10 Horror Movie Franchises That Need To End
Not every Final Chapter deserves a New Beginning.
To the relief of everyone who sat through the 2009 remake, the latest Friday The 13th prequel/reboot/whatever recently collapsed weeks before the start of principal photography, with Variety speculating that the poor reception of Paramount’s Rings movie may have been to blame.
Whatever story the movie planned to tell, it’s cancellation is actually A Good Thing. When a franchise’s lead character has already been killed by Corey Feldman, aped by a copycat, resurrected by lightning/ telekinesis/ possession/an underwater power surge, melted by toxic waste, blown up by an FBI task force, sent to hell, sent into space and returned to the present for a grudge match with Freddy, he’s outstayed his welcome.
Hollywood has never mastered the art of calling time on failing franchises, a trait that’s even more pronounced in the horror genre, where the emphasis shifts away from mood and character to watching the main antagonist kill people. Compare John Carpenter’s Halloween to Halloween: Resurrection and you’ll see what I mean.
In that spirit, here are another ten franchises that need the chop before they send their lead characters into outer space.
10. Prom Night
Prom Night (1980) was a Halloween-influenced slasher that featured the Queen of Scream herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, in the lead, but a supporting role for a pre-Airplane Leslie Nielsen did not bode well for a franchise. It was seven years before we saw Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, an in-name-only sequel that junked the slasher aspect in favor of ripping off A Nightmare On Elm Street.
Prom Night III: The Last Kiss, followed in 1990, this time playing up the comedy aspect in an attempt to cash in on Freddy Krueger’s status as horror’s #1 punster. It didn’t work, so Prom Night 4: Deliver Us From Evil (1992) is another unrelated sequel that attempts to get back to basics by ripping off Halloween.
The franchise came full circle in 2008 with a reboot of the original movie that pretty much junked the original storyline in favour of a plot concerning a creepy teacher who escapes from the loony bin and stalks one of his students. Sort of like Halloween, only without suspense, scares or any characters you can root for.