If a movie does exceptionally well, you better believe that Hollywood is going to make a sequel, and if that followup kills it at the box office--like Paranormal Activity or Insidious did--there will be more films on the way creating a long-lasting franchise. In the realm of horror movies, this happens a lot because these films are cheap as dirt to make and have the potential to make a ton of money.
However, that doesn't mean every movie in these franchises will be good. In many cases, the films are pumped out so quickly that it just feels like recycled garbage in a new location, right Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan? Depending on your outlook on the major horror franchises, featuring Freddy, Jason, and Michael, the good films outweigh the bad. The same can not be said about some others from the '70s, '80s, and beyond, though.
We took a look at some of the biggest and longest running horror franchises in modern cinema to determine what the worst of the bunch were. To rank these bad boys, we used a highly scientific method of looking at every movie in the series and rating them from "bad" to "amazing," and then randomly deciding where they go on this list.
Here are the 13 worst horror movie franchises in history, and if you're looking for more rankings of all things horror, check out the rankings for the franchises: Friday the 13th and Halloween.
13. Ghoulies
4 movies: all of them bad
When the classic 1984 movie Gremlins was released, it seemed like every studio that dealt with horror tried to find a way to make a buck off of "tiny terrors." In Ghoulies, a couple of college kids inherit their late father's estate, find some spooky magic books in the basement, and read from them aloud--as you do--which summons the Ghoulies. This group of miniscule monsters terrorize the people that summoned them.
Somehow, there were three more movies in this horror/comedy franchise, including Ghoulies III: Ghoulies go to College in 1991. Each movie had its own little twist, but overall, they were campy, unfunny, and poor flicks. So why am I even talking about the Ghoulies? Because I'm still mad I rented it as a kid, for the simple reason that it had a monster in a toilet on the VHS cover.
12. Critters
4 movies: 1 of them decent, 3 of them bad
Much like Ghoulies, the Critters franchise was about tiny little monsters terrorizing people. However, unlike Ghoulies, the Critters came from space and love to eat people. To add some flavor to the mix, there are shape-shifting bounty hunters hot on the Critters' trail. The first movie isn't terrible, and it does bring something new to this genre.
However, it gets repetitive and goes far downhill from there. The next two films follows the same story, "Hey, more Critters are on Earth! Y'all better kill 'em!" In the fourth film, things get political as Critters are on the verge of extinction, and they need to be saved. Don't worry, they're extinct by the end of the movie. It's a movie that tries really hard to not be Gremlins but completely comes off like someone remaking Gremlins from their memory, after seeing it drunk.
11. Return of the Living Dead
5 movies: 1 of them good and 4 bad
During the '80s, there was a rise in zombie movies, and when something becomes popular, someone is bound to parody it. That's the case with Return of the Living Dead. It's a comedic look at the zombie genre, and you know what? The first movie is pretty excellent. Better yet, it's the first movie to introduce the idea of fast-moving zombies. Surely, this was a one-and-done thing, right?
Nope, Return of the Living Dead II came out a few years later, failing to cash in on the magic of the first movie. Then, the series went straight-up horror/romance for the third installment. Both movies are decently fun in a "I can't believe people paid to see this" type of way. Then, in 2005, two more movies in the franchise came out, attempting to get back to its comedic roots, but just feeling derivative of everything else we've seen in the genre. They’re also really hard to sit through because they are pure stinkers.
10. Scanners
5 movies: 1 of them amazing and 4 bad
Most horror fans remember Scanners, the 1981 David Cronenberg classic, which was about psychics that can control people's minds and a coalition that uses them to destroy an underground movement. However, everyone remembers the movie because these psychics can make people's heads explode. It's a good concept, but Cronenberg's writing and directing are what elevate the movie to be a classic.
Then, there are the sequels. The next two--The New Order and The Takeover--are more of the same: good Scanners fighting bad Scanners. And in 1994, the series made a departure, becoming Scanner Cop. The first film has a cool premise, a cop who is a Scanner--hence the title--hunts down the person behind a string of murders. It's low-budget, campy, and just bad. There's also a sequel to Scanner Cop that's somehow even worse, probably because it was rushed to market about a year later. It was obvious nothing was ever going to live up to the original film, but everything after that first movie feels completely phoned in once the pitch meeting was over.
9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
8 movies: 1 good, 1 decent, and 6 bad
The franchise that brought the chainsaw-wielding maniac Leatherface to life is a whole lot more sizzle than pop. It all began in 1974 with director Tobe Hooper, who created a low-budget slasher film, which was the first in the horror subgenre to find mainstream success and helped kick off the slasher golden age that reigned supreme during the '80s. The movie follows some friends who are driving through Texas that end up meeting a cannibalistic family.
It took 12 years for the sequel to release, which Hooper directed again. It still has that horror/grindhouse feel to it, and while it was a bit different than the original--as a horror comedy--it still holds up. Then, there were all those other sequels, including a 2003 reboot of sorts and the 2017 origin of Leatherface--a story no one wanted. The series may have tried to reinvent the character and add to his mythos, but the film quality was never really there. What made the original so great was that it was low-budget and felt real. More money in the budget did the sequels a disservice.
8. Paranormal Activity
6 movies: 1 good and 5 bad
Found footage horror films are fantastic in small doses, like The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield. Heck, they can even work as a franchise if each movie brings something new to the table, like the [REC] series. The first Paranormal Activity was a nice return to found footage films. Yes, it was slow, it dragged, and the end of the movie was way too packed with stuff, but it felt like something new for the subgenre. It also made a ton of money, so yearly sequels started coming out, and all of them also made a ton of money.
However, box office successes don't translate as "this is a good movie." All of the Paranormal Activity films were exceptionally similar, while trying to weave in this longform story about a family that is haunted… which the series dropped. Each subsequent sequel is a whole lot "more of the same." We get it. There's a bunch of night vision cameras set up in a house and nothing happens for a while, then EVERYTHING happens, and then the credits roll.
7. Leprechaun
7 movies: 1 decent, 5 bad, and one that will make you want to gouge your eyes out
As you've probably already noticed, during the late-80s and early-90s, there were two types of horror movies: super-serious ones and horror/comedies. The first Leprechaun is a solid example of mixing horror and comedy. An evil Leprechaun is trying to find his gold and ends up murdering a bunch of people. That's about it, but it does have some fun quips from Warwick Davis, who plays the titular character.
However, since the first movie, Leprechaun has become more of a punchline than anything else. Where will he go next? Las Vegas? Space? The Hood? Back 2 tha Hood? It's become the Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo of the late-90s/early-00s. Then, a movie studio did the thing that every horror franchise does that no one ever wants… an origin story. Leprechaun Origins came out, which I watched purely because WWE's Hornswoggle was in. Boy oh boy, was this a giant tonal shift from the horror/comedy films in the series. It's very, very, very bad, and an insult to the already terrible franchise, mainly because Warwick Davis isn't in it at all.
6. Hellraiser
10 movies: 2 good and 8 bad
While Hellraiser sits in the middle of this list, it's easily the most disappointing to me. In the original Clive Barker movie, a woman discovers her ex-lover is a zombie--of sorts. He left the underworld/afterlife and is now being chased by cenobites--hellacious demons that look super-into BDSM. The original is Clive Barker at his best. It's exquisite world-building and while the high-concept ideas may have been a tad confusing, the first two films in this series are some of the best ideas in horror for the decade.
However, it's extremely all downhill from there. In the years that followed, there were eight more movies in the franchise that took the cenobite Pinhead all around the world, into space, and onto the internet. Yes, the Hellraiser franchise got super-weird in 2005 with the straight-to-video movie Hellraiser: Hellworld. Strap in because in this movie, there is an MMORPG based on the Hellraiser movies and players end up going to a rave where they learn the truth about the cenobites. Hellworld contains everything you need for a successful 1998 movie, in 2005: computers, hacking, EDM, and raves. Yes, it's terrible, but it's hilariously bad. Sadly, the biggest insult to the Hellraiser franchise is that Clive Barker sets up a really intriguing and interesting world in the first two films--even though Barker didn't direct the sequel. From there, it's all a giant slope, downhill with sequels trying to cash in on the original.
5. Silent Night, Deadly Night
6 movies: 1 hilarious and 5 awful
You've probably never seen any of the movies in this terrible series, but it is the only film franchise on this list that has a pretty big cult following because the movies are simply awful. In the original, a teenager goes on a killing spree dressed as Santa. That's pretty much the nuts and bolts of the movie.
Continuing forward. It's a whole lot more of the same. People die on Christmas, and the character from the first movie pops in and out randomly. However, the sequel--Silent Night, Deadly Night 2--is accidentally brilliant. You've more than likely seen this video, where a dude takes out his trash and gets shot, then the shooter yells, "Garbage day." This comes from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2. A huge chunk of the movie recycles scenes from the first film, and it's pretty obvious this movie was shot in under two weeks. It's about a low-budget of a slasher as you can get. What's crazy is that there are six movies, totally, in this franchise, including one from 2012. Who is still watching this series?
4. Howling
8 movies: 1 decent and 7 we all forgot existed
Howling was a franchise I completely forgot was a thing for a little while. The first Howling movie, based on the book of the same name, was directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins) and follows a newswoman heading to a mountain resort where she's confronted with werewolves. It's regarded as a classic horror film and actually has some pretty cool moments. That same year, An American Werewolf in London came out as well as Wolfen. It was the year of the wolf.
It was the start of an '80s trend no one asked for, werewolf movies. So the first film isn't too bad. It has its place, but then I was reminded that there was more than one movie. And then I remembered numerous times I rented these movies as a kid, as that's what you did in the '80s back when parents didn't care nor understand. The rest of the films in this series are 100% forgettable. They try and add more to the world of Howling, like witchcraft and whatnot, but everything about the rest of the series feels derivative of everything else in the genre at the time.
3. Children of the Corn
9 movies: 1 good and 8 awful
Stephen King's works have been adapted so many times. And one of his works has been turned into a pretty terrible franchise. The first movie revolves around a town run by a murderous cult that worships the demonic entity "He Who Walks Behind the Rows," all made up of people under the age of 19. It's like a non-futuristic Logan's Run but so much more "killy." The first movie may feel a little dated--about as dated as you can be for a movie about sacrifices to a corn monster--but it's still solid and a nice expansion of King's original short story.
It goes downhill from there. Eight years later, a sequel was produced, and like pretty much every other sequel, it's totally more of the same. Someone bumps into one of the Children of the Corn, and people die. Sometimes, He Who Walks Behind the Rows' mythos is expanded or it possesses someone, or one of the children ends up going to the city, but it's all pretty much the same thing. Yes, there are a lot of bad movies in this franchise, but at least a few are pretty fun to watch. Watching a Children of the Corn sequel is a grueling task and feels more like a punishment rather than a reward.
2. Puppet Master
11 movies: 1 decent and 10 awful
Remember earlier, when we discussed movies from the '80s that had devious little monsters killing people? Well, the worst of that subgenre is easily Puppet Master. The first in the series debuted in 1989. A master of puppets back in 1939 created some living puppets, he hides them from some Nazis, and then kills himself. Cut to 50 years later, a bunch of psychics find said puppets, and the puppets kill everyone. The first movie isn't completely terrible, but everything that followed was.
This franchise is problematic. Sure, the killer puppets sure do appeal to kids--the reason I rented the movie in the early-90s in the first place--but everything else about it is bonkers. First, every sequel is direct-to-video--not a good sign. Six of the movies jump back in time, adding more weird occult mythos to an already convoluted series. Also, the concept wears out its welcome right around Puppet Master II. However, there is a 2018 reboot of the series (starring Thomas Lennon?) that seems like it's a step in the right direction. However, who was asking for more Puppet Master in the first place?
1. Anything With Amityville In The Title
Main franchise: 10 movies: 1 amazing, 1 good, and 8 awful
Related Amityville movies: 10 more movies: All terrible
The 1979 horror classic stars James "Thanos' Dad" Brolin and Margot "Lois Lane" Kidder as a couple of newlyweds that move into a house where a mass murder happened. However, forces within the house terrorize them to a point that they have to leave. It's allegedly based on a true story, and is a classic haunting movie that holds up pretty well. And I would even say watch the sequel, Amityville II: The Possession, which some people say is better than the original. It's a bit more fast-paced compared to its predecessor and director Damiano Damiani brings some Italian horror flair to it. However, stop right there though because there are 8 other movies in the main franchise and 10 other trying to cash-in on the title of an almost 40-year-old movie, and they're all hot garbage.
Looking at the rest of the Amityville movies, the highest rated movie on IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic with "Amityville" in the title--outside of the original film--is the documentary My Amityville Horror, in which the guy who lived through the allegedly real hauntings recounts what happened. However, even then, reviews are a bit lackluster.
The rest of the movies--in the actual Amityville franchise--are more of the same. Someone moves or stays in the house, gets scared, and leaves. Or an item from the house makes its way somewhere else, people get scared, and leave. There's a reason the majority of the sequels went straight-to-video. It's because they're poorly-crafted cash-grabs, and that's why they're are just as many Amityville movies not connected to the franchise. And again, those are also unwatchable. There are so many good haunted house movies out there, and there is no point going past the second film, as there's nothing even "so terrible it's fun" in the rest of the series.
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