Sunday Special: The 10 Best Horror Movie Franchises

About this episode

<p>The only thing Gilbert Cruz loves more than celebrating Halloween is watching scary movies. And between the classic horror franchises that span decades and the prestige original films of the current moment, he has seen hundreds of them.</p><p> </p><p>On today’s episode, Gilbert puts his knowledge to use in conversation with his fellow horror aficionados Jason Zinoman and Erik Piepenburg. They comb through a century of spooks, frights and screams to crown the Top 10 franchises in cinema history.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Horror franchises discussed on this episode:</strong></p><p>“A Nightmare on Elm Street”<br />“A Quiet Place”<br />“Alien”<br />“The Amityville Horror”<br />“Candyman”<br />“Child’s Play”<br />“The Conjuring”<br />“The Exorcist”<br />“The Evil Dead”<br />“Final Destination”<br />“Friday the 13th”<br />“Halloween”<br />The Hannibal Lecter films<br />“Hellraiser”<br />“The Hills Have Eyes”<br />“Insidious”<br />“Jaws”<br />“Night of the Living Dead”<br />“The Omen”<br />“Paranormal Activity”<br />“Phantasm”<br />“Poltergeist”<br />“Psycho”<br />“The Purge”<br />“The Ring”<br />“Saw”<br />“Scream”<br />“Terrifier”<br />“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”<br />The Universal monster films<br />“V/H/S”<br /> </p><p><strong>On Today’s Episode:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/jason-zinoman" target="_blank">Jason Zinoman</a> is a critic at large for The Times and the author of “Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror.”</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/erik-piepenburg" target="_blank">Erik Piepenburg</a> covers culture for The Times, and writes a monthly column about horror movies.</p><p><br /><strong>Additional Reading:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/25/movies/scary-movie-it-alien-smile.html" target="_blank">25 Jump Scares That Still Make Us Jump</a></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/movies/horror-movies-streaming.html" target="_blank">Five Horror Movies to Stream Now</a></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/movies/good-boy-review.html" target="_blank">‘Good Boy’ Review: Sit. Stay. Scream.</a></p><p> </p><p>Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</p> <p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>