Horror movie franchises are the backbone of the genre, but there’s no denying that some of the best series got sillier and sillier as they went along. Though it’s often maligned, the horror genre is one of the most popular in all cinema, and audiences often flock to the theater in droves to be scared out of their wits.

One way to keep fans coming back is by establishing a franchise, with a familiar villain returning again and again to terrorize an unsuspecting world. While they’ve been a staple since the 1930s, horror franchises really took off in the 1980s, with numerous slasher villains becoming icons of pop culture.

However, many horror franchises are also guilty of getting goofy, with some of their later sequels turning into downright comedy. Once overexposed, the villain loses a bit of their frightening quality, and can often become the main character of their own films. Fortunately, a change in tone isn’t always a bad thing for a long-running franchise.

A shift toward the lighter side is sometimes just what a franchise needs to stay relevant, and it can poke some fun at itself. Whether intentional or not, almost every horror franchise with a lot of sequels is going to turn humorous eventually, but the most notable examples often have the starkest departure from their original movies.

10

Final Destination (2000-2025)

A One-Trick Pony That Keeps Coming Back

Starting its life as a pitch for an episode of The X-Files, Final Destination was a clever addition to early aughts horror. The idea of casting death as the main villain, with each of the characters being picked off in increasingly brutal ways, made for compelling viewing once or twice. Unfortunately, the franchise kept going in sequel after sequel.

The first movie’s inciting incident is a plane crash, and it plays on plausible fears regarding air travel. However, each new sequel needed to dream up another scenario for the young characters to survive, and they got goofier each time. What’s more, the franchise’s attempts to explain why things are happening just made things more muddled and laughable.

9

Paranormal Activity (2007-2021)

Found-Footage Stretched To Its Limit

2007’s Paranormal Activity was a revelation during a down period for horror, and its clever use of found footage was a glimpse into what the subgenre was capable of almost a decade after The Blair Witch Project. The movie’s box office magic was just too tempting for Hollywood to leave alone, so a plethora of sequels quickly entered production.

While the scares in the first movie were subtle and jarring, the sequels couldn’t devise a clever way to work the found footage aspects in subtly. Eventually, the Paranormal Activity series became a cheesy hodgepodge of jump scares and contrived cameras, and it began to illicit more chuckles than screams.

8

Halloween (1978-2022)

Michael Myers Returns Again & Again & Again

Though Halloween wasn’t the first ever slasher film, it certainly helped to kick off the subgenre’s popularity throughout the ’80s. However, Michael Myers was a bit slow compared to his slasher brothers, and missed a lot of the decade. After two movies, the silent stalker didn’t return until 1988, when the slasher trend had already been thoroughly played out.

It wasn’t overexposure alone that turned the Halloween franchise into a garish mess, but mostly its heavy-handed attempts at philosophizing and explaining Michael’s killings. The original film speculated that he was the personification of evil, but it mostly commented on the rise of random violence during the ’70s. The sequels made him an unstoppable killing machine that is (sometimes) supernatural.

7

Evil ᴅᴇᴀᴅ (1981-2023)

Evil ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Got Better Because Of Its Humor

Most horror franchises get worse when they add a bit of humor into the mix, but The Evil ᴅᴇᴀᴅ is a rare exception. The original indie classic was gory, claustrophobic, and unflinchingly original, and it was also completely devoid of laughs. However, Evil ᴅᴇᴀᴅ II was essentially a remake, but added more than a little bit of slapstick screwball humor.

The jokes almost made the movie scarier because it offered a strange juxtaposition between the nightmarish imagery and the Three Stooges-esque pratfalls. Army of Darkness was even funnier, but it suited the over-the-top concept. Proving the versatility of Sam Raimi’s original idea, the franchise rebounded to become scary again with the 2013 remake, and Evil ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Rise.

6

The Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre (1974-2022)

From Gritty To Goofy In Just A Single Movie

Now considered one of the scariest horror movies of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre turned stomachs and frightened viewers silly when it burst on the scene in the mid-’70s. With its gritty cinematography and almost documentary-like style, it was the most realistic horror film to date. It was also completely left alone for over a decade.

However, Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre Part 2 eventually arrived, and director Tobe Hooper was back too. Intentionally weird and goofy, Part 2 was a middle finger to sequels, and intentionally eschewed its predecessor. Unfortunately, all the other sequels didn’t get the memo, and stripped Leatherface of his effectiveness by over-explaining his backstory and making him a generic slasher villain.

5

Saw (2004-2023)

The Pinnacle Of The Torture Genre Got Pretty Silly

Saw put James Wan on the map and was one of the few horror highlights in an otherwise abysmal few years for the genre. Its subtle-yet-complex plot was more about the slow burn, but there were a few pulse-pounding scares too. The first movie unlocked a world that was larger than just one outing, but the sequels quickly derailed.

Each follow-up made the traps more elaborate, and John Kramer’s backstory got needlessly complex with various twists. This all opened the door for things to get quite cheesy, as the franchise couldn’t keep its story straight from movie to movie. There were certainly highlights in the latter Saw movies, but it took Saw X to finally right the ship.

4

Child’s Play (1988-2019)

Chucky Was Made For A Few Dark Laughs

The Child’s Play franchise is perhaps the most consistent long-running series in horror history, and that’s due in large part to the involvement of original creator Don Mancini. The first film was an effective and spooky killer doll movie, but Chucky had clear franchise potential from the get-go. The first two sequels took themselves seriously, but that soon changed.

Bride of Chucky was a horror comedy, and it gave its тιтle character a bigger personality. All the movies since (except the remake) have built upon the humor of Bride, and are actually really great films. It was the horror comedy that saved the franchise and has allowed it to flourish for nearly four decades.

3

Friday The 13th (1980-2009)

After So Many Sequels, It Was Bound To Get Funny

Friday the 13th built on the success of earlier slashers and helped to popularize the mystery slasher. After a twist for the ages, the sequel dreamed a way to make the series more frightening by introducing Jason Vorhees as the main villain. With money-making potential, Jason would come back again and again throughout the ’80s.

The hockey-masked monster soon evolved from a mere murderer into something downright supernatural, and Friday the 13th embraced its goofiness. This would save the series from mediocrity by Part VI, but it would soon be squandered in additional sequels. Friday the 13th is frustrating because it vacillated between humor and horror, but often couldn’t mix the two effectively.

2

Hellraiser (1987-2022)

Pinhead Has Such Silly Sights To Show You

Clive Barker was a brilliant new voice in horror in the ’80s, and Hellraiser was the writer’s introduction on the big screen. Blending esoteric philosophy with elements of S&M, Hellraiser was a ghoulish horror film with a lot of potential. The sequel was a serviceable continuation, but the threequel is where the Cenobites fell off a cliff.

The series quickly saw slashed budgets and was even relegated to the direct-to-video market. Though that isn’t always a death sentence for a horror franchise, none of the sequels understood what made the original so effective. Pinhead hogged too much of the spotlight, and was transformed into just another goofy quipping villain.

1

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984-2010)

Nightmares Turned To Laughs On Elm Street

Freddy Krueger is the poster boy for a scary villain who eventually becomes silly, and A Nightmare on Elm Street is the quintessential horror franchise that pivoted to humor. Wes Craven’s 1984 film was imaginative and eerie, with Krueger lurking in shadows like a true terror. It was Freddy’s popularity that would soon turn the franchise into something completely different.

Robert Englund’s brilliant performance as the claw-handed burn victim made him too popular, and the studio cashed in on Freddy’s appeal. This shifted focus onto Freddy, to the detriment of the heroes. Eventually, the kills became a platform for a myriad of jokes from Freddy, and A Nightmare on Elm Street forgot it was a horror movie.