror?

Just to echo t hedge, I lump then more in the action-horror category. It's definitely uneven, but some of the RE movies try to place more emphasis on aspects of horror (jump scares, ominous environments, blood and gore, etc.).

I put all the Alien movies, barring the fourth and Prometheus (if you count it), more in the horror camp than action. The focus is just different in each film.

[Iron Maiden]

The classic Universal Horror Films and Hammer Frankenstein series of films with Peter Cushing as the good doctor are the ones I enjoy the most. Peter Cushing's Doctor Frankenstein becomes a sort of anti-hero and the first 4 films are pretty solid.

Universal's has some legendary classics in there; Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man are the two I like the most I think. Though not strictly connected, Dracula's Daughter was Dracula's sequel and is a little gem of a movie IMO. Son of Frankenstein is very entertaining also with Basil Rathbone as Wolf Frankenstein and Lugosi's debut as Ygor.

Peter Cushing

[Daryl]

1. "Evil Dead" - even the reboot was pretty good
2. Romero's "Dead" films, even if they did taper WAY off on these last few
3. The original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" films- but not so much the reboots
4. It might be a stretch but the movies that make up Dario Argento's "Three Mothers"- "Suspiria", "Inferno" and "Mother of Tears" (which I think I liked more than other people did)

[redrunner97]

Halloween is hands-down my favorite. John Carpenter's original is arguably the greatest horror film ever made and my personal favorite movie. The sequels range from great to not-great, but I genuinely think it's one of the most consistent horror franchises out there.

I also love A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Child's Play, Texas Chainsaw, etc. All the big-name slashers, really.

If I actually named all of my favorites, I'm afraid I would run out of characters. lol