10 Movie Franchises That Embarrassed Their Creators

5. Halloween

John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween is an unassailable classic of the horror genre, and by most accounts writer-director John Carpenter was incredibly satisfied with how the first film turned out.

Not so much for all but the most recent of the sequels, though.

Carpenter was ambivalent about a franchise and ultimately refused to direct 1981's Halloween II, though did end up co-writing the script, where he made the decision to retcon Michael Myers as protagonist Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis) brother.

In subsequent years Carpenter expressed regret and remorse both about writing the movie and especially concocting its big twist, claiming to have written Halloween II "with a lot of beer sitting in front of a typewriter saying, 'what the f**k am I doing? I don't know.'"

Carpenter began to distance himself from the franchise after this, taking various "producer by" and "based on characters created by" credits in the glut of terrible sequels that followed.

Only when David Gordon Green and Danny McBride convinced him that they could restore some dignity to the series with last year's direct sequel to the 1978 movie did Carpenter finally agree to return, as both executive producer and composer.

Though it's a relief that Halloween 2018 turned out well and Carpenter is back in step with the franchise he birthed, he's made no attempt to disguise how much he hates being associated with all the terrible sequels - and Rob Zombie's grungy remakes, of course.