Three’s a Trilogy, Four’s a Crowd. Horror Franchises that Survive a Fourth Installment

Paranormal Activity 4 opens tonight. And now, I'm not a psychic, but I predict some supernatural occurences will most likely be captured on home video somehow. Just a theory, just a theory. But unlike most horror franchises, I'm actually looking forward to this one. The franchise has managed not to dip into camp territory and (SPOILER) the reveal of the witch coven at the end of Paranormal Activity 3 filled my shorts up faster ten-gallon hose.

But four is a tricky number. Look at Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. No, I'm sorry, don't really look at it. Unless you want your face to melt off like at the end of Raiders. But a movie like that or Pirates 4 even. Trilogies are just structured better. A beginning. A middle. An end. That's a cohesive storytelling model. Subsequently throwing this additional straw onto the camel's back usually breaks it.

And horror films generally don't seem to the be exception to the rule. By the fourth movie in a franchise, typically the budgets are the lower, the production value is cheapened, the acting is weaker and the camp is at an all time high.

Every now and then one happens to squeak by and be a crowd-pleaser, but most of the time they're relegated to direct-to-video fare (which at the very least guarantees more possible full-frontal) but it also usually means you feel like you're watching a Canadian TV show. So will Paranormal Activity 4 keep its hot streak going, or will it just be another Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings or Phantasm: Oblivion?

While that won't be answered tonight, check out the gallery for the best and worst of #4's in the biggest horror franchises.