The 70s/80s Horror Franchise Poll: Freddy vs. Jason vs. Chucky vs. Pinhead vs. Leatherface vs. Michael Myers vs. Everybody Else

2 and 3 are Australian

went w/ NOES. it's the only case where i have some affection for the entire franchise, not just certain films.

romero's zombie trilogy is undeniably better but seems a different sort of thing to me.

picked Phantasm cuz it's the same creative team throughout, the first 2 are stellar and the others arent bad AND you can't beat that weird mythology.

Romero's Dead first trilogy is very strong. it might be cheating since they never tried to make them every year or so.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is possibly the scariest 'conventional' horror movie i've seen.

I enjoy watching this smarmy jerkface's reviews of late sequels in B-rate franchises I will never watch.

Romero's Dead trilogy, but agree that it shouldn't really apply.... If we're talking franchises I'd have to say Evil Dead/Army of Darkness/Ash/etc... For straight horror though I'm going to go with Halloween, first three are pretty good (first great even) although it trails off badly after that.

Hm, I was the one who proposed the Romero trilogy, and I think it will be my vote (Evil Dead may have won if I had actually got round to seeing Army of Darkness). Am interested in why people think it shouldn't apply? To me it's totally an exemplar of the 70s-90s franchise thing, though it doesn't go as all-in cash-in as some of the others.

Movies are too spaced out, too auteur-y, and fairly non-commercial by comparison to the others on the list which almost all quickly left the hands their creators and devolved into yearly exercises in exploitation.

I read a long essay last year about the homo undertones in Nightmare on Elm Street 2 b/c the actor is queer or something. Is the movie any good? I've seen the first and third.

So basically they're too good to be on the ballot?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

xp

I would say they're just not the same sort of films (even if on the surface they might appear to be). I would argue that 1984 isn't really science fiction either though.

The queerness in NoES2 comes out of more than simply the lead actor being gay (wait'll you see the S&M scene), though his obvious queerness is a contributing factor. As a queer 80s horror flick, I probably like it slightly less than the following year's even more loaded Vamp, but I'd say its worth a watch.

It's not like I'm some sort of "every genre poll is open to everything" person, I specifically think that the ...Dead films fit the template.

- too spaced out

Okay, yeah, they are fairly spaced out. 17 years in comparison to ED's 11 is actually significant (and most of the others probably got churned out much faster). But honestly I can't see why this is a good reason to discount them.

- too auteur-y

ED trilogy made by the same person. Basket Case also same director all the way through. Clive Barker certainly worked on the second Hellraiser (no idea about 3). I associate Craven heavily with all the NoES films but tbh I couldn't tell you how many he actually did, so fair enough.

- fairly non-commercial

I'm not sure I buy this at all. Growing up I knew as much about these films as I did about most of the others, and way more in comparison to like, It's Alive(as in, I still have no idea what this is).

(Also may be worth noting that I am avoiding posting in the UK politics threads because I think I might explode so having a mini-sparring match about horror is my safety outlet, sorry.)

It's Alive(as in, I still have no idea what this is).

Larry motherfuckin Cohen is what it is

Oh, I just looked it up, it's the killer baby film. Haven't seen it but I am aware of its existence, yes.

voted for Evil Dead based on consistency

I've never seen It's Alive and have such ridiculously high hopes for it now that I'm sure I'll be disappointed.

It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive is the best of the three.

ok that wasn't something I was expecting to hear

It's Alive is genuinely fantastic. One of the best opening 10-15 minutes of any horror flick ever, for sure. If Cohen hadn't started working with Michael Moriarty, I like to imagine we'd have seen John P. Ryan in Q and The Stuff.

It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive is the best of the three.

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, July 12, 2016 6:13 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thank you for expressing the most correct opinion itt. It's my favorite because it's the Cohen-est. The purest expression of id. Similar to Basket Case 3 being the most Henenlotter-ish and therefore my favorite.

Those two and Seed of Chucky would make for a pretty fantastic gonzo horror marathon.

ok that wasn't something I was expecting to hear
--Οὖτις

Lol it's true.

For Island of the Alive (1987), Cohen recruited Michael Moriarty, an actor who had previously starred in Cohen's Q (1982) and The Stuff (1985), and was also filming A Return to Salem's Lot with Cohen that same year. The mutated babies have been placed on a desert island by court order. The person responsible for them, Jarvis (Michael Moriarty), leads an expedition to free the children. The cast includes Laurene Landon of Maniac Cop, and James Dixon returns as Lt. Perkins.

Franchises I've seen, ranked: Romero's Dead (based on and actually having seen only the original four) > Nightmare on Elm Street (saw 'em all, only rate the first four) > Child's Play (saw 'em all, only really dig the final three) > Exorcist (saw 'em all, ranked entirely on the strength of 1 and 3) > Basket Case (all good, all batshit) > It's Alive (all good, all batshit) >>>> Hellraiser (really like the first two but 3 and 4 are terrible and have no interest in investigating further) >>>>>>>>> Halloween (saw 'em all but Resurrection, first two are decent but not much more really, third is batshit and pretty good, the rest are barely watchable)

(Honorable mention for Evil Dead, which I somehow only just saw the first two installments of last year and which were so awesome my mind is still processing how to rank them among my tried and true faves.)

Franchises for which I like the first movie and have seen at least one sequel and for which I would prefer to forget any sequels exist, ranked: Poltergeist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (although I guess I should give 2 another shake someday), Return of the Living Dead, House

Franchises I'll probably bite the bullet and watch in their entirety this Halloween-time because I already have them in my possession and so why not: Friday the 13th (I don't actually like any of the ones I've seen except Jason Goes To Hell so I don't know why I would watch any more of them except maybe because of underexamined self-loathing), Amityville (first one is actually pretty good, will probably regret going further), Phantasm (first is great, second is ehhhhhh)

damn y'all forgot the leprechaun series

I've actually seen 14 of the first films in these series, more than I would have guessed, but probably not half that many of the sequels. So I won't vote. Isn't Evil Dead the only one to yield two acclaimed films?

reasons i excluded romero's zombie series from my consideration:

1) most of the poll options could be dismissed by nonbelievers as "crappy 80s horror franchises". the 70-90 kickoff and 2 sequel minimum all but guarantee that. and though a few others do skirt a full wallow in period cheese (notably the omen and exorcist films), they're not really on my radar. romero's zombie trilogy starts in the late sixties, six years prior to any other series listed here, and it includes only one "cheesy 80s" entry.

2) like the exorcist and alien films, night of the living dead and its first two sequels are too critically well-respected to provide interesting competition for the likes of the friday the 13th, halloween and nightmare on elm street franchises (to say nothing of it's alive and children of the corn). not coincidentally, they're also much more pointedly critical in theme than the other series listed.

I forgot that Dawn of the Dead is an acclaimed film (don't know about Day)...I didn't care for it when it came out, but I should look at it again. Night is brilliant.

Some other misses:

Jaws
Sleepaway Camp
Ghoulies (that's right in III they go to college thanks a fucking lot Bernie Sanders "free college for all" my ass)
Puppet Master

I guess you could include Fulci's Gates of Hell or Argento's Three Mothers trilogies but I'm sort of biased against them for similar reasons as Romero's Dead probably.

Yeah Dawn of the Dead is nearly as acclaimed (and as good) as Night of the Living Dead. Day is definitely considered a drop in quality.

i suggested fulci's gates of hell trilogy in the run-up thread, but it didn't make the cut.

Thing with Exorcist (and Jaws and Alien) is that it successive sequels really do start descend into full exploitation (and I love some of these sequels btw don't get me wrong). I think that qualifies the series as a whole even if in all three cases the original films are definitely a cut way way above most of the films on this list.

Shit. Fuckin' Critters got dissed, too.

There sure was a lot of this crap.

the Romero movies are the best of this lot for their consistency but several of the initial installments here are among my favorites of the genre -- TCM, Hellraiser, the Exorcist, the Omen. But really, I think there needs to be a distinction between a franchise that at some point justifies itself and the sort of "somebody will pay for this, somewhere" no-hope cynicism of stuff like the direct-to-video late Hellraiser movies

For those who were unaware and who are interested in an alternate universe continuation of Hellraiser where the no-hope cynicism was constrained to the narrative itself, Barker ultimately wrote a Hellraiser comic series for a happier world where nothing more than the first two movies existed (and which also continued the story from Lord of Illusions).

Voted Friday the 13th, not because it's the 'best' but because it prob comes closest to my platonic ideal of 'horror movie franchise' (post-Universal or Hammer, anyway) - distinctive lead villain/anti-hero, obvious debt to giallo (in this case, Bava's Bay of Blood), and adherence to a formulaic narrative structure that grows more pleasing - or more cosily familiar - w/ repeated repetition. Somewhere in America, horny teenagers will always be going to summer camp to fuck, smoke dope, get slaughtered.

oof Leprechaun series def an oversight (even if I doubt anyone would have voted for it). Had no idea there were more than a couple each of Ghoulies and Sleepaway Camp, or I would've included them too. Jaws doesn't really pass the horror-franchise test to me, seems more like old-school monster movie maybe...? Puppet Master didn't occur to me cuz I never actually saw any of those

Somewhere in America, horny teenagers will always be going to summer camp to fuck, smoke dope, get slaughtered.

new rolling horror thread title

Jaws doesn't really pass the horror-franchise test to me, seems more like old-school monster movie maybe...?

I mean this is splitting hairs, but I don't think there is a terribly significant different between the Jaws franchise and most of the stuff on here.

certainly not by the time you get to jaws 2, which isn't far from a slasher flick. to say nothing of jaws 3-D...

figure anything even remotely horrorish that got an 80s-era part "3D" is by definition in the ballpark: amityville 3-D, friday the 13th part 3: 3D

hah fair enough

but I'm not doing this poll over just so Morbz can vote for Jaws

LOL well the overall franchise is garbage. Even Exorcist is better than Jaws.

morbs iirc thinks jaws isn't even top 5 spielberg

voted for Evil Dead based on consistency

Gooey?

morbs iirc thinks jaws isn't even top 5 spielberg

he would surely rank it above everything else here tho

altho maybe not he likes the Exorcist right? catholic boys...

was there a single decent horror movie in the era that didn't have a bunch of straight-to-video sequels??

Killer Klowns From Outer Space was the first thing that popped into my mind. Not so much because it's good but because it's the type of thing you'd expect to have eight VHS-only sequels.

Speaking of that Phantasm restoration how's life posted, one of my local arthouse theaters, the beautiful Capitol Theatre in Cleveland, is showing it one-night-only on Sept. 24, followed by a live-streamed Q&A with Don Coscarelli and cast members. Can't wait for that.

The Capitol also does an annual 12-hour Halloween movie marathon. It's an awesome place.

now that i have seen all of the phantasms, imo the answer is: phantasm

I'm afraid to watch Ravager. How is Ravager? Phantasm Ravager.

RaVager. Next one will be ReVIval, presumably, don't know what'll haven with the seventh.

I'm looking forward to seeing the whole shebang when the new box set is released. The first has become an annual staple.

haven=happen, wth autocorrect

I'm afraid to watch Ravager. How is Ravager? Phantasm Ravager.

― Not raving but drooling (contenderizer), Sunday, March 12, 2017 12:50 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it looks like complete garbage (bad cinematography, terrible cgi) but the script is the most phantasm-y script ever and really rescues it. plus reggie is great throughout

anyway if anyone here has hbo go and shudder: you too can marathon the phantasm movies

Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest is an absolute blast, after being kind of bored/disappointed by the first one. The corn really gets to play a vital role, and I'm sure it's a must-see for any Chicago natives.