No genre has produced more money-spinning franchises than horror. So, let us take you on a Halloween tour of the timeless classics, cult curios and grizzly turkies that Hollywood has produced over the last eight decades.
The horror franchise originated in the early days of talking pictures, although what has become known as the Universal Classic Monsters cycle wasn't considered a series until quite recently. That's not to say that the studio's front office didn't know what it was doing in releasing scary stories made in the atmospheric Expressionist style that had been imported by such exiled German film-makers as Paul Leni, who did much to earn the studio its ghoulish reputation with The Cat and the Canary (1927), The Man Who Laughs (1928) and The Last Warning (1928). The Cat and the Canary has twice been remade, by Elliott Nugent in 1939 (with Bob Hope) and Radley Metzger, with an all-star cast in 1979, and both are available to rent from Cinema Paradiso.
Universal Gothic
Playing on the audience's fear of the unknown, these early horrors made money and Hollywood has never been able to resist reworking a winning formula. Bathing tales taken from the pages of Gothic literature in chiaroscuro shadows, Universal's 1930s chillers built on the tradition started by the great Lon Chaney, who had earned the nickname 'The Man of a Thousand Faces' for his chameleonic performances in genre gems like Wallace Worsley's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and Rupert Julian's The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His son would come to play a key role in the later stages of the cycle. But the two kings of Universal horror were a fugitive Hungarian revolutionary and the cricket-loving public school-educated nephew of Anna Leonowens of The King and I (1956) fame.
Bela Lugosi had played Bram Stoker's vampire on Broadway in 1927, but he was not studio chief Carl Laemmle, Jr.'s first choice for Tod Browning's Dracula (1931). It's now impossible to think of anyone else in the role. But, despite starring in George Melford's Spanish version of the story (which was filmed at nights on the same sets), Lugosi never reprised the character in a feature, although Universal did cash-in on his success with Lambert Hillyer's Dracula's Daughter (1936), Robert Siodmak's Son of Dracula (1943) and Erle C. Kenton's House of Dracula (1945)
By contrast, Boris Karloff donned Jack B. Pierce's famous make-up to play the Monster in James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Rowland V. Lee's Son of Frankenstein (1939). However, Lon Chaney. Jr. took the role in Kenton's The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) before passing it on to Glenn Strange for Kenton's The House of Frankenstein (1944), in which Karloff played the Creature's demented creator, Dr Gustav Niemann.
Karloff also took the title role in Karl Freund's The Mummy (1932), but he was never draped in Imhotep's bandages again and his successor, Karis, was played by Tom Tyler in Christy Cabanne's The Mummy's Hand (1940) and by Lon Chaney, Jr. in Harold Young's The Mummy's Tomb (1942), Reginald Le Borg's The Mummy's Ghost (1942) and and Leslie Goodwins's The Mummy's Curse (1944). Bandages also proved key to Claude Rains launching another Universal strand, as Dr Jack Griffin in James Whale's The Invisible Man (1933). But he was conspicuous by his absence from Joe May's The Invisible Man Returns (1940). A. Edward Sutherland's The Invisible Woman (1940), Edward L. Marin's Invisible Agent (1942) and Ford Beebe's The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944).
The fact that these entries were directed by studio journeymen who were usually entrusted with B movies shows how public interest in spooky castles and leering ghouls had started to wane. But Universal kept trying to flog variations on the theme by following Stuart Walker's Werewolf of London (1935) with George Waggner's The Wolf Man (1941) and Jean Yarbrough's She-Wolf of London (1946). When these failed to fire the public imagination, the studio tried a different tack by teaming two old favourites in Roy William Neill's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), which cast Lugosi opposite Chaney in the title roles.
Undaunted by the modest box office, Universal pitted its popular comedy duo, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, against their monsters in a string of eerie romps: Charles Barton's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949). And Charles Lamont's Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1953) and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). By the time the latter outings were released, the studio had attempted to use horror to examine Cold War themes in Jack Arnold's Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and Revenge of the Creature (1955) and John Sherwood's The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). But Hammer was about to revolutionise the horror genre by adding lurid colour to the mix and the Universal franchise began to seem almost quaint by comparison.
The History Makers
Although it wasn't made with a franchise in mind, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) has spawned a series of films and TV series set in and around a motel off the beaten track. Adapted by Joseph Stefano from a novel by Robert Bloch, the story of repentant thief Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and her encounter with twitchy motel owner Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) transformed the horror genre with the infamous shower scene. As Alexandre O. Philippe's fascinating documentary, 78/52 (2017), reveals, the brilliance of Hitchcock's storyboarding, George Tomasini's editing and Bernard Herrmann's shrieking strings gave screen violence a new jolt of viscerality - even though there isn't a single shot of metal piercing flesh in the entire sequence.
Perkins returned for Richard Franklin's Psycho 2 (1983) and directed himself in Psycho 3 (1986). He also shared the role with Henry Thomas as the younger Norman in Mick Garris's Psycho 4: The Beginning (1990). However, the character has since been played by Vince Vaughan in Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake, Psycho (1998), and by Kurt Paul in Richard Rothstein's teleplay, Bates Motel (1987), and Freddie Highmore in the TV series Bates Motel (2013-17).
As genre aficionado Kim Newman has rightly pointed out, Psycho changed the nature of American horror by pioneering the 'nightmare movie' and George A. Romero took the strain in a terrifying new direction with Night of the Living Dead (1968), which followed the (mis) fortunes of a group of rural Pennsylvanians, who barricade themselves in a remote farmhouse against the neighbours who have been turned into flesh-eating ghouls by radiation from a Venus space probe. Also filmed in stark black and white, this sleeper hit was followed by Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009), as Romero focused on different communities battling the zombie apocalypse. His son, Cameron, is currently developing a prequel entitled Rise of the Living Dead, while a sixth sequel, currently known as Road of the Dead, is reportedly in the pipeline.
The franchise splintered when Romero and screenwriter John A. Russo fell out over how to follow up the original film. They reached an amicable agreement, however, to allow each to pursue his own vision, with Russo's outings retaining the 'Living Dead' wording in their titles. Russo teamed with Dan O'Bannon for The Return of the Living Dead (1985), but Ken Wiederhorn took over as writer and director on Return of the Living Dead Part 2 (1988), while Brian Yuzna directed Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993). However, a decade passed before New Zealander Ellory Elkayem simultaneously shot Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (both 2005) in Romania and Ukraine and the franchise rather petered out.
After William Friedkin's adaptation with William Peter Blatty's bestselling tale of demonic possession, The Exorcist (1973), became a cultural phenomenon, it was clear a sequel would follow. However, as is so often the case with horror franchises, the law of diminishing returns applies and John Boorman's Exorcist 2: The Heretic (1977), Blatty's The Exorcist 3 (1990), Renny Harlin's Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) and Paul Schrader's Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist (2005) failed to live up to the impossible standards set by the original. The same proved to be the case after Richard Donner enjoyed decent returns with his take on David Seltzer's Antichrist chiller, The Omen (1976), as Don Taylor's Damien: Omen II (1978), Graham Baker's Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) and Jorge Montesi's Omen IV: The Awakening (1991) struggled to distinguish themselves. Gregory Peck and Lee Remick had played American diplomat Robert Thorn and his wife, Katherine, in the original and the roles passed to Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles in John Moore's reboot, The Omen, which was released on 6 June 2006 ('666') to exploit the date's similarity to the Number of the Beast.
By the time The Omen hit our screens, the cinematic landscape had been changed beyond all recognition by Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975), which took Hollywood into the blockbuster era. Based on Peter Benchley's novel about a ravenous great white shark terrorising the sleepy New England resort of Amity Island, this white-knuckle thriller was followed by three markedly less effective sequels: Jeannot Szwarc's Jaws 2 (1978), Joe Alves's Jaws 3 (1983) and Joseph Sargent's Jaws: The Revenge (1987), which was nominated for Worst Picture at the Golden Raspberry Awards.
Spielberg's picture inspired numerous copycats and spoofs, but over a quarter of a century passed before another shark-infested franchise surfaced and it was quickly followed by another. However, Ace Hannah's Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (2009), Christopher Douglas-Olen Ray's Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus (2010) and Mega Shark vs Kolossus (2015), and Emile Edwin Smith's Mega Shark Versus Mecha Shark (2014) were blown out of the water by Anthony C. Ferrante's Sharknado (2013) and its gleefully parodic sequels, Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014), Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015), Sharknado: The 4th Awakens (2016), Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017) and The Last Sharknado: It's About Time (2018).
While these tongue-in-cheek capers were squarely aimed at fanboys, the films adapted from the Twilight novels of Stepanie Meyer were intended for their teenage female readers. That said, the franchise found a mainstream audience and Catherine Hardwicke's Twilight (2008) was also unusual in having a woman behind the camera. Of course, it did no harm to the prospects of Chris Weitz's The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), David Slade's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), and Bill Condon's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012) that the central trio of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner were incredibly photogenic.
When Franchises Are Merely Trilogies
The Twilight films are the only horror entry in the current list of the Top 50 Movie Franchises. One could argue that the Alien and the retooled Mummy series could qualify. But, as they are primarily considered science fiction and adventure pictures respectively, they don't make the Cinema Paradiso cut.
The 'creature features' produced by the Toho studio in the wake of Ishiro Honda's Godzilla (1954) similarly fall foul of the sci-fi rule. And, speaking of arbitrary rulings, in order to make the survey, a franchise or series needs to contain four films. Consequently, we shall have to be content with namechecking such trilogies as Troll (1986-89), The Lost Boys (1987-2010), Demonic Toys (1992-2010), The Mangler (1995-2005), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996-99), Cube (1997-2004), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997-2006) and Hostel (2005-11).
However, it would be remiss not to go into a little detail about a clutch of superior triptychs. Dario Argento's 'The Three Mothers' trilogy is well worth seeking out, with Mater Suspirorium ('the Mother of Sighs') being Helen Markos (Lela Svasta) in Suspiria (1977), Mater Tenebraum ('the Mother of Shadows') being the nurse (Veronica Lazar) in Inferno (1980) and Mater Lachrymarum ('the Mother of Tears') being the title character (Moran Atlas) in The Mother of Tears (2007). Inspired by HP Lovecraft's Herbert West stories, Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) is a deliriously brutal comic horror, with Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott proving a devilish double act, as the medical students armed with a serum capable of awakening the dead. With Combs reprising the role of the mad scientist, Brian Yuzna's sequels, Bride of Re-Animator (1990) and Beyond Re-Animator (2003), are slickly done but lack the charm of Gordon's low-budget original.
Transferring Clive Barker's story, 'The Forbidden', from Liverpool to Chicago, Bernard Rose's Candyman (1992) introduced an iconic bogeyman who was played with unsettling suavity by Tony Todd in Bill Condon's Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1996) and Turi Meyer's Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999). Culled from Mort Wolfman and Gene Colan's Marvel comics, the Blade trilogy with Wesley Snipes as the eponymous vampire killer also had its thrilling moments. But David Goyer's uninspired Blade: Trinity (2004) stopped the series dead in its tracks after the promising start made in Stephen Norrington's Blade (1998) and Guillermo Del Toro's Blade 2 (2002). Despite also being produced by JJ Abrams, Dan Trachtenberg's 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and Julius Onah's The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) weren't quite up to the standards set by Matt Reeves's deeply disconcerting found footage account of a giant monster's rampage in New York in Cloverfield (2008). It remains to be seen whether this flagging idea will discover sufficient momentum to push on to full franchise status.
The Franchise Behemoths
The golden age of the horror franchise started in the 1970s when the slasher movie began to dominate the genre and the British government slapped a ban on so-called 'video nasties'. Made for just $140,000, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) drew on the crimes of serial killer Ed Gein to make Leatherface (Gunnar Hanson) the genre's first power tool-wielding maniac. Despite making $30 million at the box office, this hugely influential picture didn't get a sequel until Hooper released The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 in 1986. This was markedly more graphic, but Hooper was unable to direct Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (1990) and replacement Jeff Burr lacked his vicious flair.
Despite the presence of newcomers Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey, Kim Henkei's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995) stalled the franchise for a decade before Marcus Nispel climbed aboard the reboot bandwagon with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). Subsequently, Jonathan Liebesman's prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), and two further sequels, John Luessenhop's Texas Chainsaw (2013) and Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo's Leatherface (2017), struggled for invention and left the franchise's future in doubt.
By contrast, the series spawned by John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) is still going strong. Co-written by Carpenter (who also composed the creepy score) and Debra Hill, this quintessential slasher introduced such recurring tropes as the punishment of youthful decadence and promiscuity and the survival of the morally pure 'last girl'. The latter was played here by the debuting Jamie Lee Curtis, who reprised the role of Laurie Strode in Rick Rosenthal's Halloween II (1981), Steve Miner's Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998), Rosenthal's Halloween: Resurrection (2002) and David Gordon Green's Halloween (2018).
But Laurie's masked nemesis, Michael Myers, continued to plague babysitters everywhere in Dwight H. Little's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Dominique Othenin-Girard's Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), Joe Chappelle's Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) and the Rob Zombie remake duo of Halloween (2007) and Halloween 2 (2009). But Myers himself was absent from Tommy Lee Wallace's Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982), which was produced by Carpenter and Hill and had more to do with sorcery and Celtic mysticism than slashing blades.
A machete was very much in evidence as a killer ran amuck at Camp Crystal Lake in Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th (1980). Written by Victor Miller and reinforcing the stalk'n'slash aspect of the serial killer sub-genre, the story contained echoes of Mario Bava's A Bay of Blood (1971). But, following Steve Miner's sequel, Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981), the series received fresh impetus in Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982) when Miner put slayer Jason Vorhees in an ice hockey goal-minder's mask and transformed him into a horror icon, who would continue to cause bloody mayhem in Joseph Zito's Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Danny Steinmann's Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), Tom McLaughlin's Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part 6 (1986), John Carl Buechler's Friday the 13th: Part 7: The New Blood (1988), Rob Hedden's Friday the 13th: Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) and Adam Marcus's Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993).
He even went into space, as Uber Jason preys on kids some 445 years into the future at the Crystal Lake complex on Earth Two in James Isaacs's Jason X (2001). Moreover, he also took on another franchise titan, Freddy Krueger, in Ronny Yu's Freddy vs Jason (2003). However, he was solely a solo threat by the time he returned in Marcus Nispel's retool, Friday the 13th (2009), and there have been several attempts to sequelise or remake the scenario. Cunningham and Miller have also been engaged in a bitter legal battle over the rights to the original. Yet, while the critics have never been particularly fond of the franchise, it has taken $464 million at the box office and spawned TV series, novels, video games and a range of merchandise.
A young Johnny Depp made his feature debut in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). But all eyes were firmly on Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), as he invaded the dreams of four teenagers in Springwood, Ohio with his fire-scarred face, red-and-green hooped jumper and razor-fingered gloves. Craven would return to contribute to the script of Chuck Russell's A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), while he would also direct and play himself in the playfully self-reflexive, Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994). But, while Englund remained a fixture as the series rattled up $457 million, the quality of Jack Sholder's A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), Renny Harlin's A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), Stephen Hopkins's A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) and Rachel Talalay's Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) was decidedly mixed. Nevertheless, Samuel Bayer's seemingly inevitable millennial reboot, A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), made money and a sequel is apparently in the works.
Spoofs and Cult Favourites
Craven was also behind Scream (1996), an inspired parody of the slasher picture that screenwriter Kevin Williamson based on the case of the Gainesville Ripper. The masked killer, Ghostface, would return in Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000) and Scream 4 (2011), with Craven and Williamson reuniting on all but the third outing, which was scripted by Ehren Kruger. Yet, for all the ingenuity of the writing, the films were blamed for a series of copycat killings.
The laughs were less contentious in two other comic franchises, however. Directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman and set in the fictional town of Tromaville, The Toxic Avenger (1984) lampooned the horror and superhero genres and was followed by The Toxic Avenger: Part 2 and The Toxic Avenger: Part 3: The Last Temptation of Toxie (both 1989), which were intended to be one feature, but Kaufman realised that he had excess footage and decided to make two movies for the price of one. In 2000, Kaufman released Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger 4, but the year's hit genre spoof was Keenan Ivory Wayans's Scary Movie, which took Scream and Jim Gillespie's I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) as its targets.
Wayans spread the net wider in Scary Movie 2 (2001), which included Jan de Bont's The Haunting (1999) among its victims. Although spoof specialist David Zucker took over for Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006), Anna Faris and Regina Hall reprised the central roles of Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks. But, even though Zucker continued to write the gags, their presence was sorely missed in Malcolm D. Lee's Scary Movie 5 (2013).
A vein of droll humour is also evident in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981), which made a cult hero of Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, the sole survivor of an encounter in a remote woodland cabin between five holidaying students and the demons they unleash by playing an old audio tape. Campbell would also grace Raimi's Evil Dead 2 (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), as well as Fede Alvarez's 2013 reboot, The Evil Dead, which he co-produced along with Raimi. A television set proved the means of communication for the Freeling family and the spirits haunting their Cuesta Verde home in Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982), which was co-scripted and produced by Steven Spielberg. But, while young Heather O'Rourke (who would die at the tragically early age of 12) returned for Brian Gibson's Poltergeist 2: The Other Side (1986) and Gary Sherman's Poltergeist III (1988), they were not of the same calibre. But Gil Keenan's remake, Poltergeist (2015), which was produced by Sam Raimi, overcame lukewarm reviews to make a handsome $60 million profit.
British horror author Clive Barker turned director to inflict the extra-dimensional Cenobites on unsuspecting audiences in Hellraiser (1987), which marked the first appearance of Doug Bradley in Bob Keen's nightmare-inducing make-up as Pinhead. He would return in Tony Randel's Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988), Anthony Hickox's Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth (1992), Kevin Yagher's Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), Scott Derrickson's Hellraiser: Inferno (2000) and the Rick Bota trio of Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), Hellraiser: Deader (2005) and Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005). But Bradley was a no-show on Victor Garcia's Hellraiser: Revelations (2011), while his comeback in the franchise's longtime make-up designer Gary J. Tunnicliffe's Hellraiser: Judgment (2018) was stymied by his refusal to sign a non-disclosure agreement before reading the script.
Created by Don Mancini and commanding an equally sizeable cult following is Chucky, the Good Guy doll who received the soul of a serial killer known as the Lakeshore Strangler during a voodoo ceremony. First appearing in Tom Holland's Child's Play (1988), Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) returned to torment young owner Andy Barclay in John Lafia's Child's Play 2 (1990) and Jack Bender's Child's Play 3 (1991) before finding love with Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) in Ronny Yu's hilariously self-referential Bride of Chucky (1998). The couple's son, Glen (Billy Boyd), reanimates his parents in Seed of Chucky (2004), which saw Mancini take over directing, as well as scriptwriting duties. But, while Curse of Chucky (2013) and Cult of Chucky (2017) were released exclusively on home entertainment formats, Mancini has promised to keep producing further instalments, while also working on a new TV series.
As played by Tobin Bell, John Kramer is a more perfidious monster, as he calls the gruesome shots in the Saw franchise that was devised by James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Wan directed the first film in 2003, which saw co-scenarist Whannell abducted and chained with Cary Elwes and left to figure out how to use a bag of hacksaws in order to facilitate their escape. Released on the last Friday before Halloween, Darren Lynn Bousman's Saw 2 (2004), Saw 3 (2005) and Saw 4 (2006) were followed by David Hackl's Saw 5 (2007) and Kevin Greutert's Saw 6 (2008) and Saw 7 (2010). However, rumours that the series had ended proved to be premature, as German-Australian siblings Michael and Peter Spierig relaunched it with Jigsaw (2017), which took its title from the nickname of Bell's sickly sadistic vigilante.
And Still They Come
Although the quality of some of the individual entries has been patchy, the franchises we've explored thus far have due claim to be considered the pick of the crop. Doubtless there will be those who could make a case for the inclusion of The Hills Have Eyes (5; 1977-2007), The Amityville Horror (18; 1979-2017), The Howling (8; 1981-2011), The Children of the Corn (10; 1984-2018), Tremors (6; 1990-2018), Final Destination (5; 2000-2011), Paranormal Activity (6; 2007-15) and Insidious (4; 2010-18). Granted, some of these series have performed well commercially, but standards tailed off after notable initial contributions by Wes Craven, Stuart Rosenberg, Joe Dante, Fritz Kiersch, Ron Underwood, James Wong, Oren Peli and James Wan respectively.
Mention should be made, however, of two franchises with empowered female leads, who remain in dismayingly short supply across the genre. Played by Milla Jovovich, Alice seeks to prevent the Umbrella Corporation from instigating a zombie apocalypse in Paul WS Anderson's Resident Evil (2002), Alexander Witt's Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and Russell Mulcahy's Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), as well as Anderson's concluding trio of Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016).
By contrast, Kate Beckinsale's Selene is a vampire who deals death to the Lycans (werewolves) who had wiped out her family in Len Wiseman's Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006), Patrick Tatopoulos's Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein's Underworld: Awakening (2012) and Anna Foerster's Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), which is notable as one of the scandalously few films in this overview to have been directed by a woman.
A handful of franchises have been formed as a result of hybridisation, with the Massacre series (1982-90) containing three Slumber Party and two Sorority House bloodbaths. Several entries in the 13-strong and still extant Puppet Master (1989-2018) series cross over into Charles Band's Bongy Westphall Universe, while Anaconda (4; 1997-2009) and Lake Placid (6; 1999-2018) share a connection via AB Stone's Lake Placid vs Anaconda (2015).
But one of the joys of Cinema Paradiso is that users are able to browse the site and make their own discoveries. Who knows, you might find yourself becoming addicted to such franchise boxed sets as Phantasm (5; 1979-2016), Prom Night (5; 1980-2008), Scanners (5; 1981-95), Silent Night, Deadly Night (6; 1984-2012), Critters (4; 1986-92), Ghoulies (4; 1986-94), Night of the Demons (4; 1988-2009), Subspecies (5; 1991-99), Sleepaway Camp (5; 1993-2012), Leprechaun (7; 1993-2004), The Prophecy (5; 1995-2005), Pumpkinhead (4; 1998-2007), Killjoy (4; 2000-16), Wrong Turn (6; 2003-14) and Hatchet (4; 2006-17).
Finally, horror franchises are not just the preserve of American cinema. Spaniard Amando De Ossorio led the way with the 'Blind Dead' quartet that was comprised of Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971), Return of the Evil Dead (1973), The Ghost Galleon (1974) and Night of the Seagulls (1975). Another fine Spanish foursome sees ravenous zombies go on the rampage in Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza's [Rec] (2007) and [Rec] 2 (2009), Plaza's [Rec] 3: Genesis (2012) - a splendid example of the found footage format that is the only entry not to feature Manuela Velasco as plucky reporter Ángela Vidal - and Balagueró's [Rec] 4: Apocalypse (2014).
Among the best Japanese series are Guinea Pig (6; 1985-88), Ju-On/The Grudge (10; 1998-2016), Tomie (9; 1999-2011) and One Missed Call (3; 2003-06), while Hong Kong has produced the likes of A Chinese Ghost Story (3; 1987-91) and the 20-strong Troublesome Night (1997-2017) strand, which is one of the genre's most prolific franchises. Staying in Asia, the Korean Whispering Corridors (5; 1998-2009) and Filipino Shake, Rattle & Roll (15; 1984-2014) series also have large fanboy followings. Indeed, such is the popularity of the horror franchise that Bollywood has also dipped a toe into the water with the likes of Raaz (4; 2002-16), Muni (3; 2007-15) and 1920 (4; 2008-18).
Are you interested in even more horror films? Check out horror films in our catalogue for recommendations and find your favourites.
