By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Fans of cinematic fright franchises will find all their favorites covered in this guide.
Independent horror filmmaker Jason Paul Collum has issued his book THEY MADE HOW MANY?! through Rotten Rainbow Press; it’s available at Amazon.com. Subtitled (MOSTLY) AMERICAN HORROR FRANCHISES OF THE 20TH CENTURY, it covers the many horror films from that period that spawned follow-ups, from single sequels to endless franchises like HELLRAISER and CHILDREN OF THE CORN, from official continuations to the unrelated likes of the AMITYVILLE flicks. Needless to say, there’s a heavy concentration on the direct-to-video titles of the 1980s and ’90s, though Collum reaches as far back as Paul Wegener’s GOLEM films of the silent era. He includes “Fun Facts” about each title and whether it’s a true sequel, as well as interviews with 30 actors and directors about making these movies.
“I really started thinking about the guide maybe 10 years ago,” Collum tells RUE MORGUE, “because I kept getting into conversations with people my age who had no idea there was a CANDYMAN 3, a tenth HELLRAISER, SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 5, etc. Then as my nieces entered their teens, they had no idea there were even originals like BASKET CASE, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE FLY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, PHANTASM, PSYCHO, etc. That shocked me more. So I decided right as the pandemic began that I was going to use the spare time to get the guide going. I thought about what horror fans young and old might care about: who wrote, directed and starred in each film, a quick synopsis, a few facts about each film, and most importantly whether or not a sequel was truly a sequel, since so many of the direct-to-video films have no connection to each other.
“I also made the decision to not put my opinions in the book, because I know many people think SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II is an awful film, but I love it. In turn, who am I to tell you whether or not to like a movie? I tried to be unbiased and fair to each title, no matter how great or awful I think a movie turned out. I should add that I’m still stunned how many franchises exist that I never knew about: THE GOLEM, PSYCHO SISTERS, THE SAVAGE BEES and so many more.”
Beyond SLUMBER II, Collum’s own favorites among these films include the FRIDAY THE 13TH series (particularly PART 2), the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREETs (especially 3 and NEW NIGHTMARE) and the HALLOWEEN movies (notably II and H20), along with MANIAC COP 2, AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION, BRIDE OF CHUCKY, JAWS 2 and Abel Ferrara’s BODY SNATCHERS. And he’s no stranger to making sequels himself: “I’m not sure if it’s because HALLOWEEN II is the first horror movie I chose to sit through–before I saw the original–but I’ve always sought them out. So when I began making movies, I was already thinking ahead to turning them into franchises. And my first feature was a shot-on-video sequel: MARK OF THE DEVIL 666: THE MORALIST [1995], which I was offered after Moore Video read my still-unproduced spec script for THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, PART 2. The trick was that they had no idea how many MARK sequels already existed, so I had to figure it out on my own without the internet.
“I went on to make three 5 DARK SOULS movies, two OCTOBER MOON films–with plans for a third–and in a full-circle decision, I directed the horror spoof MARK OF THE DEVIL 777: THE MORALIST, PART 2 during the pandemic. I’ve even been talking to J.R. Bookwalter about possibly doing a sequel to my documentary SOMETHING TO SCREAM ABOUT.
“I essentially have a respect for sequels that I don’t think is very common,” he concludes. “So many of them receive very little media coverage, especially as each franchise gets long in the tooth. That doesn’t mean a part nine is going to suck; look at 2018’s HALLOWEEN. I wanted to share my love and knowledge of these franchises–almost like I need to offer something to fans to enlighten them to all the gory, scary, cheesy fun they can now use my guide to hunt down.”
