While there are plenty of horror films that come and go without making much of an impact, there are also those that audiences want more and more of. A special horror film can come along and change the genre in some exciting way or introduce a terrifying new villain that helps kick off a brand-new franchise.
Some of these franchises are even lucky enough to make it past a few sequels. These rare horror franchises continue to live on for decades with sequels, remakes, and reboots continuing to this day — and they are still scaring fans.
Updated on April 1st, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: The horror genre continues to be a completely engaging and popular genre that fans love whether they're gorier like The Evil Dead franchise, more meta like the Scream franchise, or more psychological like The Purge or Final Destination franchises. All of these horror movies have been turned into long-running franchises with multiple movies and even spin-off television series proving how popular they truly are and how much fans enjoy the ideas based on the original movies. Some horror movies began in the 1980s or earlier and are still alive today, whereas others are new to the game but destined to become classics.
15 Evil Dead (4 Films)
The Evil Dead franchise began with a trilogy from Sam Raimi in the 1980s that starred Bruce Campbell as Ash, a teenager who goes on a normal camping trip with his girlfriend and friends when an evil entity crashes their party and possesses everyone.
The original trilogy was a delightful homage to B-movie horror flicks but the 2013 movie was a more serious and realistically violent movie that was still successful. In addition to the four movies, the franchise also spawned a TV series in which Bruce Campbell reprises his role.
14 Scream (4 Films)
The Scream franchise has four movies currently and is planning to release a fifth in 2022. The movies subverted the horror movie genre by being more meta and having their characters aware of typical movie tropes while being chased by a masked killer.
It's an engaging movie series that began in 1996 and has stayed strong and held up as a popular franchise that is still a favorite for horror movie fans.
13 The Purge (4 Films)
The Purge began as an intriguing idea in a 2013 movie that took place in a world where for 12 hours a year, all crime is legal — including murder. The first movie followed a family hunkering down on Purge day only to have to fight for their lives as they're targeted by a murderous group.
There have been three other movies and a television series in the franchise so far, with a new movie planning to be released in 2021. The movies follow different scenarios and different people on the day, from politicians stuck outside to lower-class families having to fight against each other and teams of killers hired by the rich classes to control the population.
12 Final Destination (5 Films)
The Final Destination franchise has five movies to its name, with a sixth in the works. The first movie follows a high school teen who has a premonition of their plane crashing before a school trip so he tells his friends not to get on it.
The teens narrowly avoid death only to be hunted down and killed in elaborate accidents after the initial moment they cheated death. The franchise has been able to build into multiple movies, novels, and comic books.
11 The Grudge (6 Films)
The Grudge started with a Japanese movie called Ju-On and has two Japanese movies and four American movie remakes, making a total of six movies in the franchise. They're creepy movies filled with jump-scares and terrifying lore that has been continued throughout the series.
The Grudge centers on entities haunting particular houses after violent deaths have occurred. The movies began in 2002 and have continued to the most recent installment in 2020.
10 Night Of The Living Dead (6 Films)
Zombie movies always seem to be a draw for horror movie fans and the popularity of the genre is largely thanks to George A. Romero. The groundbreaking filmmaker helped bring zombies to the mainstream and kept them there.
The franchise kicked off with the iconic Night of the Living Dead in 1968 and Romero made his last film in the franchise with Diary of the Dead in 2007. Throughout the series, Romero was able to use zombie films as a way of commenting on social issues like racism, consumerism, and animal rights. As of now, there are six existing films in the immediate franchise, and two more — Road of the Dead and Rise of the Living Dead — are on the way.
9 Paranormal Activity (6 Films)
The Blair Witch Project might have shown the potential of found-footage horror films, but Paranormal Activity turned the subgenre into a trend. The first film was released in 2007 and followed a family investigating strange occurrences in their home.
The franchise continued for nearly a decade, churning out hit movies made on relatively small budgets. The last film to hit theaters in the franchise was Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension in 2015 but there appears to be another film coming in 2021.
8 Child's Play (8 Films)
It's strange to think that a film about a killer doll was able to spawn so many sequels. However, the creepy and darkly humorous Chucky proved to be an iconic horror movie villain who would stand the test of time.
The first film followed a killer who has his soul transferred into a doll and seeks to take control of a human body. While the first few sequels followed pretty much the same premise, the movies eventually took on a comedic element and embraced its wild side. Then, there was a soft reboot with Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky, both of which received favorable reviews for their return to a darker tone. The franchise finally got the inevitable reboot in 2019, and a TV series is in the works.
7 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (8 Films)
Leatherface is another horror movie villain that has earned his place in the genre's hall of fame. He was introduced in the classic and influential film, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Since then, he and his murderous family have been the subject of a number of films.
The franchise began to take an absurd turn as the films went on, turning into a surreal horror franchise. Eventually, a remake in 2003 gave it a gritty and brutal new feel, which continued for several prequels and reboots.
6 The Conjuring Universe (8 Films)
The MCU proved the massive success a cinematic universe could create, but no other franchise seemed able to reproduce that magic other than The Conjuring Universe. The franchise started with The Conjuring, which introduced a paranormal investigative couple who seeks out hauntings and other supernatural phenomena.
The series has continued not only with sequels but also spin-offs, which explore some of the other haunting monsters such as The Nun and Annabelle. With the continued success of the films, it seems like there will still be more to come for years. As of now, there are eight films and two more — a sequel to The Nun and a movie based on The Crooked Man from The Conjuring 2 — on the way.
5 Saw (8 Films)
Saw started with a low-budget thriller set almost entirely in one location. The first film also introduced Jigsaw, a killer who puts people into elaborate traps where they have to overcome their own demons to escape.
Jigsaw became a modern horror icon and for several years there was a new Saw film coming out every year. The movies were intricately woven together which led to many fans abandoning the franchise after it became too convoluted. But the Saw series will continue soon with Spiral, the Chris Rock-led film.
4 Alien (8 Films)
Right around the time that Star Wars was making science fiction fun for everyone, Ridley Scott was making space terrifying. Alien was an intense thriller about a space shuttle crew who becomes the targets of a deadly alien creature called a xenomorph.
After the brilliant first film, James Cameron took over the sequel, turning it into a sci-fi actioner with thrilling results. The franchise never did return to the heights of those first two films even with David Fincher directing one, a face-off with Predators, and Ridley Scott's return to the franchise.
3 A Nightmare On Elm Street (9 Films)
Few horror movie villains are as effective and creative as Freddy Krueger. Wes Craven's first film introduced the killer who attacks his victims in their dreams, using inventive ways of dispatching them.
As the sequels went on, Freddy changed from the terrifying ghoul to a wisecracking joker who was hard to take seriously. Wes Craven returned to the franchise with a very meta reboot called New Nightmare before Freddy faced off with Jason Vorhees in Freddy vs Jason. Finally, the franchise seemed to hit its end with a poorly-received remake in 2010.
2 Halloween (11 Films)
While the slasher movie subgenre had been around in spirit prior to Halloween, the term "slasher" became widely used after this movie and 1980's Friday the 13th. John Carpenter and Debra Hill helped make the subgenre a phenomenon with this classic horror film. The first introduced the iconic Michael Myers, a masked killer who silently stalks the town of Haddonfield on Halloween night.
The franchise continued for decades, further exploring Michael's past, adding in multiple relatives, and building an unnecessary mythology. The franchise was remade by Rob Zombie in 2007 before the original timeline was revisited with Halloween in 2018, which saw the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. With the success of that sequel, two more films are on the way.
1 Friday The 13th (12 Films)
Jason Voorhees is another of the most infamous horror movie killers of all time, but he does not even appear in the first Friday the 13th (except if you're counting that amazing jump scare at the end). The original film follows a group of camp counselors being stalked by an unseen killer. It wasn't until the sequel that Jason appeared in person as the killer, and, in the third film, he finally donned his famous hockey mask.
The franchise continued from Camp Crystal Lake to Manhattan to space. Jason came back to face off with another icon in Freddy vs Jason before the franchise was remade in 2009. Since then, Jason has not returned to the big screen due to legal problems.
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