The 10 Longest Horror Movie Franchises
5. Hellraiser (10 Films)
I have to be honest, I look forward to watching the first two installments of this horror franchise every Halloween. Clive Barker really proved to be a master of horror when he brought his twisted sadomasochistic demons to the big screen. I would go so far as to say that this is probably one of the most acceptable forms of torture porn out there because it was torture porn with a purpose. After the first two though things went downhill fast. Just like Leperchercaun, Pinhead eventually found himself in space and as the old saying goes, “In space no one can hear you groan.” As far as horror movie franchises go, Pinhead had a pretty good run while it lasted, but it might be time to hang-up his nails and S&M gear.
4. Halloween (13 Films*)
*Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends release delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Halloween has had some ups and downs over the years. The first two were incredible entries in the slasher horror genre creating one of the most iconic killers the silver screen has ever seen. The third one… I don’t know what happened with that one. There is literally no mention of Michael Myers at all. It has nothing to do with the other entries in this horror movie franchise. Then the franchise slowly stumbled on, like a wounded teen trying to get away from the killer. However, I do love the fact that Busta Rhymes gets into a fistfight with Michael Myers at one point though. Though I feel like it kinda gave up at that point. That is until Rob Zombie swooped in to remake it. Still, Blumhouse saved the series with the recent Halloween sequel.
3. Friday the 13th (12 Films*)
*11 stand alone films and a cross-over
Full disclosure, I love the Friday the 13th movies. Jason Voorhees is probably my favorite horror icon of all time. There’s just something about the big lumbering brute that I can relate to. Maybe it’s because he was mocked as a child and grew up to be a very large man too. Either way, he’s an unstoppable force of nature who has a really unique superpower. No matter how slowly he walks, he can always catch up to a running teenager. It’s uncanny! Of course, this horror movie franchise had its highs and lows. Mostly because it too decided to send the villain into space to kill teens in the future. I’m not sure how that trend got started, but let’s leave horror movies set in space to Ridley Scott from now on.
2. Puppet Master (14 Films)
This blew my mind. I’ve seen the first Puppet Master. I was aware that there were a few more. But 14? That’s just crazy. I mean, Chucky had branding going on, but I can’t even name one of the killer puppets from the films. Plus I was really confused if they were good puppets or bad puppets or what. To top things off, the newest installment in this horror movie franchise is called Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich, which sounds disturbingly adorable. Honestly, I’m going to have to look into this more to see how the dolls went on to be Nazi killers. I’m not against it, especially in today’s political climate, but I’m still blown away that there is such a high demand for killer puppets.
1. The Amityville Horror (23 Films)
Nothing comes close to this horror movie franchise. While I was doing research for this list, I was shocked to see that there were 18 Amityville movies. Of course, I’ve seen the first one and I won’t speak ill of Ryan Reynolds (unless it’s Green Lantern), but looks through some of these titles it becomes pretty clear that studios were desperate to milk it for everything it was worth. There’s an Amityville Asylum, an Amityville Dollhouse, and even an Amityville Playhouse. I can’t make this stuff up. It’s so bad you can’t help but laugh. Did someone make a joke to a studio head without a sense of humor? How is this even possible? Well, however it came about, there is no question that this is definitely the horror movie franchise that should have been put out to pasture a long time ago.
Honorable Mention: The Conjuring Universe (6 Films)
The Conjuring Universe sprang up out of
Of course, there are plenty of other long-running horror movie franchises, like Final Destination, and much more. I never said these were the best, but I would love to hear what your favorite franchise is. So make sure that you leave me a comment below and share your thoughts.