How did Friday the 13th begin as a movie about a grieving mother killing camp counselors and spawn a movie in which a nanobot enhanced, hockey masked man destroys a space station? Similarly, how did A Nightmare on Elm Street evolve from a film by Wes Craven about Freddy Krueger into a film about Wes Craven making a Freddy Krueger movie?  Film series are destined to change with time, but horror film series are often unrecognizable after multiple sequels and reboots. This work examines horror films and their sequels to determine the glue that holds individual franchises together, which films matter to a series’ continuity, which should be considered as canon, and what goes into the process of continuing—or, in some cases, abandoning—the overarching storyline.  Series covered include Friday the 13th, Halloween, Child’s Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Leprechaun, and Scream.

Josh Spiegel is currently analyzing and calculating the various timelines and continuities of an assortment of film franchises on his YouTube channel, Movie Timelines, and has also written and directed an award-winning feature film, entitled The Complex. He is based in Los Angeles, California.

Josh Spiegel

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 195
Bibliographic Info: 57 photos, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9165-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4923-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Introduction 1
1. Friday the 13th 7
2. Halloween 57
3. Child’s Play 102
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street 123
5. Leprechaun 151
6. Scream 168
Chapter Notes 185
Index 187