Best Short Horror Movie Series You Can Binge in a Day

People can get pretty specific about what they like when it comes to horror movies and horror franchises. Horror culture has been active since its conception and acceptance into the mainstream with big commercial successes like The Exorcist, Scream, Friday the 13th, among others.

Horror movie series are an exciting concept. Many of the most famous among them have been running for decades, and for good reason. Franchises like Halloween, Hellraiser, and Child’s Play eventually went in all kinds of directions, trying to pinpoint what audiences wanted. Most of them failed at that to varying degrees, although in many cases, they’ve been able to bring things back around. (See the wildly successful Chucky TV series.)

Then again, there are some series that run at a different pace: slower, more clever, and, in the end, more effective. These horror series are short and good enough to binge-watch in one day.

10 The Purge

The Purge franchise was conceived by James DeMonaco in 2013. The Purge, starring Ethan Hawke, told the story of a new version of the United States of America, where people could participate in a sick game proposed by the government so that they could lose some steam. The Purge was an annual event during which all crime is legal for a period of 12 hours. This meant those who felt the need to “purge” themselves of whatever they felt could do so without any consequence.

At least, the first three films were somehow related to this premise, with a purge iteration being the setting of new storylines and characters whose moral obligation was to fight the illogical stance of others. A prequel and then a noteworthy follow-up have kept things alive for DeMonaco’s franchise, which has gained almost $500 million since the first release. In case you feel five action horror films are too much, they are scary but very different from each other, so satisfaction is guaranteed.

9 Evil Dead

Created by Sam Raimi in 1981, the Evil Dead franchise is one of the most profitable horror franchises. What started as a cool and experimental concept from Raimi’s mind turned into a full-blown series that always depicted humans against demons in a setting where anyone in our realm could be possessed if heroes like Ash Williams didn’t do something about it. Or also get possessed, as well.

The first two films were “Cabin in the Woods” sort of movies, the third took audiences to medieval times, and then the revivals are recent reminders that the franchise isn’t entirely comedy horror. There’s nothing funny about them.

This necessary tone variation between them makes Evil Deadan excellent choice for a horror movie series to binge in one sitting. Bruce Campbell plays Ash, a charismatic and flawed hero who is one of the best horror characters of all time. The only “bad” thing about the new movies is that he’s not in them. This one has video games, musicals, and books as tie-ins.

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8 Cloverfield

The Cloverfield films are a fascinating example of the franchise concept. They don’t follow the traditional rules of narrative with sequels, prequels, and whatnot. Instead, the franchise created by J.J. Abrams has taken a non-traditional approach to the element of canon and has associated three films with each other through something that could easily be random. We recently got confirmation that the fourth film would tackle something more traditional concept-wise, but that’s to be confirmed.

The first film is a found footage monster film and one of the best in the horror format. Then the second one included the word “Cloverfield” in the title but didn’t share anything with aliens until the last 10 minutes of the film. Then, the third film was announced surprisingly on the same day it would be released, but it could have had better results.

7 Final Destination

The Final Destination franchise was conceived by Jeffrey Reddick in 2000, and the man was responsible for making us afraid of everyday items and events that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Suddenly, flying, riding rollercoasters, and even going on the highway felt unsafe because of the Final Destination movies.

In the films, a random stranger has a vision before an event occurs. In that vision, an accident occurs, and when they announce it, some people either believe them or are saved because of sheer luck. They prevent their death because the event of the vision occurs. Yes, the plane falls, the rollercoaster malfunctions and bridges fall.

A spectacle of gore, the Final Destination franchise is an excellent example of comfort horror, with many movies being played out of guilty pleasure because of the humor element that’s inevitably associated with illogical kills and the world’s most remarkable display of good and bad luck there is.

6 Blair Witch

The Blair Witch universe was created at the turn of the century with found footage behemoth The Blair Witch Project dominating the movie industry in 1999. After that, the success couldn’t be replicated. Haxan Films tried their best one year later with Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, but the movie was mostly misunderstood by people who expected another found footage film. It remains a cult film that fans watch on occasion.

Then, in 2016, Adam Wingard made Blair Witch, a solid sequel that respected the basics of the franchise and stayed true to the found footage format. Critics dug it, but there were no more films until it was recently announced that a fourth film was in the works. This makes for a solid horror franchise to rewatch on a single day without any caveats.

5 [•REC]

Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza capitalized on the success of found footage films in 2007, and made their version in their country. The result was the first film of the Rec franchise, a very successful Spanish film that cleverly blended the zombie genre with supernatural elements in a claustrophobic and unforgettable horror experience. After that, in 2009, they achieved the impossible: they made an even better film that followed up on the events of the fateful night of the first film.

What came after were two films that could have been more successful. However, the critical points of the franchise are kept throughout, which makes them entirely rewatchable in case of a Rec binge. The fact that only the first two films are in found footage format helps. They are very, very aggressive in terms of camera movement.

4 Insidious

James Wan is very famous for creating not one but two modern horror franchises. One is The Conjuring, of course, the mammoth series owned by Warner Bros. that shows the Warrens fighting demons. But then, Insidious is the other and most interesting one. Perhaps it isn’t based on a true story (then again, the other one should be carefully analyzed). But the story about entities navigating astral planes is much more compelling than the regular haunted house film.

The story begins with the Lamberts trying to deal with their comatose son, one that’s been held captive by demons from the Further. The problem is that the kid isn’t the only one who’s vulnerable. The sequels have been very successful, and the prequels did their job of explaining further. But they are only partially necessary to watch if you want to stay in the Lambert household. Nevertheless, they’re all quite scary.

3 Psycho

Psycho is a very interesting case of a franchise that has gone everywhere in terms of production, story, and tone. The first film, made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960, paved the way for mainstream horror movies that dared to take a leap and scare the audience without fear of negative retribution.

Of course, producers would try to make more Psycho films in the future. But the problem was whose story they were going to tell. Norman Bates, who’s revealed to be the psycho killer in the first movie, is reintroduced in the sequels, and each of them had a very different result. Nevertheless, they’re actually alright.

Psycho II was made in 1983 and portrayed Bates as a man trying to reintroduce himself to society. The film was an exceptional attempt to follow up on Hitchcock’s steps. Psycho III wasn’t well received by audiences.

Bates Motel was a movie that only a few people saw, mainly because Anthony Perkins wasn’t portraying Bates, and the film ignored the events in the other sequels. Psycho IV: The Beginning was made for TV by Mick Garris, and Joseph Stefano, the writer of the original film, wrote it. It’s a prequel that tries to explain Norman’s upbringing. Then there’s the Psycho remake by Gus Van Sant that no one likes.

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2 Hannibal

Originally conceived by novelist Thomas Harris, Hannibal Lecter is a pretty well-known horror character played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in the singular winner of the Best Picture Academy Award, The Silence of the Lambs. However, it wasn’t the first portrayal of the character. Manhunter, by Michael Mann, was the first time the psychologist-turned-psycho-killer would be featured on the big screen, and it was inspired by the first book in the series, Red Dragon.

But after the success of the Jonathan Demme adaptation that won the Big Five, Hollywood would adapt Hannibal, a film centered around Lecter being on the loose and being hunted by the FBI and a millionaire holding a grudge. After that, the character returned in Red Dragon, a prequel.

Hannibal Rising, the last film in the series, was released in 2007, and it went back further in time, depicting the origins of Hannibal as a young medical school student. This horror movie series goes great with a rewatch of Hannibal, the TV series by Bryan Fuller.

1 Poltergeist

1982’s Poltergeist started the franchise with a horror blockbuster that’s still being discussed as the perfect blend of PG-13 horror with fantasy and family adventure elements. Written by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, the film spawned a series of movies that went down in quality and only stayed alive in the minds of fans who always celebrated the revisit to the franchise origins: Why was Carol Anne targeted?

Poltergeist II and Poltergeist III both went deep in trying to explain this. The problem was that the third film suffered the early loss of the star, who passed away in the middle of production. The franchise would never be the same again, with a 2015 remake that we’d rather leave in the dark, as it’s not as good as it should have been. Nevertheless, it fits with the idea of binge-watching a single horror franchise in one day, as they’re not hard films to watch.