With Halloween just around the corner, then what better time to bring you 5 Horror Movie Franchises that you can pick from for an evening of screams and chills.
Halloween
How could you have a Halloween horror movie night without the movies based on the time of the year! The original movie was released back in 1978 when it put the fear and terror of a Halloween night in the minds of cinema-goers were trick or treated to shocks thanks to John Carpenter’s brilliant movie, as Michael Myers stalks and kills teenage babysitters on a Halloween night. The film opens with young Michael killing his sister and being placed in a mental institution, only to escape many years later to kill again and this time put the fear of Halloween into Jamie Lee Curtis.
To date, the Halloween franchise has spawned 10 movies and in 2018 (40 years after the original) the next chapter in the franchise will be released, with Jamie Lee Curtis yet again taking on the role of Laurie Stroud for her final confrontation with Michael.
Halloween: The Ultimate Collection (Six-Disc Box Set) [DVD]
Friday The 13th
Created to cash in on the success of Halloween, Friday The 13th has hit 12 movies (if you count Freddy vs Jason and the 2009 reboot), the series of films aren’t particularly loved by critics and the many films have mixed feelings from the fans, but one thing can be sure, the Friday The 13th movies certainly have almost all those key elements for a good “slasher” movie, it features the promiscuous teenagers, the dark creepy scenes, the gory murders, the serial killer back from the grave and who can forget that “ch ch ch ch” sound when Jason Voorhees is on the scene or about to be.
The franchise even stepped into the realms of 3D for the 3rd movie back in 1982, with plenty of poking items at the screen to show off the gimmick of the time and was shot with Arrivision “over and under” 3-D camera, the same used for Jaws 3D. The third movie was also the first one to feature Jason in his now iconic hockey mask.
Friday The 13th – The Original [Blu-ray] [1980] [Region Free]
The Exorcist
For me, the first movie in The Exorcist franchise was the best one, the 1973 film was based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty and was directed by William Friedkin. The atmosphere of the film is still unnerving when watching it today. Many scenes in the film, once seen can never be forgotten, such as the head twisting scene with Linda Blair and in a later cut, the “spider” sequence as Blair scurries backwards down the stairs!
Four more movies are in the franchise and most recently the TV series of The Exorcist has now moved on to the second season, the original is a great movie to watch for those unnerving, what’s in the shadows, moments.
The Exorcist – 40th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray] [1973] [Region Free]
Child’s Play
Back in 1988, the story of a serial killer and voodoo practitioner named Charles Lee “Chucky” Ray (Brad Dourif) is mortally wounded and transfers his soul via a voodoo ritual into a child-sized “Good Guy” doll. The movie wasn’t so much a shocker, but it certainly had you thinking about those creepy dolls that you see people collect and also those dolls in the toy shops that kids want for Christmas. Child’s Play has become a cult classic and Chucky has
Child’s Play has become a cult classic and Chucky has now terrorised his victims and viewers in 7 movies.
CHUCKY: Complete 7-Movie Collection (BD) [Blu-ray]
SAW
Talking of creepy dolls, how about the one in “SAW” and its diabolical laugh, Billy the Puppet wasn’t the most bizarre thing in the SAW franchise, that was left to the contraptions that “Jigsaw” John Kramer (Tobin Bell) created for his victims to try and escape from. SAW took the horror of the gore and the fear that the victims were being put through and made the audience watching the movies, cringe, hide behind their hands and scream at the horrors of the death scenes in the franchise of seven movies.
This franchise is probably the goriest and most stomach-churning of all those listed here, but it is one that fans flock to the cinemas to see and with the latest movie, Jigsaw, hitting cinema screens later this month, time will only tell if the franchise will carry on.
Saw 1-7: The Complete Collection [Blu-ray] [2016]
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.