Profitable, relatively inexpensive to produce, and with a faithful built-in audience, Hollywood horror franchise films have long dominated the market for generic feature film productions. This work examines the significant effects, good and bad, that the horror franchise genre has had on the careers of several American film directors, including Wes Craven (""Nightmare on Elm Street""), Don Coscarelli (""Phantasm""), and Joe Berlinger (""Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows"").