10 Ridiculous Times Horror Movie Franchises Jumped The Shark

Watching through the Saw series today, it's incredibly clear that the producers never intended it to become a massive franchise. The first movie is a very standalone thriller, and not one you'd imagine there being a sequel to. Even the first sequel doesn't leave that much hanging, so when there was a Saw III, the writers clearly imagined this would be the final one.

After all, what's more final than flat out killing off the main character? Jigsaw is the whole reason people go to see these movies, but the third film ends pretty conclusively with Jigsaw getting his throat slit. You might think the film was setting up Amanda to be the next killer, but nope, she dies too. Just about every significant character is dead by the end of the movie, Jigsaw's backstory has been fully revealed, and so that's it, right? 

Well, it should have been. From here, the series completely devolves into an overcomplicated mess full of time jumps, flashbacks, and the writers completely pulling random twists out of nowhere. It could have kept being consistently good for a while, but all its flaws come back to the finale of Saw III. If they wanted to keep the movies going, maybe they should have kept Amanda alive, or better yet, maybe don't kill your villain in the third installment of a seven movie franchise.