We may be in the era of reboot-quels, legacy sequels, requels or whatever you might like to call them, but it’s not as if keeping notable horror franchises alive is anything new. Horror films aren’t expensive and they tend to make a healthy profit, so it’s only natural that studios see them as safe bets. And, if you have a safe bet on your hands, you’re willing to jump through some hoops to keep your A-list antagonist alive. But they’re not always successful. While Nosferatu re-introduced the title character to modern day audiences and Final Destination: Bloodlines brought Death back to the tune of profitability and great reviews, Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man and the I Know What You Did Last Summer legacy sequel were widely deemed swings and misses.
This revival trend isn’t going anywhere, either. Throughout the next year or so we’re getting a number of A-tier franchises brought out of dormancy, and we’re glad to say that some of them seem to be going in the exact right direction to keep the property in the public’s mind for a while. Note that we didn’t include anything that was a part of a still-active franchise. For instance, Evil Dead Burn, which is something of a reboot, but there’s just as strong an argument to be made that it’s just a one-off narrative like Evil Dead Rise, and that wasn’t even three years ago.
5) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
image courtesy of bryanston distributing company
The Leatherface saga has been rebooted too many times as is. Once in 1995, then in the early aughts by Platinum Dunes, then again in 2013, 2017, and 2022. It doesn’t help that those final three years released Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies that are all but unwatchable.
But now it’s being done right, or at least as right as can be. A24 is bringing the IP back for both a movie and a streaming series. The streaming series is the more interesting half, considering Glen Powell is a producer and The Long Walk writer JT Mollner will sit in the director’s chair. The question is, have we been inundated with chainsaws to the extent that a project that does it right will still fail?
4) The Mummy
image courtesy of new line cinema
The Mummy is an IP that is getting two reboots. One of them is a revival of the late ’90s and aughts franchise starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. And, because it’s reuniting those two for the first time since 2001 (Maria Bello replaced Weisz in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) and is being fueled by ’90s kid nostalgia, it’s almost certainly going to be a hit.
Then there’s Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, coming out on April 17th of this year. A product of Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster, this version comes with an entirely new concept to help separate it from all the Imhotep versions that have come before. Not to mention, the teaser trailer for the film is genuinely creepy. This could be a big hit, standing as the diametric opposite of the laughable Tom Cruise version.
3) Friday the 13th
image courtesy of jason universe
No franchise is quite as notorious for jumping through hoops to keep its antagonist alive than Friday the 13th. Jason Voorhees was blown apart at the beginning of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and still came back by the end of the movie. Then the next one, Jason X, was something of a reboot in its own right. It didn’t follow the chronology of the Paramount years or Jason Goes to Hell (if it were following the latter, the title of the film alone tells you where he ended up, and you don’t escape that place).
Even still, we haven’t gotten a new Friday the 13th for a whopping 17 years. That’s incredible, considering there were eight of them in one decade alone. Even more interesting is the fact that the 2009 Platinum Dunes version was actually pretty solid, standing as one of the most intense installments to date even if the characters were beyond irritating. But now we’re at the point where we’re not only getting a new Friday the 13th, but a whole Jason Universe. And thanks to 2025’s Sweet Revenge, we know that those behind this universe get what makes the first four movies so special. Just as important, they showed they can build a genuinely interesting protagonist in a Jason movie.
2) Resident Evil
Image Courtesy of New Line Cinema
Not much is known about the upcoming Resident Evil, so one might consider this taking the second-place spot to be a bit on the over-enthusiastic side. But director Zach Cregger considers himself a fan of the franchise and now has not one but two bonafide modern day horror classics under his belt. If anyone can finally get this IP right in movie form, it’s him. Not to mention, the presence of Paul Walter Hauser is encouraging. We’ll just have to see how this one shapes up as we get closer to its September 18th release date.
1) The Exorcist
image courtesy of universal pictures
One might argue that, like Evil Dead, The Exorcist is a franchise that is not dormant. However, there’s a big difference. Evil Dead Rise was received well both critically and commercially and was meant to be a one-off. The same year’s The Exorcist: Believer was received like dirt critically and commercially and was meant to be the start of a trilogy. That didn’t happen. Hence, Mike Flanagan’s Exorcist is a full-on reboot.
It looks like a reboot with the right talent in front of and behind the camera, too. It was nice to see Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair in Believer, sure, but it’s better that we’re going in an entirely new direction. And with Scarlett Johansson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Diane Lane in front of the camera and Stephen King adaptation master Flanagan behind it, this could be really special when it hits theaters in March 2027. If not even Mike Flanagan and Scarlett Johansson can get audiences interested in Pazuzu we’re going to have to chalk The Exorcist up to being a one-off cultural event in the early ’70s.
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