10 Horror Movie Franchises That Overstayed Their Welcome

4. Friday The 13th

Leprechaun 3 Elvis Presley
Paramount Pictures

As was the initial plan, the Friday the 13th franchise could've easily concluded with the purposely-titled Final Chapter back in 1984. There, at the close of that fourth film, Jason Voorhees had been brutally hacked up by young Tommy Jarvis, bringing an end to Jason's rampage and showcasing that Tommy himself was clearly a troubled kid who you needed to keep an eye on.

Still, when The Final Chapter performed strongly at the box office, Paramount Pictures of course decided there was still plenty more to be milked from the teet of this franchise, and thus Friday the 13th: A New Beginning arrived one year later - this time, infamously featuring Jason copycat Roy Burns as the hockey mask-adorned figure tormenting Tommy and his pals.

The series couldn't end with a Jason wannabe, mind, and so Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives now seems like the ideal moment to have called time on the series. That brought Jason back for one more battle with Jarvis, nicely wrapping up the Tommy Jarvis trilogy and meaning there'd be no god-awful Part VII: The New Blood, no much-maligned boat trip action in Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, no horrendous 'spirit of Jason' BS in Jason Goes to Hell, and no likewise forever dumped-on venture into space in Jason X.

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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.