Horrorfilmsoften come equipped with low budgets and are met with high returns. They’re a safety net for film studios in the wake of a bomb with a blockbuster budget.
And, naturally, success leads to a desire for more success. If audiences have taken to characters once, be they protagonist or antagonist, there’s a solid chance they’re going to want to pay to spendmoretime with them. This is especially true when there’s the threat of death. Everyone wants to see Sidney Prescott survive until the final reel, whether it’s installment two or twelve.
18Final Destination: Five Films (2000-2011)
TheFinal Destinationfranchise—Which looks to continue with a highly-anticipated legacy sequel—has been afairly consistent box office success, though it never exactly performed as a cross-demo hit. With $112.9 million worldwide on a budget of $23 million, 2000’sFinal Destinationwas a draw, but then 2003’sFinal Destination 2(in spite of its arguably superior quality) was slightly less to the tune of $90 million worldwide.
Things got back over $100 million withFinal Destination 3, but then the rote semi-rebootThe Final Destinationset a franchise record with $186.2 million worldwide. Oddly enough, the deadly saga’s fifth and thus far final film (a prequel) is arguably its best, though it did receive inferior fiscal returns to the installment that preceded it, puttingFinal Destinationon ice for a bit.
17Phantasm: Five Films (1979-2016)
Animprobable franchise spawnerif ever there was one, Don Coscarelli’sPhantasmis a visually lurid nightmare with an iconic antagonist. It even managed to start itself a nice five-film franchise, four of which were helmed by Coscarelli.
AfterPhantasmin 1979, there wasPhantasm IIway later in 1988,Phantasm III: Lord of the Deadin 1994, andPhantasm IV: Oblivionin 1998. But then evenPhantasmfound itself getting rebooted in the 2010s with 2016’sPhantasm: Ravager.
While there have technically only been five films in theEvil Deadfranchise, it’s worth noting that the three seasons of Starz’s canonAsh vs. Evil Deadgreatly expand the lore. This is true both in terms of runtime and interesting narrative directions (not to mention Ash Williams drunken one-liners).
As for the five mainline installments, Sam Raimi’s trilogy ofThe Evil Dead,Evil Dead II, andArmy of Darknessare classics and must-watches for any budding horror aficionado. Fede Álvarez’s 2013 re-imaginingEvil Deadalso scored with critics (though to a lesser extent) and even did well at the box office
15The Purge: Five Films (2013-2021)
Whilenot always entirely scary,The Purgefranchise has nonetheless become one of Blumhouse’s longest-lasting and most profitable. Thus far, the violent saga has had five theatrical installments and TV series to flesh out its world, and each managed to be profitable in its own right.
WhenThe Purgeopened in 2013, it attracted both an understandable amount of hype and a less-than-expected amount of controversy. After all, it’s a franchise that embraces humanity’s very organic and disheartening violent impulses. It would be followed byThe Purge: Anarchythe following year,The Purge: Election Yearin 2016,The First Purgein 2018, andThe Forever Purgein 2021.
14Scream: Six Films (1996-2023)
Of all the top-tier classic horror properties that found themselves rebooted from the late 2010s to the early 2020s,Screamwas one of the riskiest. Fortunately, any worries about the IP’s continued financial prospects were dashed when 2022’sScreamhit theaters, netting $81.6 million domestically (viaBox Office Mojo), over twice the domestic gross ofScream 4, released 11 years prior.
Then, onceScream VImanaged to not only match but up its immediate predecessor’s domestic haul, it became clear that Ghostface could survive without the late, great Wes Craven. Toss in the positive consensus for both films and sinister phone calls should be getting dispensedfor a few more installments.
13The Wolf Man: Six Films (1941-2010)
The most recent effort may have been Joe Johnston’s 2010 box office bombThe Wolfman, but for the most part, the furry-faced maneater has had a mostly successful film career. That said, the most notable installment is still the first.
After the 1941 original,Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Manhit screens in 1943, and it was nearly as solid as the first film. That said, his subsequent appearances inHouse of Frankenstein,House of Dracula, andAbbott and Costello Meet Frankensteinwere less memorable.
While George A. Romero’s Dead saga is primarily acknowledgedfor its first three installments, there are actually six. That said, the latter trio doesn’t hold a candle to the former. 1968’sNight of the Living Deadis an undisputed masterpiece, arguably a perfect film. And, as thoughtful as that film was, Romero managed to arguably outdo himself with the consumerism-skeweringDawn of the Dead, released a decade later.
Day of the Deadis largely seen as a step down from those two, but it’s a bit of an unfair assessment. LikeNightandDawn,Dayhas ambiance, strong writing, and impressive practical effects to spare. It would be a while before Romero would return to his zombified world, but when he did it was with a one-two-three punch. That said, while 2005’sLand of the Deadis solid (and even comes with a fun supporting performance from Dennis Hopper), the less said about 2007’s found footageDiary of the Deadand 2009’s island-setSurvival of the Dead(a minor improvement overDiary), the better.
11Tremors: Seven Films (1990-2020)
Back whenTremorshit theaters in 1990, if any industry analyst or even spectator were asked whether the underground biting worms movie had a chance of generating not one but six sequels and a TV series, their eyebrow would raise. Make that two TV series, considering the Kevin Bacon-led Syfy series that (bafflingly enough) never made it past the pilot stage. Bacon has beenopen about his continued willingness to returnto the role, but time will tell if a network will make the incredibly easy decision to say yes.
As for the films, the originalTremorswas the only one to hit theaters, but it’s had remarkable success in the home media market. That said, it takes a bit between each installment.Tremors 2: Aftershockscame six years afterTremors,Tremors 3: Back to Perfectionfive years afterAftershocks, andTremors 4: The Legend Beginsthree years afterBack to Perfection. But the series wasn’t done with the initial run, as over a decade later it’d come back withTremors 5: Bloodlinesin 2015,Tremors: A Cold Day in Hellin 2018, andTremors: Shrieker Islandin 2020.
10Child’s Play: Eight Films (1988-2019)
Tom Holland’sChild’s Playkicked off a franchise that continues to this day, arguably in a healthier manner than ever. The first three theatrical films did okay for themselves in theaters, but they never performed like gangbusters.Bride of Chuckyimpressively performed about the same despite a multi-year lull, butSeed of Chuckyvery much failed to follow up on that film’s success, both critical and commercial.
The 2019 re-imagining, however, came and went from theaters with nary a word said about it. This left the small screen for Chucky to (quite suitably)prove his continued relevance. BothCurse of ChuckyandCult of Chuckyare notable advancements for the franchise, but brilliantly enough the franchise hasn’t been content to just revisit its new characters. Rather, it’s transported those characters (new and old) to a different format, that of serialized television. Not to mention, Fiona Dourif (daughter of Chucky voice artist Brad Dourif) is a wholly organic and interesting addition to the franchise.
9The Conjuring Universe: Nine Films (2013-2023)
The mostrapidly-expanding horror universein recent memory (if not of all time),The Conjuringhas become much more than its mainline installments. That said, its mainline installments (2013, 2016, and 2021) have all been successful Summer releases in their own right.
Aside from those three core films, things were kicked off on the spin-off front with the misguided but financially successfulAnnabelle, released in 2014. Then there was the infinitely superior prequelAnnabelle: Creationin 2017, which wasn’t quite the smash the first spin-off was but regardless proved the continued strength of the overall franchise. This was further proved withThe Nunin 2018,The Curse of La Lloronain 2019, andAnnabelle Comes Home(which is essentiallyThe Conjuring 4) in 2019.
