10 Horror Movie Franchises That 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.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 15th Nov 2023

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