The Seven Best Slasher Franchises, Ranked

The slasher is one of the most tried and true types of films in the horror genre, having been a movie staple for several decades and spawning a horde of well-known franchises. Many of those franchises have been in the conversation for years and years, having released sequel after sequel through the ’80s and ’90s, along with several reboot efforts in the 21st century. Each long-running slasher franchise has been through its fair share of ups and downs, and each one has something that sets it apart from the rest.

From Halloween to Scream and everything in between, there is so much to enjoy in horror’s biggest and best slasher franchises. But what happens when you stack them up against one another? They’re all a ton of fun, but which slasher franchise is the best? Finding the answer to that question is the goal with this piece.

Some of these franchises stand on the successes of one or two truly great movies, while others may not reach the same highs, but have been consistently solid over the years. Each franchise has its pros and cons.

With that in mind, let’s dive in.

7. Candyman

The original Candyman is one of the best horror films of the 1990s, there’s no doubt about it. Nia DaCosta’s 2021 take on the franchise is also fantastic, putting a fresh spin on the Candyman lore while displaying quite a lot of love for Bernard Rose’s 1992 classic. 

Those two films are enough to get Candyman on this list, but the franchise’s overall lack of volume is what keeps it from being a little higher. As good as the two bookend films are, the two in-between — Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh and Candyman: Day of the Dead — are largely forgettable. With only four total movies in the series there’s not quite enough to keep up with some of the other sagas on this list.

6. Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is one of the most iconic slasher franchises out there. It’s also the longest-running series on this list. Hordes of people love the Jason Voorhees films — myself included. 

When you include Freddy vs. Jason and the 2009 reboot, Friday the 13th has a total of 12 films, giving fans quite a lot to watch. Like most horror franchises, some of those films are very good. Some are very, very bad. In addition to having some of the worst slasher sequels around, Friday the 13th is also without an entry that stands up to some of the other slasher greats. As good as the original or The Final Chapter may be, neither of them are on par with the likes of Halloween, Scream, or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. 

Even without a true top tier banger on its resume, Friday the 13th is still an immensely fun franchise to binge through.

5. A Nightmare on Elm Street

A lot of the same things I just wrote about Friday the 13th can be applied to A Nightmare on Elm Street. It has some good movies, a few awful ones, and an absolutely terrible reboot. What the Freddy Krueger series has on its side is some serious originality.

Wes Craven’s original movie introduced a terrifying serial killer hunting down teenagers in their dreams. Over the course of the series, that concept was taken as far as it could go in just about every direction. Perhaps the most impressive element is Craven returning to reinvent his own story and give it an ultra-meta take on Freddy with New Nightmare. The lows for this franchise are low, but the highs represent some of the most original ideas in the slasher genre.

4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Tobe Hoopers The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of the greatest — and most terrifying — horror films of all time. There was nowhere for the franchise to go but down after the release of that masterpiece, but the Texas Chainsaw series at least went in some wild and inventive directions.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 has to be the most insane sequel swing in any of these franchises, but Hooper was right to follow up a classic with an all-out horror comedy at a radio station. Several entries after that proved more than divisive upon their release but quickly found their own niche audiences. 1994’s The Next Generation has some great early Matthew McConaughey and the 2003 reboot found a way to rope in an actual new generation of fans.

3. Halloween

No slasher can compare to John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween. The introduction of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode changed the slasher genre forever and Halloween remains as scary today as it was more than 40 years ago. Unfortunately, none of the sequels have been able to even come close to the magic Carpenter achieved with the original.

There aren’t many good Halloween sequels, though the nostalgia of the genre can at least make many of them enjoyable when they pop up on AMC. Even at their worst, these movies are mostly still watchable.

Halloween does have at least one real standout, however. Halloween III: Season of the Witch has nothing to do with Michael or Laurie, instead following the concept of making the Halloween franchise into an anthology series with different tales from the holiday. It’s not even a slasher movie, but it stands out as one of the best sequels in any of the franchises featured on this list. 

2. Child’s Play

I’m not sure there’s any classic slasher franchise that has made the leap to the modern world better than Child’s Play. The iconic Chucky doll is having more fun — and raising more hell — now than he ever did before.

The original Child’s Play is unforgettable and its first sequel gets the job done. There’s some fall-off after that, but Don Mancini knew to keep the camp front and center over the years. The result was a string of wild sequels that added to the lore and made the franchise faithful happy. Then came the TV series.

SYFY’s Chucky TV series is one of the best examples of a classic horror franchise finding new footing in the 21st century. It’s incredibly inventive, completely over-the-top, and about as Chucky as Chucky can get. While most franchises have struggled to make an impact with the younger generations, Chucky is absolutely soaring on television, while staying true to his longtime fans in the process.

1. Scream

Scream is far and away the most consistent of the long-running slasher franchises. Wes Craven’s 1996 meta spin on the slasher genre ushered in a new era, and began a franchise that has kept a steady quality for nearly 30 years. Even the worst Scream movie is a league above most slasher sequels, each boasting an all-star cast and respected creators behind the camera.

The consistency of the creative minds making Scream happen is the likely source of its continued quality over the years. Craven directed the first four installments of the series, with screenwriter Kevin Williamson working alongside of him for three of them. When the franchise came back a couple of years ago, for the first time since Craven’s passing, Williamson remained as an executive producer, and franchise stalwarts Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette helped bridge the gap to the next generation of characters.

Scream, like Chucky, has found both commercial and critical success in the 2020s, though it took a very different approach. While Chucky has been busy reinventing the Child’s Play franchise on TV, Scream has gone back to its roots to dig up a brand new story. The franchise has spent the last two films charting a new path while finding more interesting ways to tie back to its legacy.