Horror movies are a huge part of American culture. Some horror movie franchises are very well known and are loved by billions of people all over the world. The most well known horror film genres are Child’s Play, Friday the 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare On Elms Street, Scream and IT. All these films have similarities when it comes to the main horror movie antagonists. The character traits that these individuals have in common are being extremely aggressive towards people, being extremely violent towards society, wanting revenge on those who have wronged them, causing post-traumatic stress disorder towards their victims, and mainly hunting their prey at night.

Let’s start off with “Child’s Play”, this film franchise mainly focus on Chucky, who is a notorious serial killer who frequently escapes death by performing a voodoo ritual to transfer his soul into a “Good Guy” doll. The original film “Child’s Play”, was released on November 9, 1988. In total, there are seven films in the Child’s play franchise. The actor who has played Chucky since 1988 is Brad Dourif. He was 37 when he got the role of Chucky, that was over 35 years ago in 1988.  Today he is 73 years old with two daughters and one grand daughter and he still voices America’s favorite killer doll.

Next, we will talk about “Friday the 13th”. This franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character Jason Voorhees, who was thought to have drowned as a young boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be cursed and is the setting for a series of mass murders. In total, there are twelve films in the Friday the 13th franchise. Many actors have taken on the role however, Kane Hodder may be one of the most well-known Jason portrayer, mostly due to how many times the actor was featured in the series. Hodder played Jason Voorhees in four different installments from Friday the 13th including Part VII: The New Blood to Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.

The horror film franchise “Halloween” might be the most well known in my opinion since it dates back to 1978. With 128 screen-kills to his name, Michael Myers is the embodiment of evil. He’s been shot, stabbed, set on fire, and even been blown up. But everyone knows you can’t keep a good slasher down. He’s always watching, always waiting, and always ready to strike. Since 1978 then, there are now thirteen films in the Halloween franchise.

Another well known horror film franchise is “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. These films mainly focus on Freddy Krueger a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on teenagers in their dreams which allows him to kill them in reality. Nightmare on Elms Street is very iconic due to the franchise throwing out the usual trappings of the slasher genre and pits the helpless teenagers against a killer who doesn’t stalk your local forest or abandoned warehouse, but instead stalks your dreams. In total, there are seven films in the nightmare on elms street franchise.

We’ve all seen the Ghostface mask at the Halloween store. This iconic mask comes from horror film franchise titled “Scream”. Since 1996, there have been six scream movies starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette. This franchise brought back the horror genre in the 1990’s. Ghostface may not be so deadly or look so menacing compare to the other horror movie antagonists but that doesn’t mean he is not capable of murdering someone.

Finally, the last horror movie franchise is “IT”. There are only three films in this franchise, but that is not all to say about this genre. IT was originally a horror novel by famous horror writer Stephen King. In my opinion this should be counted as part of the franchise. Pennywise the dancing clown makes these three films worth watching due to his aggressive and violent nature towards the teenagers he preys on. Pennywise is very different compared to the other horror movie antagonists on this list since he loves to feast on fear and feast on human flesh.

Now without further ado, I will finally give my personal ranking on these classic iconic horror movie franchises. Remember that this is my personal ranking, other people may have different ranking opinions then mine and that’s okay because everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

1. Child’s Play
2. IT
3. Halloween
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street
5. Friday the 13th
6. Scream