A Bloody Good Time 10.1.09: The Twenty Greatest Horror Franchises (Part 1)

Posted by Joseph Lee on 10.01.2009

The countdown begins with a series of movies devoted to death.

Logo courtesy of Benjamin J. Colón (Soul Exodus)

Welcome again to A Bloody Good Time.

Last week I had a tribute to Ed Wood. As I guessed, not as many comments as I normally have. Let's look at them anyway.

Mario replied: I still quote Pull the String to this day much to the annoyance of my wife.

I can just imagine how that would work. "I have a loose thread on my dress.." "PULL THE STRING!"

JMAC said: Fun little write-up. In your opinion, how do you think Plan 9 would be received if it were released today? That is to say if you had more or less the same story (tweaked a bit for current times, of course), bigger budget (okay, maybe even a budget, period) better costumes and special effects plus maybe include some competent, decent-looking actors? Basically, I'm curious what would happen if someone pulled a Gus Van Sant on Plan 9 from Outer Space like he did with Psycho and what the results might be.

Gus Van Sant's Psycho was absolutely horrible, but if someone took a serious approach to the story of Plan 9 (which apparently the remake is doing), I think it would lose it's charm.

We've got a lot to talk about this week. As I mentioned, I wanted to do something big for October. When you write a horror column every Thursday for 52 weeks a year, you've got to do something bigger than usual for October. Last year I provided you with my list of the 100 Greatest Horror Films Ever. This year, I'm going to provide another list.

The 20 Greatest Horror Franchises

There are a lot of franchises out there. Hollywood tries to make a sequel out of anything, sometimes even if it's not successful. Who would have thought Wrong Turn would be a trilogy? Not that I have any problems with that movie. Did anyone think that the terrible Pulse remake would get it's own trilogy? So anything can be a franchise, and there are many out there to choose from. But what are the best?

What I've done is take three things into consideration when choosing these twenty. The first is how much success the franchise has had. It doesn't have to be huge financial success, as there have been quite a number of low-budget franchises (like anything from Full Moon) that keep getting made because of a small but loyal fanbase and enough success to warrant more entries. Some of them may be hated by fans and critics alike, but somehow keep making money. That's a successful franchise.

The second factor is critical acclaim. I don't mean critical acclaim as just from the critics, but the general consensus of the quality of the films. Some franchises can be half and half, some can have a series that completely sucks and in some rare cases, have one film that's unquestionably great but have a series of bland, uninspired sequels to drag it down. You will see a variety of franchises here, and they will all have different qualities that may have you question why there are on here. But if they are successful or have one really good movie, it's enough to earn a spot.

The final factor is my own personal preference. I'm not going to hide it from you. Every single list I've ever written for 411 has been my own personal opinion. In fact, this is the only time where I've taken other considerations into account. I may think Leprechaun is the greatest series of horror films ever produced (I don't), but this time that's not going to slide. I'm taking the franchises success and quality into account, as well as my own tastes.

There is a chance you will not enjoy this list. You will probably disagree. But isn't that the point of lists? This is supposed to start debate, criticisms, and help you remember why you love these films to begin with. So with all of this in mind, let's get right into it with the first four entries of the list.

#20


Reign of Terror: 1979-1998
# of Films: Four
Total Theatrical Gross: $19.2m
Recurring Stars: Angus Scrimm, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, A.Michael Baldwin
Story: An interdimensional being makes an attempt to take over the living world with his army of the dead. A small group of friends spend the series attempting to stop him for good.

We begin this list with one of the creepiest movie monsters to ever grace the screen. I'm talking, of course of Angus Scrimm's The Tall Man. This series is a good example of what I listed before. It's not incredibly popular or successful, but it does have a cult following. This same cult following is the group of fans that seem to constantly harass the cast and crew about when we are finally getting Phantasm's End. Here's a hint: We're not getting it. Everyone's moved on. But that doesn't stop a vocal minority from clamoring for it. Let's be honest, I would love a sequel too. OblIVion left a sour taste in my mouth.

What makes this franchise great? I think it's the fact that the Tall Man is never defeated. I don't mean in the same way that Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees aren't defeated (as in, they are but come back later). The Tall Man just never experiences defeat. In each sequel he continues his reign of terror over the world and moves it that much closer to Armageddon. He leaves entire towns empty with all of it's residents either dead, under his control or both. No one believes he is doing this until it is too late. The only ones who do are constantly tormented by him and his minions as they try to put an end to him once and for all. Not many horror films, let alone entire franchises devote their story to an impending apocalypse and an unstoppable villain. Phantasm does.

Unfortunately not everyone sees the merit of a franchise with a doomsday clock ticking away. The series ended up with a paltry $19.2 million theatrically after only two entries. Then the series went straight-to-video for the 90's where it pretty made faded from existence. Due to the horror community being in love with this series, it still receives lots of love at conventions as well as Anchor Bay giving the entries justice with it's DVD releases. Personally I don't think all of the sequels are that good, and the story ended a little anticlimactically (which is why most want a fifth entry), but the original is so good it kind of makes up for it. The rest are merely okay.

Will we ever see The Tall Man again? Probably not unless it's a remake and someone new plays him. Honestly, I don't know if a remake could capture the spirit of the original as being within it's own completely different world unless someone who knows how to do something like that were involved (can you imagine Guillermo del Toro making a Phantasm film?). But I don't think we're getting a sequel, considering all the factors against it. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I don't think it's going to happen. Either way, Phantasm is one of the best horror franchises of all time for it's spooky atmosphere, intimidating villain and constant sense of doom.




#19


Reign of Terror: 1975-1987
# of Films: Four
Total Theatrical Gross: $798m
Recurring Stars: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton
Story: A series of giant sharks terrorize small island communities.

Sure, if this were just the original Jaws, it'd probably rank much higher. As it is, the Jaws franchise is lucky to rank at all. The sequels that should never have happened are really bad horror films that are almost universally despised. The original, of course, is considered to be one of the greatest horror films of all time and managed to bring in more than half of the franchises' total financial success by itself. The three sequels, combined, couldn't reach the original's gross. What does that tell you?

The original Jaws is regarded as a classic in most circles, and is widely regarded as the reason that the summer blockbuster trend began. It was a huge hit upon it's release both financially and critically. That's for a reason. The shark is incredibly realistic for an animatronic puppet, and the film is shot so that it appears bigger than it is. The "you're going to need a bigger boat" moment is one of the best scares in horror movie history. It doesn't play any scary music, and you have no idea what is going to happen. Then suddenly the shark pops up to say "hi" and everyone proceeds to fear the water. Yes, this movie was so scary, beach attendance dropped in 1975. It wasn't just hyperbole, Jaws really did make people afraid to go in the water.

The sequels, on the other hand, are a completely different matter. The majority of them had troubled productions, trading scripts and directors left and right. Universal wanted a sequel, but no one seemed able to provide the same type of film that Steven Spielberg did. Not even Spielberg wanted to come back to do a sequel. But Jaws 2 was made, and even though it was not well-received critically, it still made a large amount of money. This led to Jaws 3-D and of course the infamous Jaws: The Revenge (complete with roaring shark!)

The Jaws series belongs because of it's first entry and the fact that all of the films almost made 800 million dollars. When you think of sharks, you think of the sharks in these films and John Williams score starts to play in your head. This series is to blame for the hatred of sharks even to this day. That has to count for something, doesn't it?




#18


Reign of Terror: 2000-2009
# of Films: Four
Total Theatrical Gross: $465m
Recurring Stars: Ali Larter, Tony Todd
Story: Each film deals with the main character having a premonition about an upcoming disaster. After he or she manages to escape with several other potential victims, Death proceeds to hunt them down to die in grisly ways.

Now we find our first franchise that as of right now, is still ongoing. It's a series that is sold primarily on one thing and one thing only: how are these people going to die? It's pretty much accepted at this point that no one in a Final Destination film is going to survive and it's all about seeing what gruesome method the filmmakers have concocted to enact a nasty end to their victims. Sometimes, the deaths are incredibly gory and over-the-top, just as promised. Sometimes they're not. It's all about watching and waiting to see who gets it next and how bad they get it.

The first two entries in the series did exactly what they promised. The original film, Final Destination featured, among other things: an insane plane explosion, a decapitation and a very mean-spirited death involving stabbings and fire. It was more low-key than the others but it still managed to deliver the goods. It was all about setting up the premise. This would also be one of the only times you would expect to see someone live. It wasn't quite set-up yet that no one will survive, as usually the remaining cast members were killed off in between sequels. In fact, the only two to come back were Ali Larter and Tony Todd. Todd plays a mysterious mortician, but Larter's character managed to survive Death once and come back for more.

Final Destination 2 is when she comes back. The plot of the first one ties directly into the second as it's revealed those who survived the plane crash went on to save the lives of those who survived the highway massacre. Is it convoluted? Sure, but at least there's a clear tie. Death itself is pretty convoluted, given the Rube Goldberg-esque ways the characters are killed off. Everything moves in such a way that it ends in a death. Final Destination 2 benefits from being related to the first but also having more gruesome deaths (including a teen being smashed by a plate of glass) and a story that tries to wrap everything up.

The two sequels, in my opinion, are bad. The third is the worst, but the most recent The Final Destination didn't fare much better (check out my review here). What makes these sequels worse than the previous two? I think it's the lack of awesome deaths (the tanning bed scene and the head crush in the third one aren't really fun so much as silly) and the fact that the premise is already starting to wear thin. You can't repeat the exact same story over and over again and expect people to continue to keep watching. Luckily the latest had the addition of a 3D gimmick. Will this series return? Given the fact they're still making money, I don't think it's out of the question.

Final Destination is a series that's all about death, proving that you are, in fact, mortal. So let's celebrity our mortality by watching other people get it!




#17


Reign of Terror: 1958-1974
# of Films: Nine
Total Theatrical Gross: N/A
Recurring Stars: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing,
Story: Dracula is the world's oldest and most powerful vampire. He wants to achieve various things in the films, but is always confronted by a member of the Van Helsing family.

Some people consider Christopher Lee the best Dracula. Some, like myself, consider him second only to the great Bela Lugosi. Regardless of how good you think he is, the fact of the matter is that for sixteen years he was synonymous with the name. Though Hammer's Dracula series they began to remake several popular horror titles for a new audience, twenty years after the Universal monsters had left their mark on the world of film. While not nearly as successful in America as the Universal efforts, they were successful in Europe, and had a cult following over here.

Who would want to watch Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing on the screen together as foes, Dracula and the legendary Van Helsing, locked in what appears to be everlasting combat? Two classically trained actors portraying some of the greatest fictional characters ever in a series of films that had more gore and sex than the originals but still great stories and great acting. Peter Cushing went on to play Van Helsing five times in the series, and Christopher Lee played Dracula seven of the eight times he appeared. Brides of Dracula featured a disciple, played by David Peel and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires featured John Forbes-Robertson as the Count when Christopher Lee didn't want to be typecast in the role (a little late after seven films, don't you think?)

The plots varied, but I'll give you a rundown of them so you know what Dracula was up to. While I recommend seeing most (let's face it, even a bad entry still features either Cushing or Lee), you could pick or choose based on the story. Horror of Dracula is a straightforward retelling of the classic Bram Stoker tale. Brides of Dracula features a disciple of the Count trying to seduce a woman into being his bride. Dracula: Prince of Darkness has Dracula resurrecting to prey on unsuspecting visitors to his castle. Dracula Has Risen from the Grave is a revenge story. Dracula wants revenge on the plan who exorcised his castle, leaving him homeless.

Taste the Blood of Dracula involves a ritual to resurrect the count (yet again) as he possesses and transforms someone else into his own body. Scars of Dracula is similar to the third entry, in that it's just Dracula preying on unsuspecting people. Dracula A.D. 1972 sees Dracula resurrected in 1972 London, where he proceeds to hunt down the descendants of Van Helsing. The Satanic Rites of Dracula features Dracula trying to unleash the bubonic plague on the World. Finally, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires concludes the series with Dracula in China. Not a fitting end, in my opinion.

The series tried to continue without Lee as Dracula, but wasn't able to. What we do have is one of the greatest portrayals of the count since Lugosi in seven fun films. The Hammer series was as important for European horror as Universal's films were for American horror. They gained an American audience within those who didn't care for the direction horror had taken in the 50's and 60's with giant radioactive monsters. While not as successful as other franchises, this one is fondly remembered and for good reason. If you haven't seen any of these films, you should track one down as soon as possible.



That's it for Part 1 in our series of the top twenty franchises. It's only four a week because I'm devoting more writing to each entry as opposed to one paragraph like last year's big list. I also want to stretch this epic countdown over the month of October. Next week we deal with evil that comes in all shapes and sizes. Cryptic, huh? See you then.