10 Horror Movie Franchises That Overstayed Their Welcome

9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Leprechaun 3 Elvis Presley
Columbia TriStar Pictures

Truth be told, based on quality, the TCM franchise is one which could've wrapped up after 1986's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II. Then again, was there ever really a need to carve up a sequel to the iconic 1974 Texas Chain Saw Massacre in the first place?

Regardless, once that '86 follow-up arrived, you can understand why a third movie was given the green-light to try and maximise the slasher boom of the '80s. Unfortunately, Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III arrived at the tailend of that boom, hitting cinemas at the start of 1990.

Still, when the original film's co-writer Kim Henkel was open to return to write and direct a fourth Chainsaw offering, you can understand why that project pushed forward. Sadly, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation - also known as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre - was a dud. Notable as featuring Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger in early roles, the picture itself just bungled so much; its attempts at parody coming off all wrong.

That should've been enough to lay the chainsaw down and put Leatherface to rest for good. And while The Next Generation would actually kill that particular timeline, the franchise would be rebooted by Marcus Nispel in 2003. To be fair, that reboot was pretty darn good, but everything that's followed it - 2006's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, 2013's Texas Chainsaw 3D, 2017's Leatherface, and last year's Texas Chainsaw Massacre - has been utter trash.

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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.