There have been many excellent horror movies made in the years since Alfred Hitchcock jump-started the genre with Psycho. The genre has ballooned into a juggernaut of the film industry, with countless franchises made up of endless sequels. Some of these sequels have overstayed their welcome, but many others have become even more beloved than the originals.
Although many horror films stand perfectly well on their own, others are brimming with potential for further exploration. Sequels are a mixed bag, and many franchises' best movies are their first. But other series build and expand with each successive entry in order to create something that is more than the sum of its parts. Some stand-alone horror movies feel like they'd be perfect as the first installment in a new and exciting franchise.
10 Creep Could Have Been A Great Series
British horror movie Creep (not to be confused with the unrelated 2014 film) followed a woman as she was stalked by a horrific creature in the London Tube. With the tunnels providing a great claustrophobic setting, it focused on her survival, along with others trapped in the underground.
The unique and eerie world Creep crafted beneath the streets of London would make a great recurring location, as many great horror series have. The best potential for a sequel would be to set it years after the first, seeing the events of Creep pass into an urban legend only to be revived by future characters.
9 Splinter Deserves Further Exploration
Splinter tells the story of a young couple who are taken prisoner by two criminals on the run from the police. When they take shelter in a rural gas station, they find themselves under siege by a strange parasite that transforms its host into a mutated zombie.
Splinter brought something unique to the zombie sub-genre by combining it with a malevolent parasite, and it would be interesting to see how it might spread at a larger scale. The best way to create a zombie outbreak franchise is to begin small and then take the threat to a larger scale.
8 Big Legend Was An Underrated Bigfoot Movie That Deserves A Sequel
Bigfoot and other cryptids have a long history of movies that attempt to bring them to the big screen, but with mixed results. Many of these movies are made on such a small budget that they inevitably fall flat. But Big Legend got it right.
Big Legend, while a low-budget film, did a decent job of telling a compelling Bigfoot horror story about two men in the woods hunting the creature. A Big Legend sequel or spinoff could apply a similar formula to a different cryptid or just return to Bigfoot for another exciting tale.
7 Daybreakers Could Set Up A New Franchise In The Style Of Underworld
Daybreakers was an incredible horror-thriller movie set in a world where vampires became the dominant species of the Earth. However, as the human population had dwindled, the thirst caused by a blood shortage began to turn the vampires into a primitive, monstrous race.
The Underworld series explored a similar world where creatures of supernatural horror gained power. But Daybreakers took the concept to a much larger scale and put in a lot of world-building efforts of exploring how a vampire society would function. Since the first film was confined to just one city, it left a lot on the table for a sequel.
6 Ghosts of Mars Could Be A Great Horror-Action Series
John Carpenter's 2004 movie Ghosts of Mars put a Martian spin on the zombie horror movie genre. It follows a group of Marshals dispatched to a seemingly deserted mining outpost on Mars in pursuit of a wanted criminal. However, they soon discover a group of people possessed by a Martian entity.
With similar pacing and plot to Resident Evil, Ghosts of Mars could have been a great otherworldly zombie survival franchise. John Carpenter's films have proven repeatedly capable of maintaining a franchise, and the open ending presents the perfect setting for more zombie action stories.
5 The Watermen Could Have Been The Next Wrong Turn
The Watermen follows a similar formula as films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Wrong Turn, pitting the protagonists against a group of killers in unknown territory. With such a tried and true template to build on, this low-budget horror could be so much more.
The decision to set a slasher on the open water brings a welcome change to a genre that can get quite repetitive. Not only does it heighten the tension, but boats and small islands offer endless variety for future films to explore.
4 Daylight's End Was A Low-Budget Dawn Of The Dead Movie That Deserves More
Daylight's End combined depictions of both vampires and zombies into one horrifying creature. As a group of survivors was holed up in a Texas police precinct and its jail, a new survivor showed up, reluctantly assisting the large group in escaping to a plane.
No doubt inspired by the likes of Left For Dead and Dawn of the Dead, Daylight's End created a great new zombie threat as well as plenty of likable characters. Whether in a sequel or a prequel, more of this story could breathe new life into the zombie apocalypse genre.
3 It Follows Created A Great New Horror Threat
2014's It Follows created a great new monster that worked as an allegory for a real issue. Rather than being an axe-wielding murderer, the creature is closer to an unstoppable force of nature that can alter its appearance to sneak up on its victims.
Instead of picking targets at random, the monster is passed along through sexual contact. Each character eventually realizes they can only escape it by passing it on to someone else. Since It Follows established that the monster has a long line of people it's working its way back through, the potential for sequels is nearly endless.
2 Phantoms Was A Supernatural Horror Film That Channeled Lovecraft
Based on Dean Koontz's novel, Phantoms saw two sisters travel to an isolated town that had become unexplainably deserted. After finding two local cops, the group investigated mysterious happenings and apparent hauntings throughout the town.
A new cast of characters and location menaced by the same threat would make for an excellent Phantoms sequel idea, or even work as the basis for a TV series. Its use of powerful and even Lovecraftian horror, which has seen a comeback, could spin out into a much larger universe.
1 World War Z Is Well Overdue For A Sequel
After its popular release in 2013, World War Z proved a solid hit and delivered on a concept many horror fans, especially zombie fans, had wanted to see play out for years. With Brad Pitt's character Gerry sent around the world to find a cure, it was a great combination of action, horror, and science fiction.
As far as the horror genre goes, World War Z was one of the highest scale and bigger budget projects out there and remains a crowd-pleaser. But as was seen with 28 Weeks Later, a follow-up story after the zombie apocalypse can also make for a compelling and exciting movie.