10 Horror Franchises Where The First Movie Is NOT The Best

5. The Purge

The best instalment: The Forever Purge

The Purge is a particularly fascinating case. With so many horror franchises, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the first film is good, the sequels are bad. Well, The Purge is the exact inverse of that - the first film was a dud, while all of the follow-ups (one of which was a prequel) have been bad-ass, charismatic action-horror films that actually realized the boundless potential of the first film's wasted premise. Who actually predicted that back in 2013? 

To add another twist in the tale, 2021's fifth film looked like an unnecessary extension to a story that'd reached a natural end with 2016's third instalment yet it ended up being quite arguably the best film in the series so far. 

For starters, the film is a successful evolution of the series' formula, in that it depicts a nationwide Purge that goes out-of-control past the normal twelve-hour time period, so this finds an interesting way to move the overall story forward. Better still, it's also an absolute blast in general, a truly bad-ass action horror flick filled with nail-biting set-pieces. 

Much like all of its predecessors, it certainly shouldn't be mistaken for a smart movie, as its social commentary is blunt and on-the-nose as can be. Having said that, The Forever Purge doesn't pretend to be smarter than it is and focuses mainly on providing being an insane spectacle - there, it succeeds with flying colours.