What is your favorite horror film franchise? All of you should know, and some of you probably already do, that I generally stay clear of horror films. That being said, I have recently gotten into the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. The Platinum Dunes remake with Jackie Earle Haley was released yesterday, and I don’t know why I’m even the least bit interested in seeing it, since Nightmare, Friday the 13th, Halloween films, etc., are definitely not my cup of tea.
While Platinum Dunes generally gets a lot of flak, I have continued to support them.
I really like The Ring, it was the first horror movie I watched and it still scares me. My favorite franchise, though, would have to be Saw. I know they probably should have stopped at number three, but what can I say? I love them.
I have to say I really like the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise the most and Friday the 13th close after. The Saw movies really are at the bottom of my list, not a big fan.
I didn’t really do this thread justice.
As I already said, I am a huge Jason/Friday the 13th fan. My favorite will always be the original, but I also love Part 2, Part III, The Final Chapter, Freddy vs. Jason, and the remake-reboot-rehash-rewhatever.
I am also a big fan of Freddy/A Nightmare on Elm Street. As with F13, the original will always be my favorite, but I also love Part 3 and New Nightmare. The remake was horrendous.
I am a fan of Halloween as well. The first is a masterpiece, but Part 2 and Part 3 (yes, I like Part 3) are also good. I don’t love the Rob Zombie remake, but it’s not bad.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a brilliant movie. The second is silly, but I still like it. The remake is also okay.
Alien and Predator are two franchises I also adore, but the sequels aren’t really horror.
Saw and II are really good in my opinion, but the others are garbage (although Saw VI was alright)
Lastly is George Romero’s zombie franchise. Night of the Living Dead is my favorite, but Dawn of the Dead is a close second. I also really love Day of the Dead, but the other ones I don’t care for as much… except for the Dawn of the Dead remake.
I love tons of horror movies, but these are the only franchises that I enjoy for the most.
The Ring was an alright film, it was pretty funny, though, the way she climbed up that well in the second one. I liked the way it ended too, pretty dramatic. The second one was alright but I preffered the first one.
I haven’t seen Saw yet but it looks interesting, maybe that’ll be on my list of things to watch. Friend at work also said The Exorcist was scary, might give that a try, too.
I always like the Final Destination films, just an excuse to watch horror scene after horror scene without the rubbish talking and plot advances in between! : P
I’m worried at the moment about Paranormal Activity; specifically, if the sequel does well, we might get another Saw-style franchise with many sequels.
Chucky wins, although I like Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th, he just has nothing on Chucky to me. Chucky has such a human personality for a killer doll.
Hmm… there are not many horror trilogies I’ve seen. A few sequels here and there, yes, but not an entire franchise! Alien is one of my favorite movies and the second one is great, too (although I don’t prefer it to the original, which puts me in the minority). Even though I haven’t seen the sequels for the following, I also love The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Child’s Play. The last one’s really more of a guilty pleasure from my childhood, though. From what I remember, it was kind of silly.
Wow, queen_of_painting. Once again it seems like you’re just talking to a different sort of people than I do. You’d be in the majority when it comes to the circles I frequent. Most of the people I know, myself included, agree that Alien is just the superior film. While Cameron does produce a bang-up balls-to-the-wall action flick, he fails to create the kind of atmosphere that was present in Alien. There’s no sense of dread.
I actually like all of the official entries of the Alien series pre-AVP. Even the much reviled Resurrection for being a dark comedy that contained some of the seeds of the ill-fated series Firefly. And Alien 3 for being watchable at all. If you look up any of the original ideas for the movie you’ll be glad that Fincher was able to make it worth sitting through.
I don’t have a fave horror franchise though. Maybe Nightmare for being set in Ohio (palm trees aside) and having inventive dream sequences. But I can’t really commit to any one franchise to be sure.
BTW: That wasn’t supposed to sound rude. I’m sorry if it came off too harshly
I don’t really have one. I’m not a fan of horror franchises. The only horror films I really love are Alfred Hitchcock Films and The Shining. But if Psycho counts I’ll go with that only because the first Psycho film is a great film. And Paranormal Activity is quite good too.
I don’t know too many film geeks, so that might be my problem. Sometimes I ask people which of the first two Alien films they prefer to determine our compatibility. What you said (about both) is a perfect summary of how I feel. Admittedly, though, I have not seen any of the other Alien sequels, because I’ve heard pretty rotten things about them and so they’re not at the top of my super long to-see list.
If you can believe it, there are several essential horror films I haven’t seen: Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, etc. I see the last two are now available to watch instantly on Netflix, however, and seeing that I have 3 more weeks of jobless, classless life in a cold city… I might watch them. Most of the horror movies I like are from the '60s or '70s (and Hitchcock as well), but there are some recent ones I enjoyed: [REC], The Descent, and I’m probably one of the few people willing to say that I actually liked the American Ring remake! The Host is also fun, despite some negative responses to it. I thought Drag Me to Hell was just alright, and that Trick 'r Treat movie? That was a huge joke.
Drag Me To Hell just left a terrible taste in my mouth. It was a good premise and it had some classic Raimi bits that are worth revisiting. But in the end it’s just too mean-spirited, even as far as horror movies go.
The Ring is well liked in many circles. I think the biggest strike against it is that it spawned a horrible trend of inferior J-horror remakes. And of course the sequel The Ring 2: Oh Deer!
Trick R Treat is a bigger joke when you’ve been anticipating it for several years as the movie that was just “too awesome to be released” So when it finally ended up on DVD and failed to blow me away and instead seemed to be nothing more than a big-budget R rated Tales from the Darkside ep, let’s just say that disappointed is the understatement of the year.
Do you have any horror recommendations you’d like to share? Not just you q_o_p, but anyone?
I’ve got one. Robert Wise’s The Haunting of Hill House based on the novel by Shirley Jackson. Less really is more in this film. I won’t spoil it. But unless you’re very adventurous and fairly tolerant of cheese please avoid the remake with Liam Neeson. Unless you love kick-butt Jerry Goldsmith scores.
