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Is 5 a lucky number for Horror Film Franchises?
After more than a decade of silence, the Scream franchise returns to theaters on January 14th.
The new film, simply titled Scream, is not only the first of the movies not directed by the late Wes Craven (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett step in for the horror icon), but it is also the fifth entry in the series.
For some moviegoers, a series with five or more films is a sure sign of diminishing returns, further evidence that Hollywood has run out of ideas and only recycles the same tired stories. But for horror fans, fifth entries have proved to be some of the best in the series. Fifth movies can be the point where the franchise perfects the premise, where beloved characters return, or when filmmakers break with the formula and take things in a surprising new direction.
To be sure, not every fifth movie is a winner. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) trudge along well-worn plot paths; Leprechaun in the Hood (2000) and Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) are interesting failures, while Tremors: Bloodlines (2015) is a low point in the series.
But fifth entries have also included real classics, such as the slick and mean-spirited remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), the monster-mash classic Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943), and Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus (2012). That said, even those movies pale in compression to these top five fifth entries in horror franchises…
https://www.tor.com/2022/01/13/fifth-times-a-charm-the-best-fifth-entries-in-horror-franchises
After more than a decade of silence, the Scream franchise returns to theaters on January 14th.
The new film, simply titled Scream, is not only the first of the movies not directed by the late Wes Craven (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett step in for the horror icon), but it is also the fifth entry in the series.
For some moviegoers, a series with five or more films is a sure sign of diminishing returns, further evidence that Hollywood has run out of ideas and only recycles the same tired stories. But for horror fans, fifth entries have proved to be some of the best in the series. Fifth movies can be the point where the franchise perfects the premise, where beloved characters return, or when filmmakers break with the formula and take things in a surprising new direction.
To be sure, not every fifth movie is a winner. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) trudge along well-worn plot paths; Leprechaun in the Hood (2000) and Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) are interesting failures, while Tremors: Bloodlines (2015) is a low point in the series.
But fifth entries have also included real classics, such as the slick and mean-spirited remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), the monster-mash classic Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943), and Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus (2012). That said, even those movies pale in compression to these top five fifth entries in horror franchises…
https://www.tor.com/2022/01/13/fifth-times-a-charm-the-best-fifth-entries-in-horror-franchises