With Welcome to Derry coming to give us the backstory on Stephen King’s It, and Crystal Lake slashing onto our screens to do the same for Friday the 13th — plus HBO Max’s animated Gremlins show, which is hopefully still en route — it’s a boom time for horror franchises getting prequel series.
Inevitably more will follow, and we have some suggestions, both for what should be considered and what should be avoided. But first, beware of redundancies. Bates Motel gave a creative origin story for Psycho, while Castle Rock peeked into the past of another King villain, Misery’s Annie Wilkes. And while not prequels, shows like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, Hannibal, and current hit Chucky have already claimed the turf of the movie series they took inspiration from. So we might have to veer a little off the well-worn horror path for this list. Except for the obvious first few…
Yes: The Evil Dead prequel series
Yes, yes, we know this franchise has already gotten TV love: sequel series Ash vs. Evil Dead was one of the greatest horror comedy shows of all time. And while obviously Bruce “Ash Williams” Campbell wouldn’t be a part of a prequel, the character’s no longer in the movies, either, which gives us decent hope the franchise can exist without him. Give us a prequel series dramatizing the wild adventures of archaeologist Professor Knowby as he stumbles across the Necronomicon, then follow the fateful path that leads him to bring the book to you-know-which cabin in the woods.
No: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel series
If 2006’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and 2017’s Leatherface taught us anything, it’s that we absolutely don’t need any more trespassers poking into the backstory of “the best barbecue in Texas.” We’ve said it before, but there are only two Texas Chainsaw movies that matter, and the 1974 original serves up the perfect amount of exposition regarding the cannibal family’s slaughterhouse origins.
Yes: Phantasm prequel series
Don Coscarelli’s 1979 Phantasm is so wonderfully weird you almost don’t want to know any more about the Tall Man and his army of wee inter-dimensional creatures. The first film hints at a long history — remember that terrifying moment when teen hero Mike sees that vintage photo of the Tall Man animate itself? — and Phantasm IV: Ravager features a trip back in time to shed a little more light on how all this came to be. Still, it feels like there’s a lot more story to tell here… the freakier, the better.
No: A Nightmare on Elm Street prequel series
Freddy Krueger’s pre-Nightmare, pre-burn victim life was already covered in the films, especially in 1991’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, which features an extended flashback revealing his troubled childhood. And while we love Freddy as a razor-fingered dream stalker as fond of quippy one-liners as he is drawing blood, do we really need to see him, like, alive and well and victimizing children week after week on a TV series? A TV series would also open the door for another actor besides Robert Englund to play Freddy, which — as the 2010 re-do amply demonstrated — is a nightmarish idea.
Yes: Pumpkinhead prequel series
The 1988 movie directed by special effects wizard Stan Winston gives a tease of the title creature popping up decades before the main events of the film — but mostly, it’s a fractured fairy tale about a man seeking vengeance who ends up regretting his decision to hire a witch to conjure a monster. A mountain-dwelling witch with monster-conjuring powers is rich prequel fodder. Maybe the long-rumoured Pumpkinhead movie reboot will go there, but a creepy-crawly TV series could also use it as a jumping-off point.
No: Halloween prequel series
John Carpenter’s 1978 classic establishes that sometimes Evil Just Happens, which is way scarier than showing us a guy with a crummy family life like Rob Zombie’s pair of Halloween movies did. Even if there wasn’t a feeling of Halloween fatigue in the air (Jamie Lee Curtis is forever great, but Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends closed out her iconic horror role on a disappointing shrug), we’d prefer not to delve into what makes Michael Myers tick, other than an internal clock that urges him to kill, kill, and kill.
Yes: The Conjuring prequel series
Considering how prolific this ghost, nun, and doll-laden cinematic horror universe is, it’s frankly surprising there hasn’t been a full-on Conjuring prequel yet. Maybe when Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson declare themselves done with playing Lorraine and Ed Warren, James Wan and company will cast some younger actors to explore their early years… and take those demonic frights to TV instead. Get on it, Blumhouse!
No: Poltergeist prequel series
Poltergeist holds up so well after four decades that it remains untarnished by a pair of inferior sequels, an entirely forgettable remake, and an alleged on-set curse. It could surely weather a sub-par TV series, but what would that look like? A sleazy real-estate developer gathering up a bunch of headstones but leaving the bodies behind? The tale of diminutive medium Tangina, an impossibility now that actor Zelda Rubenstein has passed into the great beyond? This story only gets going once the Freelings — psychic tyke Carol Anne in particular — walk through the front door of their exceedingly haunted new home.
Yes: Rosemary’s Baby prequel series
There’s no topping Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castavet, but don’t you kind of want to see young Minnie rattling around the Bramford, gossiping while cultivating her international array of witchy friends, while she and her husband Roman — aka Steven Marcato — extend his dark family legacy? Or why not go even further back into the past, as described in the movie’s expository tome All of Them Witches, and show us the coven’s early days establishing a Satanic presence in New York City? We will speak not of the 1976 made-for-TV sequel, nor the 2014 miniseries, only to say a TV prequel wouldn’t have to aim very high to be better than either.
While you’re here, why not check out Gizmodo Australia’s guide to what’s streaming this month on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Stan, Binge and more. We’ve also got one for all the good movies coming out in 2023 if that’s more your thing.