10 Horror Movie Franchises That Overstayed Their Welcome
Those horror franchises that sadly didn't know when to call it quits.
No genre of cinema is as synonymous with franchises as the murky world of horror; a world where there are numerous franchises which have managed to hit double-digits when it comes to the films under their particular banner.
But as is ever the case when sequels, prequels, requels and the like are served up, there's always a chance of tarnishing what had originally made a property so special in the first place. Likewise, sometimes it's the relatively cheap cost of producing a new franchise entry that makes things appealing; cheap costs often meaning it's not too difficult to turn a decent profit margin.
To date, only a select few franchises have managed to constantly deliver high quality films - namely, that'd be the Evil Dead series and maybe Scream - and there's been countless IPs which have drastically dropped in quality with each subsequent new offering. Simply put, certain franchises just didn't know when to quit, even at the times when they'd served up what would be a perfectly fitting ending for their respective run.
With that in mind, then, here are ten such horror franchises which unfortunately overstayed their welcome.
10. Hellraiser
Percentage-wise, few long-running horror franchises have had quite as many bad-to-awful movies as the Hellraiser series. Of the 11 installments so far, only a few of those Hellraiser films are actually any good - with one such delight being last year's Jamie Clayton-fronted reboot.
Hellraiser could've realistically tapped out after its first four movies, which would've tied things up with 1996's Hellraiser: Bloodline. By that point, audiences would've had the tale of heroine Kirsty Cotton, Kirsty's stepmother Julia would've had her villainous time in the sun, we'd have got the backstory of how the horrors of World World I set Elliott Spencer on his Pinhead path, we'd have got to see the origin of the Lament Configuration - and that would be that.
An end to the franchise at that point would've also lined up with the last Hellraiser movie to be released theatrically, with the seven subsequent films having been released straight-to-DVD or on VOD. Sadly, of those seven, only the 2022 reboot was good, and the rest either bungled Pinhead by making him a generic slasher villain or only existed in order for Dimension Films and Miramax to retain the rights to the property.