Not every franchise has what it takes to captivate audiences and stand the test of time.
Some of them started out incredibly strong, yet were quickly wiped out by the dreaded sophomore slump.
Others were bad from the get-go.
Image via Sony
Despite their lack of quality, these series staggered on, zombie-like, long after viewers had lost interest.
While the leads' acting is fine, their chemistry is overshadowed by the lackluster script and bland direction.
Many critics also took issue with the movie’s simplistic, un-curious treatment of the BDSM scene.
Image via Universal Pictures
The films just get clumsier with each installment, to the point thatFifty Shades Freedfeels almost like a comedy.
Jamesand co. were onto something.
The third entry,After We Fellis particularly tedious, withlong stretches of wooden dialogueand little plot progression.
Literature student Anastasia Steele’s life changes forever when she meets handsome, yet tormented, billionaire Christian Grey.
Some have also accused it of glamorizing abusive relationships.
LikeFifty Shades, the original story began as a fanfiction, this time aboutHarry Styles, and it shows.
E.L. James’s dialogue is practically Shakespearean by comparison.
Despite the overwhelmingly negative reviews, theAfterfranchise shows no signs of slowing down.
Seeing the latter as a vampire lord is quite the sight.
The franchise only goes downhill from there, playing out like a dollar-storeUnderworld.
By the timeAmerican Ninja 5rolled around, the franchise was beyond dead.
As a result, sitting throughIVandVis a real slog, despite their lean runtimes.
The first one featuresJean-Claude Van Dammeas Luc Deveraux, a resurrected super-soldier battling his fellow reanimated comrades.
Still, JCVD is still better thanMatt Battaglia, who takes over for the sixth movie.
TheSharknadofranchise began as a tongue-in-cheek homage to B-movie absurdity.
Indeed, what was once a silly and enjoyable good time morphed into increasingly tiresome ridiculousness.
Image via Voltage Pictures
For all these reasons,Sharknadowent from ‘so bad it’s good’ to just bad.
The series goes to show that trying to make an awful movie on purpose is rarely a wise idea.
Sadly,Sharknadois not the only shark-centric franchise to make this list.
Despite starting incredibly strong with theSteven Spielberg-directed classic,Jawscontinued to offer diminishing returns with each installment.
The first movie was lean and mean, combining a punchy plot with killer music and top-notch special effects.
This seems like a fairly easy formula to replicate, but the sequels somehow never got it right.
The shark in the fourth film looks shockingly fake, for instance; more comical than menacing.
TheJawsfranchise thus runs the gamut from masterpieces to pure dreck.
Things did not improve withThe Exorcist: Believer, released last year.
Image via Boll KG Productions
It lacked both creativity and genuine scariness, so much so that plans for a trilogy were scrapped.
A reboot feels like on the cards, which hopefully rights this sinking ship.
Somehow all these films squander their terrific premises (even Schrader’s project).
These films would have been better if their philosophical exploration was more honest and rigorous.
This makes the films a waste of potential.
Plus, they aren’t even entertaining, so there’s really little reason to check them out.
It’s actually somewhat impressive just how quickly and irreparably the sequel destroyed the franchise’s mythology.
While the subsequent films weren’t quite as egregious asThe Quickening, none of them are good.
The fifth movie made such bad narrative missteps that most fans don’t consider it to be canon.
All in all, these misfires makeHighlanderarguably the lamest movie series of all time.
NEXT:The 10 Most Powerful Characters in ‘Arcane,’ Ranked
Image via Sony
Image via The Asylum
Image by Federico Napoli
Image via Universal Pictures
When two girls disappear into the woods and return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, the father of one girl seeks out Chris MacNeil, who’s been forever altered by what happened to her daughter fifty years ago.
Image via Freestyle Releasing
Image via InterStar
An immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponents, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled “Prize”.
