10 Horror Movie Franchises That Wasted Their Perfect Ending

As of this writing, a Hellraiser reboot is mere days away from premiering on Hulu - not to mention a hotly-anticipated HBO show on the way - and thus the property finds itself in the spotlight for all the (hopefully) right reasons. With ten films already in the Hellraiser series, the majority of those are famed for how outright awful they are.

In all reality, in terms of sheer quality, Hellraiser should have realistically called it a day after the first two offerings. By the time of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth in 1992, the shark was about to be jumped, the bloom was about to come off the rose, Pinhead was about to become a wise-ass quip machine, and the series was about to veer in more of a slasher direction. Following that threequel, the franchise largely operated on a law of diminishing returns, with fan interest waning, critical consensus tumbling, and budgets becoming absolutely miniscule; the most recent offering, 2018's Hellraiser: Judgment, costing barely $300,000 to make.

If Hellraiser had ended after its second effort, that would've left the IP in a place where it was fondly looked back on as a great one-two punch of twisted imagery and ominous, otherworldly dread.

Where that second film is concerned, Hellbound: Hellraiser II concludes with the original film's protagonist Kirsty Cotton having overcome Channard, the psychiatrist who had used Kirsty's trauma to get his hands on the Lament Configuration and turn himself into a Cenobite - while at the same time keeping her nefarious Uncle Frank and stepmother Julia at bay.

Hellbound is also worthy of praise for how it gives a glimpse into Pinhead's backstory in a nuanced, smart way, rather than the more ham-fisted way the character's story is handled later in the franchise.