10 Best Horror Franchise Movies from the ’90s

The vast majority of horror‘s major IPs are still running at least moderately strong to this day. Impressive, considering they were begun in the late ’70s, the ’80s, or, in a few cases, the ’90s. What follows are the ’90s horror IP movies that stand out. Of note is the fact that I didn’t restrict things to sequels… franchise-starters were fair game, as long as they came out between the years of 1990 and 1999. Quite a few didn’t quite make the cut, but they came at least close. I’m talking Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Alien 3, Child’s Play 3, Predator 2, Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, and Return of the Living Dead 3. All of which have their merits, but not enough to rank.

Missing the cut by a country mile, however, was Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Alien Resurrection, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. They also had to be theatrical releases, so nothing like Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, Leprechaun 3 (not that any of the Children of the Corn or Leprechaun movies would have made the cut), or Tremors II: Aftershocks.

10) Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness is a divisive movie, but there are a lot of horror fans who love it dearly and I can understand why. And no matter how you feel about it in comparison to The Evil Dead or Evil Dead II, it’s hard not to respect it as much if not even more than either of those films.

The gruesome live-action Looney Tunes cartoon that was Evil Dead II changed the genre a bit from the first one, but it was at its core still a cabin in the woods horror film. Army of Darkness takes a much bigger leap than that, going to a Medieval setting and making Bruce Campbell’s Ash a full-on action hero. It’s a movie that does a lot with a fairly brief runtime, and there are a few great, zany set pieces that only a film in Sam Raimi’s franchise could have provided.

9) Night of the Living Dead

Tom Savini’s remake of George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead sticks very close to the original, right down to its devastating ending. But there are slight changes along the way, including to that ending.

This film is basically what Gus van Sant tried and failed to do with Psycho in 1998. But here it just works. It’s not the film the original was, but there are some major assets in its corner. It has a low-budget feel just like the original, it has some quirks that come when a makeup artist is making his directorial debut (which are charming instead of distracting), and both Tony Todd and Patricia Tallman are fantastic in their roles. It’s a film that feels like a fairly successful experiment, and one hopes the rumors of a forthcoming director’s cut (most of Savini’s ideas of new things to bring to the table were excised during production) are true. Toss in a cameo from Bill Moseley and Night of the Living Dead is a delight for horror fans, not a cheap cash in on a known IP.

8) Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

In the original Hellraiser, Pinhead and the Cenobites basically have a cameo. In Hellbound: Hellraiser II, they have a bit more screentime. But then Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is the Pinhead show, and it works like a charm. However, this is officially where you can stop when going through the Hellraiser movies. Hellraiser: Bloodline is a mess, all six direct to video movies (only four of which feature the iconic Doug Bradley as Pinhead) are entirely forgettable at best, and the Hulu reboot, while an improvement over everything since Hell on Earth, is more ambitious than effective.

There are people who don’t care for Hell on Earth, but I see it as the franchise’s attempt to crossover into the mainstream. It’s bombastic and breezy, with clearly upped production values. It also has a solid lead performance by Paula Terry Farrell (though Ashley Laurence is missed), the expansion of Pinhead / Captain Elliott Spencer’s story works, and some of the Cenobite designs are particularly inspired. Not to mention, outside Julia in the original two films, there may be no despicable a human being to ever exist in one of these movies than the over-sexed scumbag J. P. Monroe.

7) Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Is Gremlins 2: The New Batch really even a horror movie? It’s definitely a monster movie. But what it is more than anything else is a Looney Tunes cartoon, even more so than Evil Dead II. There’s literally a Looney Tunes cameo.

And that’s why The New Batch is a delight. It knows exactly what it wants to be, which is completely unpredictable and goofy. It’s as inventive as the first film, introducing the Spider-Gremlin and other such outlandish twists on the Mogwai’s ugly final form. Full disclosure, I love the first film infinitely more than The New Batch, and that film’s darkness is missed here, but I appreciate that Joe Dante and crew went out of their way to not just rehash what made the original film a hit (and what made it controversial). I also love the irony of this film being rated PG-13 while that film was PG (in fact, Gremlins is half the reason why PG-13 exists).

6) Wes Craven’s New Nightmare

One of the best A Nightmare on Elm Street movies and without a doubt the best of the two that came out in the ’90s, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare was an unfortunate financial failure. But it was a hugely important entry in Craven’s filmography, and thank goodness its failure didn’t deter him from returning to meta ground with Scream (which released just two years later and did much, much better at the box office).

Now, New Nightmare is not without its flaws. It can be quite slow at times and the kill count is both low and not entirely original (we essentially get a least effective re-do of Tina Gray’s iconic death, for instance), but as for the film itself, it was wholly original back in 1994. It should be appreciated for that.

5) Bride of Chucky

A movie to watch after the silly but fun M3GAN 2.0, Bride of Chucky was the exact injection of life the Child’s Play franchise needed after it went stale with Child’s Play 3. The key was to alter the tone but not lose the kills and sadism of the title antagonist.

Bride of Chucky‘s ace in the hole is Jennifer Tilly. Brad Dourif is so inextricably linked to Chucky and so integral to the IP’s success that it seemed impossible to find someone who could match his cackling energy. As Tiffany, Tilly proves to be just that.

4) The Exorcist III

For those who sat out The Exorcist III because Exorcist II: The Heretic was such an unmitigated disaster, they really missed out. It’s one of the best horror films of the ’90s, whether as part of a larger IP or not.

It’s based on William Peter Blatty’s Legion, which is just about as strong a novel as his The Exorcist. But there’s an argument the movie adaptation (which Blatty directed) is even better. After all, the movie has Brad Dourif. Just try and watch the director’s cut…it’s superior to the theatrical cut.

3) Child’s Play 2

Child’s Play 2 isn’t just the best Chucky sequel, it’s the best film of the entire franchise. Thanks to Brad Dourif’s immediately iconic vocal work, Chucky became a titan of horror who has frightened any number of young people.

But Child’s Play 2 was the movie that already seemed to understand he could only be so scary, even though it marked a franchise in its relative infancy. Chucky could be more…he could be the next Freddy Krueger. This is to the Child’s Play franchise what A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors was to the ANOES franchise.

2) Candyman

A movie that terrified any number of ’90s kids, Candyman is one of the absolute best Clive Barker adaptations, right up there with Hellraiser and Nightbreed. It also gave the late, great Tony Todd the absolute best role of his career as the title character.

Thematically, Candyman is quite moving. It’s a thinking-person’s horror film not unlike Nia DaCosta’s underrated 2021 reboot. But, at the end of the day, what it is most of all is a display of Todd’s ability to take a frightening, fearsome creation and make him an entity that elicits empathy.

1) Scream (& Scream 2)

Wes Craven’s Scream reinjected some serious life into the slasher subgenre. It cannot be overstated just how important Scream and Scream 2 were in keeping the genre alive throughout the late ’90s. There’s good reason why it inspired any number of lesser films to follow in its footsteps, from decent fare like Urban Legend to nonsense like Valentine. Even Michael Myers, who is the true father of the slasher subgenre, ended up following in Ghostface’s steps with Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. The first two Scream films established horror’s entire tone for about five or six years there.

Craven deserves a lot of credit for this. His expertise with the genre was clearly an asset. But Kevin Williamson deserves a comparably large slice of the credit pie, too. His script for both films (especially the original) is about as smart as a late ’90s script could get. There’s a palpable energy to these two films, and the mystery of who is wearing the mask amazingly holds up with repeat viewings. Personally, I favor the original Scream, but Scream 2 comes mighty close. The opening scene is right up there with Jaws‘, but Scream 2 is the more impressive film. After all, the script was leaked which led to some major problems. The fact they could get it completed at all is impressive. The fact most people put it on a similar level of the original? Mind-boggling.

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