When Does A Horror Franchise Lose Steam? Or, “In Space, No One Will See Your Sequels”

When any film is a smash hit in the box office, or with the audience, there’s going to be people who will demand a sequel. Sometimes it will be for the better (Aliens), and other times it won’t (The Smurfs 2). Then there will be times where a series will become so popular that they’ll start getting yearly releases. However, that last occurrence isn’t as common as it used to be. Or maybe it is. Maybe there’s a series of films that I am not aware of that gets yearly releases. If so, then disregard what I just said (I need to save face here). That being said, how long can a series stay relevant, and good?

For this article, we will focus on the 80s, and parts of the 90s. We will also be talking about the Friday the 13th series as our main example. Although I will mention other franchises when necessary. It is no secret how the first film in the series launched the slasher film boom of the 80s. If Halloween was the agent, then Friday The 13th was the catalyst. That’s right, I got a little scientific here, didn’t expect that did you? Anyway, between 1980 and 1989, the only year that didn’t get an entry was 1983. That’s almost a decade of consistent films. How Jason Voorhees machete arm wasn’t absolutely ripped by the end is a mystery. So, why did they do this? Money.

I stated in the beginning of this article that one of the main factors when it comes to deciding if a film should get a sequel is the box office revenue. The creative minds behind a…