10 Movie Franchises That Surprisingly Got Better

8. Child's Play

The original 1988 Child's Play isn't great, but it is a solidly fun, kitschy B-movie that kick-started an unexpected horror empire revolving around a killer doll, albeit one which quickly slid into a pattern of forgettable and ill-conceived cash-grab sequels.

The series has always been marked by its inconsistency, and after the awfulness of Child's Play 3 - which saw Chucky (Brad Dourif) stalking a group of kids at a military academy - the series at least showed some slivers of invention in 2000's meta-comedy Bride of Chucky, flaws and all.

But 2004's Seed of Chucky tipped the balance too far into silliness, and its mediocre box office performance killed the series' theatrical prospects.

Almost a decade later, however, the franchise was resurrected on VOD with Curse of Chucky, and despite the low expectations associated with that release model - typically reserved for over-the-hill series with nothing left to say - it ended up scoring the best reviews of the franchise to date.

2017's seventh film, Cult of Chucky, scored almost identical reviews and went over swimmingly with a fanbase who had presumed the series dead just a few short years prior.

Though it remains to be seen how the upcoming reboot and planned TV series will turn out, the last two movies have granted a major reversal of fortunes for a series that seemed well past its sell-by date.