What sets one horror franchise apart from another, and how do they evolve over time?

As REC 4 lands on disc, we take a look… And in a lot of cases, they might be right.

The most obvious example of that is theFriday The 13thmovies.

So how do horror franchises earn their reputations, and how deserved are they?

Lets take a look at some of the most prominent franchises and see…

Looking back now, its easy to lump theHalloweenfranchise in with the other 80s slashers that followed.

But the first movie isnt really like that.

They created a monster in more ways than one.

his modus operandi was pretty different.

Rather than stalking his victims with a knife, Freddy Krueger kills them in their dreams.

There are only so many times you could watch someone take an axe to the head, after all.

But the sequels soon get creative.

Unfortunately, theres another hallmark of theNightmare On Elm Streetmovies: Freddys wisecracks.

And silly isnt scary.

But then in the mid-90s, a new slasher trend started.

Wes Craven, having already created one iconic slasher, came up with a new one: Ghostface.

The twist was that the doomed teenagers in theScreamfranchise werent wide-eyed innocents.

But in 2000, a new horror movie turned even that genre staple on its head.

InFinal Destination, the real enemy is death itself.

InFinal Destination, Death is a master stylist and he also seems to have a sense of humour.

Its weird, actually, how silly theFinal Destinationfilms are thought to be.

Maybe because theres not a person behind the deaths?

But thats an individual thing, I guess.

Which is, as allSawfans can tell you, not entirely accurate.

Yeah, the first one is pretty extreme, but the actual torture shown in it is minimal.

Theres no lengthy torture, and nowhere near as much gore as you think there is.

AfterSaw III, though, things change.

But there is a lot of gore, too.

So its reputation isnt entirely undeserved, I suppose.

Even if the first movie didnt really suggest there was much of a story to continue.

There have been fiveParanormal Activitymovies to date, with a sixth due for release later this year.

The defining feature in all of them is the handheld camera and the found footage conceit.

Green night vision sequences come as standard.

Plus most of the sequels are crap.

Whats more relevant, maybe, is to think about new and emerging horror franchises.

The sequel Im most excited about this year isREC 4: Apocalypse.

That suggests a willingness to experiment, and an unwillingness to be trapped by expectations.

What will that mean for the direction of the franchise?

No idea, but Im dying to find out.

The film is out on disc now.