Sunday Special: The 10 Best Horror Movie Franchises
The Daily26 Okt 2025

Sunday Special: The 10 Best Horror Movie Franchises

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.

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.

Horror franchises discussed on this episode:

“A Nightmare on Elm Street”
“A Quiet Place”
“Alien”
“The Amityville Horror”
“Candyman”
“Child’s Play”
“The Conjuring”
“The Exorcist”
“The Evil Dead”
“Final Destination”
“Friday the 13th”
“Halloween”
The Hannibal Lecter films
“Hellraiser”
“The Hills Have Eyes”
“Insidious”
“Jaws”
“Night of the Living Dead”
“The Omen”
“Paranormal Activity”
“Phantasm”
“Poltergeist”
“Psycho”
“The Purge”
“The Ring”
“Saw”
“Scream”
“Terrifier”
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
The Universal monster films
“V/H/S”

On Today’s Episode:

Jason Zinoman 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.”

Erik Piepenburg covers culture for The Times, and writes a monthly column about horror movies.


Additional Reading:

25 Jump Scares That Still Make Us Jump

Five Horror Movies to Stream Now

‘Good Boy’ Review: Sit. Stay. Scream.

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episoder(2765)

The F.B.I.’s Extraordinary Seizure of Voting Records

The F.B.I.’s Extraordinary Seizure of Voting Records

Last week, F.B.I. agents searched an election center in Fulton County, Ga., seizing truckloads of ballots from 2020. The move escalated the investigation into President Trump’s claims of voter fraud i...

3 Feb 20min

Can Trump Force Blue Cities to Cooperate With ICE?

Can Trump Force Blue Cities to Cooperate With ICE?

Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, traveled to Minneapolis a few days ago with a message: the faster local officials cooperate with federal immigration agents, the faster those agents will leav...

2 Feb 32min

The Sunday Daily: Bad Bunny Takes Over America

The Sunday Daily: Bad Bunny Takes Over America

At the Grammy Awards tonight, the Puerto Rican pop sensation Bad Bunny is the first Spanish-language artist to be nominated for album, record and song of the year simultaneously. For most artists, thi...

1 Feb 48min

“A Terrifying Line Is Being Crossed”: Mayor Jacob Frey on the Turmoil in Minneapolis

“A Terrifying Line Is Being Crossed”: Mayor Jacob Frey on the Turmoil in Minneapolis

The Minnesota Democrat on the battle between his city and the federal government.Thoughts? Email us at theinterview@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcastFor transcript...

31 Jan 33min

Trump 2.0: The President’s Affordability Problem

Trump 2.0: The President’s Affordability Problem

President Trump was elected in 2024 on the promise that he would fix the economy. Now, a new poll from The New York Times/Siena reveals that the issue may be driving voters away.Nate Cohn, the chief p...

30 Jan 32min

Social Media on Trial

Social Media on Trial

For years, social media companies have relied on an impenetrable first amendment protection to shield them from legal claims that their products are dangerous to children.But now, a cluster of plainti...

29 Jan 21min

Trump Changes Course in Minneapolis

Trump Changes Course in Minneapolis

The intense fallout from Alex Pretti’s death has forced President Trump to publicly change course in Minneapolis.The White House reporters Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Tyler Pager discuss the changes, and w...

28 Jan 26min

The ‘Ghost Fleets’ Moving Oil Around the World

The ‘Ghost Fleets’ Moving Oil Around the World

Since December, the U.S. has been stopping and seizing oil tankers traveling in and out of Venezuela. They are part of what is known as a ghost fleet — tankers that try to secretly move oil around the...

27 Jan 26min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
i-retten
stopp-verden
forklart
aftenpodden-usa
nokon-ma-ga
popradet
det-store-bildet
dine-penger-pengeradet
fotballpodden-2
aftenbla-bla
rss-ness
rss-gukild-johaug
hanna-de-heldige
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
grasoner-den-nye-kalde-krigen