2020: Year of the Franchise

In the years so far, the plan was usually to watch movies based around the fact that they were available on streaming platforms. (The first year it was literally just a list someone posted online of streamable horror films, with alternates if you didn't own a subscription to a particular platform.) In 2020, I decided to move away from the "random assortment of stuff people recommended" motif and instead start planning my viewing around a particular theme. (Will I keep this as a requirement in years to come? Stick around and find out!)

For this year I decided that I really wanted to get caught up on the various horror franchises that I'd spent my whole life hearing about. I never really watched much horror as a kid, and apart from a few choice selections I'd never really seen many other franchise horror films. So I picked out a few (particularly, Halloween, Hellraiser, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, with Jeepers Creepers thrown in for good measure) and watched (basically) every entry that existed at the time, with... interesting results. In particular, I think that this sort of an approach really lends a benefit to the reviews that individual coverage can't really get- specifically in that I know that I'm watching (and reviewing) each as a piece of a series, rather than a standalone feature. So expect a lot of reference back and forth between the various entries.

Anyway, come along and see if you agree with my assessments!

For 2020, I watched the following films:

1. Halloween (1978)

2. Halloween II (1981)

3. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

4. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

5. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

6. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

7. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

8. Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

9. Halloween (2007)

10. Halloween II (2009)

11. Halloween (2018)

12. Hellraiser (1987)

13. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

14. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)

15. Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)

16. Hellraiser: Inferno (2000)

17. Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002)

18. Hellraiser: Deader (2005)

19. Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005)

20. Hellraiser: Revelations (2011)

21. Hellraiser: Judgment (2018)

22. Jeepers Creepers (2001)

23. Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003)

24. Jeepers Creepers III (2017)

25. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

26. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

27. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

28. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

29. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

30. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

31. New Nightmare (1994)

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