Why so late?
This is a watch list of the top 25 franchises that I collected long before actually watching any of them. Some are really old and important and almost unforgivable, like the Universal horror original monsters. Others are far more recent but for some reason I kept buying the movies and not watching them. The list is in no particular order. I'm defining franchise as more than two movies. For the most part, that's not counting remakes/reboots, but I've stretched the definition a bit in a few cases, like Mortal Kombat and the Samurai Revolution trilogy, just because they hit so close to my interests and awareness of genre films. At the time of making this list (2023), I have all of these but haven't watched any. They are finally taking top priority (in 2024), but it will take a while to catch up.
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- 25 titles
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsMarilyn BurnsEdwin NealAllen DanzigerFive friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
- DirectorKarl FreundStarsBoris KarloffZita JohannDavid MannersA resurrected Egyptian mummy searches Cairo for the girl he believes to be his long-lost princess.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsJet LiRosamund KwanBiao YuenLegendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung fights against foreign forces' plundering of China. When Aunt Yee arrives back from America, Wong Fei-Hung assumes the role of her protector.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsJason PatricCorey HaimDianne WiestWhen a recently divorced mother and her two teenage boys move to a coastal town to stay with her father, it doesn't take long for the brothers to realize the area is a haven for something much more sinister than party-going surfers.
- DirectorDoug LimanStarsFranka PotenteMatt DamonChris CooperA man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and attempting to regain his memory.
- DirectorHal NeedhamStarsBurt ReynoldsSally FieldJerry ReedThe Bandit is hired on to run a tractor-trailer full of beer over state lines, in hot pursuit by a pesky sheriff.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsGregory PeckLee RemickHarvey StephensMysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil's own son?
- DirectorHsin-Yen ChangStarsJet LiHai YuChenghui YuA young man, hounded by a psychopathic general, learns martial arts at the Shaolin temple to avenge his father's death. To achieve this he forgoes a budding romance with his kungfu master's daughter, a shepherdess.
- DirectorStuart WalkerStarsHenry HullWarner OlandValerie HobsonAfter botanist Wilfred Glendon travels to Tibet in search of a rare flower, the Mariphasa, he returns to a London haunted by murders that can only be the work of bloodthirsty werewolves.
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsMilla JovovichMichelle RodriguezRyan McCluskeyA special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.
- DirectorStephen SommersStarsBrendan FraserRachel WeiszJohn HannahAt an archaeological dig in the ancient city of Hamunaptra, an American serving in the French Foreign Legion accidentally awakens a mummy who begins to wreak havoc as he searches for the reincarnation of his long-lost love.
- DirectorDavid YatesStarsEddie RedmayneKatherine WaterstonAlison SudolIn 1926, magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York during his worldwide tour to research and rescue magical creatures as something mysterious leaves trails of destruction in the city, threatening to expose the wizarding world.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsJames BrolinMargot KidderRod SteigerNewlyweds and their children battle a demonic presence in their home.
- DirectorCraig MossStarsDanny TrejoCharles S. DuttonRon PerlmanA Vietnam veteran who becomes a local hero after saving a man from attackers on a city bus decides to take action when his best friend is murdered and the police show little interest in solving the crime.
- DirectorMatthew VaughnStarsColin FirthTaron EgertonSamuel L. JacksonA spy organisation recruits a promising street kid into the agency's training program, while a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsChristopher LambertRobin ShouLinden AshbyThree martial artists are forced to battle demonic adversaries in another dimension with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
- DirectorWilson YipStarsDonnie YenSimon YamSammo Kam-Bo HungA near retired inspector and his unit are willing to put down a crime boss at all costs while dealing with his replacement, who is getting in their way. Meanwhile, the crime boss sends his top henchmen to put an end to their dirty schemes.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeYvonne FurneauxIn 1895, British archaeologists find and open the tomb of Egyptian Princess Ananka with nefarious consequences.
- DirectorLen WisemanStarsKate BeckinsaleScott SpeedmanShane BrollySelene, a vampire warrior, is entrenched in a conflict between vampires and werewolves, while falling in love with Michael, a human who is sought by werewolves for unknown reasons.
- DirectorsSiu-Tung ChingKing HuRaymond LeeStarsSamuel HuiCecilia YipJacky CheungA kung-fu manual known as the sacred scroll is stolen from the Emperor's library. An army detachment is sent to recover it. Meanwhile, a young swordsman and his fellow disciple are accidentally drawn into the chaos.
- DirectorsTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
- DirectorRobert KurtzmanStarsTammy LaurenAndrew DivoffAngus ScrimmA demonic djinn attempts to grant its owner three wishes, which will allow him to summon his brethren to Earth.
- DirectorAntoine FuquaStarsGerard ButlerAaron EckhartMorgan FreemanSecret Service agent Mike Banning finds himself trapped inside the White House in the wake of a terrorist attack and works with national security to rescue the President from his kidnappers.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsClaude RainsGloria StuartWilliam HarriganA scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.
- DirectorEiichi KudôStarsTakayuki AkutagawaChiezô KataokaKôtarô SatomiA group of samurai plan to assassinate a sadistic feudal lord.
