15 Massive Movie Franchises That Have More Great Entries Than Rubbish Ones

10. Dracula (Hammer)

Total Number of Films: 8

Great: Dracula (AKA Horror of Dracula), The Brides of Dracula, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Dracula AD 1972, Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires

Rubbish: Scars of Dracula, The Satanic Rites of Dracula

Once again, there are many who might accuse me of being a little too generous here. Certainly the late, great Christopher Lee would never have listed the bulk of Hammer's Dracula movies among his finest work. Yet, while none of them quite repeated the success of the 1958 original, almost all the sequels are hugely watchable films, loaded with sentimental value for horror nostalgists.

A wonderfully lurid sense of fun endures through pretty much all the Dracula movies; there's a particular camp value to the more absurd later entries as Hammer tried to move with the times with questionable success. The only two entries that really fall flat, in this writer's opinion, are the bland and incoherent Scars of Dracula, and Christopher Lee's swan-song The Satanic Rites of Dracula, which is little more than a tepid retread of earlier Hammer hit The Devil Rides Out.

Oh, and while first sequel The Brides of Dracula may lose points for not actually starring Christopher Lee or even making reference to the character of Dracula, it still warrants mention thanks to its wonderfully pulpy tone, and a high-energy performance from Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.