Best Movie In a Horror Series

Hey all, new here to the site :) I notice there seem to be a lot of Horror fans here and there's even a whole thread about it, but I figured this was good enough for a seperate topic. Of the following Horror series, which entry do you feel is the best in each? Add more series to the list if you'd like, right now I just have some of the notables listed.

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Friday The 13th
Halloween
A Nightmare On Elm Street
Saw
Scream
Alien
Predator
Phantasm
Evil Dead
Child's Play
Hellraiser
Final Destination
Paranormal Activity

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IMO the best in each:


Friday The 13th - The Final Chapter
Halloween - 1978 Original
A Nightmare On Elm Street - New Nightmare
Saw - Saw II
Scream - Original
Alien - Aliens
Predator - Predator 2
Phantasm - Phantasm II
Evil Dead - Evil Dead II
Child's Play - Original
Hellraiser - Original
Final Destination - Original
Paranormal Activity - Original

For me halloween, childs play and evil dead.

Predator and alien arent really horror films, more sci fi.

Easy....the original for all of them.

Maybe I would pick a different Friday the 13th for Jason though.

I would add It and Killer Clowns from Outer Space. Just kidding. But "It" will always be my favorite scary movie. At least the first part when they were kids. Nothing like a killer clown who only kill kids.

• Friday The 13th - Part 6
• Halloween - Part 4, although you have to have seen 1 and 2 to apreciate it fully.
• A Nightmare On Elm Street - Part 1 (closely followed by 3)
• Saw - None, yuck.
• Scream - Part 1 or 2 I guess, I dont remember these that well since I only watched them when they came out.
• Alien - 1 or 2, they are both amazing but im having trouble comparing in my mind at the moment.
• Predator - Get to da choppaaaaa!!! 1.
• Phantasm - I -love- these movies, I feel like its important to watch them all to get the most out of the series though.. Cant remember specific parts enough to pick a favorite.
• Evil Dead - 1 easily.
• Child's Play - 1 easily.
• Hellraiser - 1 & 2 are amazing splatter films but id say 5 & 7 are equally good movies they are just drastically different types of films going from splatter to mystery'ish mid series wich can be hard to handle.
• Final Destination - None, these films never stood out to me.
• Paranormal Activity - Same as above.

[Predator and alien arent really horror films, more sci fi.]

I always considered them a hybrid of Action, Horror and Sci-Fi. Moreso Sci-Fi but there's enough Horror elements in both, I think.

[I would add It and Killer Clowns from Outer Space. Just kidding. But "It" will always be my favorite scary movie. At least the first part when they were kids. Nothing like a killer clown who only kill kids.]

They don't count though, as they don't have multiple sequels. We're talking about series with at least three movies or more.

Friday the 13th: I really struggle to pick one I like pats 2 to 4 the most since they feature my preferred version of Jason. I enjoyed part six a fair bit too and part five which most people seem to just crap on.

Halloween: The first one easily. No other film in the series came quite as close to it. I liked part 2 and 4 though. The rest I can take or leave.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: I think I have to go with the third one closely followed by the first then the fourth one.

Saw: Well since we are counting it as horror. I will go with the first one.

Scream:: First one

Alien: Eh they aren't strictly horror the first one Id certainly say is horror/sci fi there is no disputing that. Aliens I think has horror elements too in part being connected to the first one so it shares alot of common elements there. Aliens has to be my favourite out of the bunch though.

Predator: Again not strictly horror it has elements in there of horror though. Anyway um I really like the first and second one they are different films and I enjoy that so I will remain torn on them.

Phantasm: Not yet seen the series I do plan to of course.

Evil Dead: Evil Dead 2 then Army of Darkness then in last place the first one.

Child's Play: Will go with the first one then the second the rest border on not impressive or crap.

Hellraiser: First and second ones then the third.

Final Destination: Eh not a franchise I like at all if I were held at gun point and was forced to pick one Id go with the first.

Paranormal Activity: They just seem very boring so I have had no interest to sit through them.

The Phantasm movies are great, definitely see them if you haven't.

Gingerdead man...all three.

• Friday The 13th - Part 3
• A Nightmare On Elm Street - Part 3
• Scream - Part 1
• Predator -1 - the BEST one!
• Child's Play - 1 easily.
• Paranormal Activity - I hate them all.

As I said I am going to do that.

The original for all except Friday the 13th. Part 6 was the best.

@ violentmechanicalpsychopath:

Im just saying, technically theyre within the sci fi genre rather then full out horror is all im saying ;-) while there are some minor horror in the gore sense, pred and alien are definitely consideredbway more sci fi/action.

The rest i agree though, are definitely horror though.

Friday The 13th~Freddy v.s Jason

Halloween~Haven't seen any

A Nightmare On Elm Street~Freddy v.s Jason

Saw~Haven't seen any

Scream~Original

Alien~Haven't seen any other than AVP and AVPR which both sucked

Predator~Predator

Phantasm~Haven't seen any

Evil Dead~Evil Dead II

Child's Play~Haven't seen any

Hellraiser~Haven't seen any

Final Destination~Haven't seen any

Paranormal Activity~Paranormal Activity 3

(REC)~Original

The Wolf Man~2010 Version

The Mummy~1959 version

King Kong~2005 version

Paranormal activity 1 and 2

Blare Witch was also scary but this is just me.

No, you're right. Blair Witch Project is one of the scariest movies ever made. But 2 was horrendous.

Best Friday the 13th - Friday the 13th: Jason Lives

Best Nightmare on Elm St. - the first one

Best Halloween - the first one

Best Childs Play - the second one.

Best Alien - Aliens (2)

Best Predator - first one

Finally, someone not bashing the Paranormal Activity or Blair Witch films. Honestly, I don't understand people who say they're boring. What the heck do you want? A cliche horror movie with 100 jump scares and an unbelievable monster? Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch were subtle, realistic, that's what makes them scary.

I will explain the Paranormal movie hatred.....or at least my hatred for them.

First, the movies are like one hour and ten minutes roughly...so for about 40-50 mins there is nothing happening...its just stuff moving around, a dog waking up...whatever. Then the last ten to twenty minutes is just jump scares, a jump scare is just seconds of silence and then A LOUD NOISE, or something jumps out...you know, its silly, a person can pay me 10 dollars and I will be quiet for a couple of seconds and jump out and scare them. Now, essentially every horror movie has jump scares but not as many as the Paranormal Activity franchise has....thats pretty much all they are in terms of ways to scare the audience. The movies are just 40 boring minutes with 10 minutes of stuff startling you at the end with the camera jerking around and bad acting...why anyone would spend money on them is beyond me.

It's better than most of the other crap horror movies that exist. All of the dreadful remake of slasher movies or the torture porn we get nowadays. Paranormal Activity is the only horror movie that has ever scared me, why? Because it plays with your imagination. I saw it in theaters when it first came out on a whim, and went home terrified because I kept hearing knocking and banging in my rooms downstairs, it's the only horror movie to make me think something like that is possible. Take all the Freddys, the Jasons, the Jigsaws, the exorcism films and I know they aren't gonna happen, I know it's fiction. But PA plays on our fears. It's subtle, if you want an hour and a half of action, go watch Hostel or something. I mean I don't hate you for not liking the films, heck, it's your opinion, but people who call them boring are missing the point entirely.

Friday The 13th = The New Blood/Freddy vs Jason. I prefered his look in both of those. I also liked the remake version. Went over the other movies pretty well, to me at least.

Halloween = It's crazy, but I really enjoyed the Rob Zombie version of this movie. If that doesn't count, I'll say part one easily.

A Nightmare On Elm Street = Dream Warriors. Had some of the most memorable kills, and a cool story.

Saw = The first. Holy hell, it should've just stopped there. It was either after the first or the second where the movies went into a gorefest, and totally took the great suspense that the first one had established. I wouldn't even bother watching the sequels. Jigsaw started as a vigilantie in a sense, a crazed one. After that, he turned into a killer with a messed up flaw. Hated it.

Scream = To me? If you've seen one, you've seen them all. May seem ignorant, but from what I remember they all kinda seemed the same. I'll go with part one though.

Alien = I honestly have no idea. Maybe 2.

Predator = RAAAAHHNN GAAAWHHH GEEYYT TUU DAHHH CHAAPPAAH. Part one, or AVP. I know the AVP movies are looked down on, but I think they really highlighted on how bad ass the Predators can be.

Phantasm = Oh god, all of them. The Tall Man is a great villain, btw.

Evil Dead = I love all of these. I'd say it's an easy tie between 2 and Army Of Darkness. However, I had alot more fun with Army Of Darkness. 2 definitely had more chilling scenes.

Child's Play = Either 1, or 2. I'm going with the second. I enjoyed all the movies. I did like his cut up look, but I feel it should've kept him as the only villain, not the family with him.

Hellraiser = First, easily.

Final Destination = I guess the first. Wasn't too huge on them at all.

Paranormal Activity = This series is absolutely stupid. Look, I get the first one went with the "This is real footage" idea, to scare the audience. But let me say, having the actors walk out on the red carpet, and interviews about the movie. Then having how many sequels with the movie, even one going back in the past? It turned out ridiculous, holy hell. At least the first one was semi-decent. Should've stopped there.

I agree, there is a lot of crappy horror movies and genres out there....but you said that slasher movies about Jason and Freddy are fiction.....uh, these are too. A movie doesn't have to be full of action to scare you....quite the opposite, movies like the Exorcist, Halloween and the Shining are all considered horror classics, and are not full of violence and torture porn or whatever...they are just really good movies that utilize good film making like settings, mood, acting, effects, make up etc to execute a good scare.....Paranormal Activity is just doors closing by themselves and nothing happening for an hour.

I understand what you say about imagination. If you are easily startled or believe in ghosts these movies are probably pretty scary.

That's just it though, the Exorcist never scared me because I don't believe in demonic possession (and yes, I know the irony of this statement considering that's what happens in PA) Halloween doesn't scare me because I don't believe in an immortal serial killer that stalks babysitters. The Shining doesn't scare me because the very premise is too fantastic. I'm not saying those films are bad, just not scary. Paranormal Activity to me is more realistic, which in the horror genre, is a good thing. It's not just about being easily startled or believing in ghosts, it's the fear of the unexplained. Oh no, my door just slammed shut, how'd that happen? What's that thumping in the basement? How'd this light get on? We've all encountered oddities in our lives and the franchise plays on that. Also, suspense is a huge part of the film. Everytime I go, I'm on the edge of my seat, looking at the screen to catch something happening, sometimes it's nothing but a door moving like you said, other times it a curtain blowing, but that suspense is what keeps my attention and the attention of others, hell, that's why those ghost hunting shows are so popular.

You are explaining the reasons why you like the movie...which is fine. I am just saying why people hate them as you said "you don't understand why people hate them". There is nothing really cinematic in the films, as I explained, its nothing happening, and the the whole movie just seems to play up to the last 5 mins. The Blair Witch for instance...which is similar, isn't really about the Blair Witch, its about the characters. Paranormal Activity is about the jump scares...nothing more. I feel its easily comparable to dangling keys in front of a toddler...they are just made for the purpose of cheap jump scares, it just seems like little effort goes into the film and I don't even find the that scary....I grew up in a bad neighborhood so if I hear a bump in the basement its usually because a crackhead broke into the house, lol.

Anyways, the things you mentioned above as to why the reasons the other movies are scary aren't always the actual reason...for instance, the Exorcist doesn't scare people necessarily because of the demonic possession, that might scare some religous people. It scares people because at the time it came out it had great make up effects, a score that complimented the tone of the film there is lots of other factors used to scare the audience

and finally...as a horror movie fan...when the hell was Mike Myers immortal??

@cattlebattle:

You are explaining the reasons why you like the movie...which is fine. I am just saying why people hate them as you said "you don't understand why people hate them". There is nothing really cinematic in the films, as I explained, its nothing happening, and the the whole movie just seems to play up to the last 5 mins. The Blair Witch for instance...which is similar, isn't really about the Blair Witch, its about the characters. Paranormal Activity is about the jump scares...nothing more. I feel its easily comparable to dangling keys in front of a toddler...they are just made for the purpose of cheap jump scares, it just seems like little effort goes into the film and I don't even find the that scary....I grew up in a bad neighborhood so if I hear a bump in the basement its usually because a crackhead broke into the house, lol.

Anyways, the things you mentioned above as to why the reasons the other movies are scary aren't always the actual reason...for instance, the Exorcist doesn't scare people necessarily because of the demonic possession, that might scare some religous people. It scares people because at the time it came out it had great make up effects, a score that complimented the tone of the film there is lots of other factors used to scare the audience

and finally...as a horror movie fan...when the hell was Mike Myers immortal??

Oh, no problem, I understand, I was just explaining why I like them because it's also reasons why others dislike them, some call them boring, I say it's subtly. And of course there's nothing cinematic about it, they're found footage films, they aren't supposed to be cinematic, they use no name, often not very good actors, little to no make up or effects or sound scores. Comparing a Found Footage movie to a cinematic film really are comparing two very different types of genres.

Michael Myers has been shot, stabbed, electrocuted, hung, burned alive, and run over, and keeps coming, if that's not immortal, I don't know what to call it.

Myers has been hinted as a demon more or less

/pure evil in that supernatural sense. But still ges far creepier Then jason or freddy to me anyway.

Ftr, i also cant see how anyone can not find exorcist scary or creepy but paranormal activity? If anything they were less realistic and as someone else stated 1 hour of nothing and last ten mins of somewhat creepy camera work and bad acting. Exorcist was leaps and bounds better. Outside of the spinning head scene it was far more realistic then pa, especially if you do homework on real exorcisms people dont get dragged out of bed and down a flight of stairs....i mean hell, evil deads scenes were even more realistic with walking weird, self mutilation etc

Best ones though for each

Halloween 1, 2, then robs first one. H20 was good too.comm was alright.

Scream: 1st one, as someobe else said theyre all the same really.

Friday: the remake and jason goes to hell didnt make him completely dumb brute which i liked.

Nightmare:the first one

Hellraiser: hellraiser 2

Phantasm: first one

Paranormal activity: 1st one, thought 2, 3 were dumb.

Exorcist: first one, and still the best possession film as far as im concerned, that and emily rose. It was scary because of concept and effects.

Childs play: first two were so far the best.

Evil dead: first one classic and remake by far...

Saw: seen one seen them all but saw 1.

Final destination, the first one and 5th one fir finally explaining everything..

Predator, while more sci fi I shall say predator one.

Aliens, going to go with the first overall.

I still haven't seen any of The Exorcist movies, believe it or not.

Some times I feel like I'm the only person who liked Predator 2.

No you aren't, trust me :)

@mrdecepticonleader: Danny Glover made Arnold look like a punk in comparison, Arnold had to run and hide in the mud while letting traps do the dirty work, Danny actually fought the Predator hand to hand and won.

Ha ha to be fair the one from Predator 2 wasn't as experienced.

I really enjoy Predator 2.

@mrdecepticonleader: We didn't see any elder Predator's showing up to give Arnold props.

Aliens beats alien.

My favorite Friday the 13th was when Jason fought the pychix

Well its more likely that Predator was on a lone hunt since it was more experienced. Whilst the one in the second is part of a clan and is not as experienced perhaps it was its first hunt (?)

Anyway I agree that Glover really gave Arnie a run for his money.

Pred 2 was good but arnold would mop the floor with glover and defeated the predator with homemade primitive weapons, smarts and wit.

Glover used a shotty up close, looks at the damn thing instead of killing it/shooting it again lol.then stole his disc to kill the predator. I gotta give that match to arnie because of smarts alone.

Pred 2 was good, just not as good as the first one.

I love Predator 1 and 2 equally, but I always slightly preferred 2 as I like the urban setting and the new Predator weapons.

I saw Curse Of Chucky recently and really liked it, good comeback for the series. Still like the original the best, though it's always close between it and Child's Play 2 for my number one favorite.