Hey guys, I thought I'd do a series of these threads over time. This is always a great resource to have on hand; it also leads to fun and informative discussions and is sometimes a good chance for the quiet guy in the back of the room to be heard.
Let's start by bringing up the longest horror film series we can find. Let's not count chains like what the old
Universal franchises have become- I'm gonna say only count a remake if it's the most recent film in the franchise and another one hasn't been announced yet. For the sake of this specific discussion, the only one I'm aware would count are
Friday the 13th and
A Nightmare on Elm Street.
As for the longest-running film series I can think of, barring remake chains, we have:
- Godzilla Showa series - 15 films
- Witchcraft - 13 films
- Friday the 13th - 12 films**
- Puppet Master - 11 films*
Runner-ups (franchises with 8 or 9 entries)
- Hammer Productions Dracula - 9 films
- Hellraiser - 9 films
- A Nightmare on Elm Street - 9 films***
- Halloween - 8 films
- Children of the Corn - 9 films*
- The Amityville Horror - 8 films
- Gamera Showa Series - 8 films
- The Howling - 8 films
* Count includes singular remake
* Count includes un-numbered "versus" film
* Count includes questionable sequel
I don't think you missed anything with the Giant monsters. Only Godzilla and Gamera ever had long standing movies. And I normally count Ultraman films as long multipart episodes.
However you did miss out on the Puppet Master series which is about to hit it's 10th film if I'm not mistaken.
Looks like 11, actually. Added it to the list.
Oh ya, with "VS Demonic Toys" which isn't numbered, but ya there sort of is 11 of them.
Give it a few years and Paranormal Activity will be up there.
So we going by 8 films or more only? Nothing under that? So films like SAW won't count?
Friday the 13th is listed as 12 but either that's wrong or I'm having trouble remembering a 12th movie in the series which isn't a remake...
1) Friday the 13th
2) Friday the 13th Part 2
3) Friday the 13th Part 3
4) Friday the 13th Part 4
5) Friday the 13th Part 5
6) Friday the 13th Part 6
7) Friday the 13th Part 7
8) Friday the 13th Part 8
9) Jason Goes To Hell
10) Jason X
11) Freddy vs Jason
Quote from: DeraiLer on February 16, 2013, 01:04:36 AM
So we going by 8 films or more only? Nothing under that? So films like SAW won't count?
I figure series with 6 and 7 are common enough that they'll merit their own lists after this one.
Quote from: ChuckyFriday the 13th is listed as 12 but either that's wrong or I'm having trouble remembering a 12th movie in the series which isn't a remake...
Basically what I'm going for is that if there's just one remake, with no more planned, that's fine, I'm counting it as one series. If the remake has sequels, however, it's essentially spawning a new film series and I'm counting it separately.
But we are discussing Franchises so all Jason voorhees movies, including remakes and their sequels, would count. If we were discussing films by whether or not they were connected as a series, it would be different. The Friday the 13th Franchise is made up of any use of it's property, including the TV show.
Perhaps I should rename the thread then, as that's not what I intended. Otherwise something like Dracula or Godzilla would be the clear winners, despite having drastically different series within them.
So I guess Saw isn't included?
Saw isn't that long, actually; only seven films I think. I'll be making a thread for those soon.
That's about 6 movies too long.
Says a Jason fan.
Back to Back zingers!
Friday the 13th was about 9 movies too long.
I might like Jason, but there aren't too many good movies in that series. [*laugh*]
how about the Night of the Living Dead type movies?
by NotLD type I mean the the Dawn of the Dead if it does count. Return of the living dead etc. that one 3D remake.
would'nt it make it 12?
if it counts.
I don't count it. If you count the ones Romero himself has made, there's six. But there's like.....three or four different NOTLD remakes with more on the way.
Night, Dawn, Day, etc. is one series.
Night (Arguably), Return, and the Return series is another.
Dawn, Zombi, etc are a third series.
You could almost count all of the Night remakes as a series... maybe later we can do another list of films with a ton of remakes.
Is the new Day of the Dead a sequel to the new Dawn?
I don't think it technically is. The new Dawn pretty much ends with the idea that the main characters (who've survived) are the last living humans alive, and they're fucked. It's possible to pick it up from there, but not easy.
children of the corn has a bunch "most suck but that's beside the point"
would masters of horror count there are 13 of them?
edit never mind more of a season type thing
Quote from: JasonzSon on February 16, 2013, 05:33:22 AM
Basically what I'm going for is that if there's just one remake, with no more planned, that's fine, I'm counting it as one series. If the remake has sequels, however, it's essentially spawning a new film series and I'm counting it separately.
If that's the case, you should then bump ANOES up to 9.
What you're really asking is to make (out loud) that tough call of whether New Nightmare is a sequel, or a spin-off.
Dude, ya making it too complicated. Just count EVERYTHING.
Counted with a disclaimer. Looking at the list... I'm tempted not to include anything other than straight-up sequels.
Quote from: Crash Dummie on February 16, 2013, 11:53:40 AM
Is the new Day of the Dead a sequel to the new Dawn?
I think they're unrelated. Though, someone actually had the BALLS to make a sequel to the original Day of the Dead entitled "Day of the Dead 2: Contagium." [*angry*]
Amityville Horror has eight?! REALLY?!
Yeah, I would consider the last two both to be remakes so I didn't count either of them.
The Land Before Time has about 13 sequels.
True- along with 10 films in the first Star Trek series. Is there an audience here for a non-horror equivalent to this discussion?
Witchcraft series has 13
Added.
Quote from: JasonzSon on February 17, 2013, 07:37:15 AM
True- along with 10 films in the first Star Trek series. Is there an audience here for a non-horror equivalent to this discussion?
I'd say yes, but the one that puts every other series to shame is the Bond series.
I've been curious about that. Is it one series per actor, or one continuous series? I've heard people reference it both ways.
Well, if we're lumping remakes into a series, it'd only be fair to lump every Bond film together as one giant series.
It has never really been remade. It gets re-imagined with the changing of the guard Aka actors and has different tones, but not once has it claimed to be a completely new timeline.
Quote from: L-Face on February 18, 2013, 03:23:43 AM
Quote from: JasonzSon on February 17, 2013, 07:37:15 AM
True- along with 10 films in the first Star Trek series. Is there an audience here for a non-horror equivalent to this discussion?
I'd say yes, but the one that puts every other series to shame is the Bond series.
Wong Fei Hung.
Quote from: JasonzSon on February 17, 2013, 07:37:15 AM
Is there an audience here for a non-horror equivalent to this discussion?
Yes!
I was going to do this, until I realized that Wikipedia has 18 film series with 30 films or more and another 25 with over 20. We may need to narrow it down if it's going to be worth discussion.
EDIT: I never would have thought that Howling: Reborn was a legit sequel, but since it apparently is, that gives us 8.