I don't know, with Halloween and Fri. 13th I liked some of the sequals. I don't know what the deal was with Hellraiser though, everything but 1 was bad. What about good franchises though like Evil Dead? There are others (I loved Dawn and Day of the dead and liked Land) but I think we really forget about the good ones because the bad ones destroy what we really liked. When a sequals continues something good people just kind of go "yeah, that's how it should be done" when really they deserve more praise for not trashing the franchise. I liked Candyman 1 and 2 but have only seen some of 3. Anyway, I like franchises because of the lasting charecters they can create but once those chars. are ruined they're hard to ressurect. I agree with the filmmaker theory though, I think when the creator sticks with the franchise all the way through it has a better chance of not becoming a laughingstock.

Urgeok, I'd have to dissagree with the "Nightmare", "Halloween" and "Jason" series. Those kick ass. :) "Hellraiser" 1 and 2 were great, 3 and 4 were tolerable, but anything after that just puts me to sleep.

"The Howling" however, that's a different story. Not only is the first one lame, but the sequels got progressively worse with each installment.

I kinda liked the first one. I liked how they teased who the werewolf was, hinting on several different people (which, granted, a lot of those type movies do)...and then




SPOILER




it's EVERYONE






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I rather think that the original post was making the point that it's the four or more franchises which lose momentum. That was certainly my opinion in reply.

I agree that there are good franchises, if we can call them that when they only run to three installments.

In my opinion at least, a trilogy is usually made for all the right reasons. Where a franchise develops though, films are simply made to capitalise on the character: Freddy, Jason etc.

The Evil Dead trilogy were all good films, as were Night, Dawn and Day of the Dead. Outside of the horror genre, there are also good trilogies: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future and Terminator spring to mind. There are also franchises that lost momentum after the third installment. I use Police Academy again as an example.

Of course there are second sequels that are the falling down point: Jaws was good, Jaws 2 okay and Jaws 3 dire. For the most part though, trilogies tend to be okay but once a series gets to its fourth installment, that's where things run out of steam.

the 1st Howling is a great film ... the series tanked immediately after.

halloween and fri 13th is the same shit over and over again .. absolutely no care or thought was put into then after the first couple of installments.

Elm St tried to come up with inventive little gags but it reeked of desperation after a while. The 1st one was about making nightmares come true ... after that it became 'how wild can we get' ... totally lost its initial impact and made Freddy into a joke. over exposure ...

Ehhhh, true, they did take "Nightmare" more on the comical side rather than the darkened, dismal atmosphere of the first one. I dunno about "The Howling". It just didn't do much for me. Now, "An American Werewolf In London".... that kicks ass. :) Even the first "Gingersnaps" was okay with decent story, okay effects for a shoestring budget and it didn't revolve around bunch of overly pretentious preppy teens.

I don't know, because in the case of Friday the 13th Jason is only really in 2 of what would have been the trilogy if they stopped at 3. Personally I'm glad they didn't.

Pt 5 was hands down the best.
People always say its crap.

but ok.BIG DEAL

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Its not the J-man

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The way it was done was sooo freaking entertaining.
The characters...atmosphere...definitly one of my fav flicks.