10 Horror Franchises That Ended Too Soon

3. Rob Zombie's Halloween

28 Days Later Big Ben
Halloween

Very few horror filmmakers put their aesthetic stamp on their movies as much as Rob Zombie. Love him or hate him, you can spot a Rob Zombie-helmed picture from a mile away - with the rocker-turned-director lavishing a visceral, almost dirty sheen on his films.

It's fair to say that Zombie certainly splits opinion amongst moviegoers, and never more so than with his two Halloween films.

Obviously, nothing is ever going to compare to John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween - arguably the greatest horror film of all time - but Zombie's spin on the lore of Michael Myers, even if nobody asked for the film, turned out to be a solid outing that very much saw the director deliver his own unique vision for the Shape.

Halloween II is a slightly different beast, for that follow-up didn't quite hit in the way that it was intended to. That white horse symbolism? Meh. The handling of the big sibling reveal? Meh. Loomis killed off? Meh.

What Rob Zombie's Halloween II did do well, though, is that it ended with Scout Taylor-Compton's Laurie Strode descending into madness, setting up all kinds of intriguing possibilities for the once-planned Halloween III.

Zombie would ultimately disagree with Dimension Films' plans for Halloween III, with the director opting not to return for that threequel. While there was an offer on the table for Taylor-Compton and Michael actor Tyler Mane to return for Halloween III, the project ultimately never came to fruition.

More recently, we've seen the Halloween franchise recalibrated with David Gordon Green's 2018 movie and two impending sequels to that film. But still, there's always that 'what if?' where it pertains to a third Zombie Halloween offering.

Senior Writer
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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.