ok lets all shit our pants to something old: pre-2006 horror film thread

Probably not, possibly because all of those series feature seriously diminishing returns with very few exceptions.

In short, the first three Nightmare sequels (roughly 4>3>2, in my estimation), the not exactly good but totally batshit Jason Goes To Hell, Seed of Chucky (and to a slightly lesser extent the direct-to-DVD Curse of Chucky from a year or so ago), Hellraiser 2 and Halloween 3: Season of the Witch are the only sequels from this lot that are worth your time (people rep for Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 but I wasn't impressed). And I say this as a pretty big fan of crap '80s and '90s horror movies.

I watched all of the Halloweens (including the Rob Zombie ones but excluding the Busta Rhymes one) last year. I don't think I can honestly say that I legitimately like any of them but 3.

I agree w that in general, just figured people would have opinions about which franchise was the all-around best or, er, least terrible in terms of diminishing returns.

fwiw I didn't mean polling the individual films, I meant polling the franchises in their entirety

old lunch generally otm, though i'm one of those who reps (hard) for texas chainsaw massacre 2. and it's bride of chucky that's the keeper, imo, not seed.

xpost Oh, okay. I imagine that NOES would pretty handily win that one, seeing as how almost half of that series is pretty good.

Bride wasn't bad but Seed was off the rails.

I can't deal with any TCM but the original. Can't be replicated, can't be improved upon.

is there interest in such a poll? My thinking is anything with more than three films released in theaters, with a cutoff that the first film had to be prior to 1990 or so...

I'm always down for a horror poll.

or between 1970 and 1990 or so (I don't want to get into earlier series, Hammer stuff etc.)

xp

I can't deal with any TCM but the original. Can't be replicated, can't be improved upon.

true, but that's what's so great about TCM2. it doesn't try in any way to replicate or improve on the original. it blasts off without apology in its own, utterly batshit direction. one of the funniest and weirdest genre films of the 80s, and that's saying something.

A side thing that would be interesting to me would be sequels to random horror franchises that actually wound up being good. Seed of Chucky, for instance, was such a revelation because I watched all of the Child's Play movies last year and was totally prepared for more total garbage when it actually turned out to be manic, self-aware trash. But also, like, I keep reading positive things about Wrong Turn 2, of all things? That's the kind of thing I'm thinking about.

I think my favorite underrated horror movie series are It's Alive and Basket Case.

so preliminary list would include:

Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday the 13th
Child's Play
Hellraiser
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Halloween
Basket Case

what other biggies are there?

fwiw I rate both Bride and Seed of Chucky - good fun

There's a lot of total garbage with eight million direct-to-video sequels (Puppet Master, Children of the Corn) that I assume you'd rather avoid?

I want to say there's a pretty solid late Howling sequel that's pretty good, one that's very Ten Little Indians. Howling V: The Rebirth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOYA3rz0WDo

Curiously, the Howling may be the rare horror franchise where none of the sequels (6? 7?) have afaict any relationship to the original, beyond werewolves.

Evil Dead? Too clear a winner?

am I allowed to write in "the national news since Trayvon Martin's death"

like I said, my criteria is basically first film between 1970-1990, with 2 sequels released to theaters. not interested in all the direct-to-video franchises

(xps)

I think Texas Chainsaw 2 stumbles badly by being increasingly too similar to the original. It starts off so promisingly with the great road scene, cartoony makeup, the music and more trashy fun sensibility, nutty Dennis Hopper gearing up for some fantastic revenge showdown then completely squanders it all by being so drawn out and appearing like a fannish homage by the end.

The Omen counts here, surely?

Not entirely convinced I would want to make up a whole ballot as most of these aren't really my preferred horrors, but would certainly vote in a button poll.

yeah I'm talking about a button poll, just want to make sure I don't overlook any poll options before I start it

(I totally forgot the Omen had sequels, for example)

the return of the living dead series, maybe?

ooh definitely

texas chainsaw 2 rules, jeez people

the first three Nightmare sequels (roughly 4>3>2

this is also really wacky to me, as 3 is imo the best nightmare movie and is sometimes my favorite movie of all time, and 2 is complete trash except for when it's super gay

Wait, Return of the Living Dead is different to the Night of the Living Dead series, yeah? (I am pretty certain about this but do often get similar titles confused.) Would make a case for the latter series counting, even though the first one is '68 - all of them from the second on definitely have the right feel to be included here.

so...

Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday the 13th
Child's Play
Hellraiser
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Halloween
Basket Case
The Omen
Evil Dead
Return of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead/Dawn of the Dead/Day of the Dead (I'm gonna let this one in even tho the first one is pre-1970, it's of a piece with subsequent franchises imo)

It's Alive looks like it only had one sequel? I'm disqualifying it on those grounds...

oh and I guess I need to add the Howling?

Any other major contenders I'm forgetting?

i also definitely think children of the corn should be included, if only for 3 (unbelievably batshit) and 4 (naomi watts!)

and the first two children of the corn sequels were def released to theaters

yeah Children of the Corn counts for sure

Amityville

Jaws, The Exorcist, Alien, and Poltergeist all count, right?

x-ref with wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Horror_films_by_series

sure

oh and Phantasm! duh

kinda on the fence about Alien tho tbh

I still maintain that the horror element of the Alien series is minor in comparison to the sci-fi & action elements. Iirc I refused to vote for it in the big horror poll despite it being awesome because I didn't think of it as properly horror (and then hypocritically put Threads as my number one, ha).

yeah that's how I feel about it - and the sequels definitely foreground the sf and action

It's Alive had two sequels.

If we're making a case for the Romero Dead movies, one could make a similar case for the Psycho sequels. I won't be stumping hard, but they arguably count.

wellll original Psycho is pre-1970 cutoff though

Night of the Living Dead is 1968.

i do think that 'aliens' has a decent amount of horror elements, mostly w/r/t the hopelessness and the fact that those aliens are nasty and scary creatures. i think roger ebert's review is pretty otm in some respects:

The ads for "Aliens" claim that this movie will frighten you as few movies have, and, for once, the ads don't lie. The movie is so intense that it creates a problem for me as a reviewer: Do I praise its craftsmanship, or do I tell you it left me feeling wrung out and unhappy? It has been a week since I saw it, so the emotions have faded a little, leaving with me an appreciation of the movie's technical qualities. But when I walked out of the theater, there were knots in my stomach from the film's roller-coaster ride of violence. This is not the kind of movie where it means anything to say you "enjoyed" it.

the intensity and wrung-out feelings are correct although tbh i enjoyed it happily

we talked about NotLD already. Genuinely feel like Psycho (the original film) is a different animal and almost really of a different genre than Night of the Living Dead (which functions in many ways as the birth of the modern horror genre imo)

Amityville

Oh, someone aleady said Amityville so not Amityville.

Uhh...Puppet Master?