1. Blindly Following Release Order
Watching movies as they hit theaters seems logical, but it’s often not the best path. Take The Conjuring Universe. If you watch in release order, you bounce around in time, meeting characters and seeing cursed objects before you understand their origins.
A chronological viewing, starting with The Nun, tells a more coherent, decades-spanning story of evil. While release order preserves the surprise of certain villains, chronological order builds a world. For franchises with heavy prequel content, like Saw or the aforementioned Conjuring series, pausing to consider the in-story timeline can provide a much richer experience. Sometimes the creators intend for you to see the backstory first, adding layers of dramatic irony to the films that were released earlier.
2. Forcing Chronological Order When It Spoils the Fun
On the flip side, a strict chronological watch can sometimes be a huge mistake. The best example is, again, The Conjuring Universe, which proves how debatable this can be. Watching The Nun first spoils the terrifying reveal of the demon Valak in The Conjuring 2. That moment is a genuine shock if you follow the release order, but an expected cameo if you've already seen the prequel. Similarly, the Saw franchise is famous for its intricate, time-jumping plot twists. Watching chronologically might make the sequence of events clearer, but it would completely deflate the shocking revelations at the end of Saw II or Saw IV, which rely on the audience thinking they're watching a different point in time. Some stories are built like a puzzle box, and peeking at the answers ruins the game.
3. Skipping the 'Weird' or 'Bad' Entries
Every long-running franchise has a black sheep. It’s tempting to skip ahead when you hear that Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning doesn't feature the real Jason Voorhees or that Halloween III: Season of the Witch has nothing to do with Michael Myers. But skipping these entries is a mistake. Halloween III is a fascinating, creepy standalone film that represents the franchise's original plan to become an anthology series—a crucial piece of its history. And the much-maliged sequels are often where franchises get their bizarre, memorable personalities. These oddball films are part of the journey and the conversation, providing context for why the series either returned to its roots or rebooted entirely in later installments.
4. Ignoring the Multiple Timelines
Here's where things get really messy. You can't just watch the Halloween movies; you have to decide which Halloween story you want to watch. The franchise has at least four distinct, conflicting timelines. There’s the original series that follows the 'Thorn' cult storyline. There’s the H20 timeline, which ignores everything after Halloween II. There’s Rob Zombie’s gritty two-film remake. And then there's the recent Blumhouse trilogy, which serves as a direct sequel to the 1978 original, erasing every other film from its canon. Simply watching them all in release order will give you narrative whiplash. You have to pick a path. Do you want the supernatural Michael, the sibling-rivalry Michael, or the purely chaotic force-of-nature Michael? Each path offers a different trilogy or quadrilogy with its own satisfying conclusion.
5. Forgetting About Spinoffs and TV Shows
The story doesn't always end with the numbered films. Some of the most interesting (and sometimes, most unhinged) lore exists in the expanded universe. The Friday the 13th franchise had a three-season television series that explored cursed objects, and Freddy Krueger hosted his own anthology show, Freddy's Nightmares, which gave backstory to the dream demon. While not essential viewing, these shows can deepen your appreciation for the world and its mythology. More modern franchises, like The Purge and Chucky, have used television series to explore characters and concepts the movies didn't have time for. Ignoring them means you're not getting the full, bloody picture.
6. Sticking to Just the Theatrical Cuts
Before you press play, it’s worth a quick search to see if a director’s cut or producer’s cut exists. This is especially true for films that were famously meddled with by the studio. A prime example is Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. The theatrical version is a confusing mess, but the fan-favorite “Producer’s Cut” restores a completely different third act and explains the supernatural elements in a much more coherent way. The same goes for Rob Zombie's Halloween II, whose director's cut offers a darker, more nihilistic ending that fundamentally changes the film's tone. These alternate versions aren't just for die-hard fans; in many cases, they are the definitive version of the story and provide a vastly superior viewing experience.
