10 Horror Movie Franchises That Need To End

3. Paranormal Activity

Typically clocking in at around a slender ninety minutes, the Paranormal Activity movies are essentially a scaled-down version of The Amityville Horror for YouTubers, with all the blood and insanity replaced by lots of talk. Instead of calling in Rod Steiger, characters turn to a doctor who ultimately proves unhelpful and instead of receiving warnings about the house they look at websites about demonic possession.

What we’re dealing with here, gang, is an opportunistic "found footage" franchise that boldly goes where only The Blair Witch Project, The Last Broadcast, REC, Quarantine, Diary Of The Dead, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Cloverfield, Alone With Her, Welcome To The Jungle and The Zombie Diaries had been before. Tellingly, the first installment's theatrical trailer didn’t show any highlights, just shots of audience members sitting in open-mouthed horror and jumping out of their seats. Saturation advertising helped the movie take $193 million worldwide, and a franchise was born.

Stretching a fourth (or fifth) hand idea to feature length is one thing, but when a cottage industry emerges in the form of sequels, rip-offs and parodies (which stretch their single ‘joke’ to feature length), popular culture hasn’t just gone horribly wrong. It has gone to Jonestown and decided to drink the Kool Aid.