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Horror Franchise Thread


Newb82

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How is The Pumpkinhead franchise?  It doesn't look that interesting, but it does have Lance Henriksen attached to it, which helps.

 

The first one is great and a really underrated movie (excellent atmosphere which is one of the key things I look for in a horror film) but they're absolutely horrid after that.

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I remember a few years ago I picked up a film called " the Hills Run Red" when a local blockbuster was closing and it was a surprisingly good movie. I watch it every now and then. Is it perfect? No. But it's enjoyable enough for a few hours.

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I remember hating the shit out of New Nightmare when I was younger. Thanks to the pimping it received in this thread I gave it a re-watch and boy was I ever wrong. So a big thanks to all of you that talked it up.

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There are times when I feel it's better than the original Nightmare.  I go back and forth.

I agree. I don't know if it's better than the original but they're definitely the top 2.

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The original is a masterpiece. NEW NIGHTMARE is Craven telling the world "I've still got gas in the tank" although the world didn't listen until the second or third week of SCREAM's box-office run.

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With all three of those, it's basically a story of "one great original film, and then lots of bad sequels happened" and everyone squabbles over which entry is the worst.  (SPOILER it's Exorcist 2)  Jaws was kinda the same way, if not even moreso.  

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Should we maybe start talking where the series rank up as franchises?  There's all kinds of fun categories: best film vs best film, worst entry vs worst entry, number of good-to-bad ratio, money made, longevity vs frequency....

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Exorcist III is good until it goes violently off the rails in the final scenes.  Dominion is watchable despite some absolutely horrid CGI.  The Beginning is...  Well, I think the studio got exactly what they wanted, so I can't blame Reny Harlin, but when Renny Harlin is exactly what you wanted....

 

The Heretic is quite possibly the biggest drop in quality between a movie and it's immediate sequel ever made.

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I liked Exorcist III even though I was bored by the original. However, the effects when the detective saves someone from getting their head lopped off by the posessed granny are terrible.

I like PSYCHO and all the sequels (even THE BEGINNING). Haven't bothered with the pointless remake.

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New Nightmare is fucking brilliant.  No two ways about it.

 

I felt that the first Pumpkinhead movie had a wonderful premise, but the execution was a bit lacking.  The sequels are pretty horrible.

 

I think that The Howling gives The Exorcist a run for its money as far as diminishing returns on the second installement go. The problem being that I really don't think that either The Exorcist or The Howling should've had sequels at all.

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Yeah, you've got a point there. Certainly there didn't need to be another Exorcist (studios these days have strongly disagreed with me on that one, considering how many times they're remaking it now). I actually dig the Omen franchise and thought Damien was really good. Exorcist III was awesome until the end. Amityville II with the zombies in the basement is a guilty pleasure of mine. Leave it to the Italians!

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I found the Omen films rather intriguing.  I think they shouldn't have made that third, hackneyed installment, but I can see the need to follow Revelations full circle and give some lip service to the concept of the eventual Biblical defeat of the Anti-Christ. 

 

Letting Evil (yeah, capital E) win for two movies doesn't really set a positive theme.

 

The Exorcist III was pretty good.  I've read the novel the movie is based on and the film is a fairly religious adoptation.  Lots of people want to criticize Exorcist III for trying to piggyback off of the first film, but the whole is he / isn't he Damian Karras deal is right there in the book.

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Honestly, the end wasn't that bad, it was just incongruous to the rest of the film. The priest's head peeling away on the ceiling to reveal his brain was particularly nasty. I've had the book Legion for years but never been able to get through it. Blatty is just a boring writer. I never liked the novel The Exorcist either.

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While not a traditional "horror franchise" I've found the PARADISE LOST trilogy (especially the first one) pretty horrifying. Just got a new documentary called WEST OF MEMPHIS and am watching it now.

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Went ahead and finally saw the first two Scream movies. I ended up enjoying them more than I thought I would. I liked how they played with the horror movie rules and dug most of the characters. I have to say I have no idea how Courteney Cox's character has managed to live so long despite being so annoying. The best thing about her in the first two films is Sidney punching her out twice and the relationship with Dewey. Also have to say that it was hard for me to disassociate Gellar and Olyphant from Buffy Summers and Raylan Givens. Anyways both were good though I think I prefer the first movie to the second.

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The first scene of Scream is one of the great moments in the history of horror films.  So taut, tense, and brutal.  I used to follow praising it by saying "the entire franchise rolled downhill from there" but 4 did manage to be better than 3.

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4 had some actual interesting ideas, that it admittedly failed to develop.  The best thing about 3 was an absolutely pointless Jay & Silent Bob cameo.

 

Hell, I'm not convinced 2 was better than 4.  And I didn't really like 4 all that much.

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The first scene of Scream is one of the great moments in the history of horror films.  So taut, tense, and brutal.  I used to follow praising it by saying "the entire franchise rolled downhill from there" but 4 did manage to be better than 3.

Yes, I did love that first scene. The second movie's opening scene wasn't anywhere near that level though I did somewhat enjoy the general idea behind it.

 

So should I just stop Scream 2 or are 3 & 4 worth checking out to some degree?

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