On Friday I published my personal rankings of several horror franchises, and I was just as shocked as the rest of you when the Halloween series fell into 4th place. I had intended to rank it higher at the outset – after all, the original film is the best slasher of all time – but all of the sequels I just couldn’t squeeze any enjoyment from kept getting in the way and bogging it down in the rankings.

Like I said before 2 is good and Season Of The Witch is really good (with The Return Of Michael Myers being okay as well) but after that it’s just a melange of boredom for me. And while I’d say “embarrassing” is actually a step up from “boredom” in the sense that you’re actually engaging with the material in some manner, they’re never a good combo.

Take this moment from Halloween: Resurrection. When you’re coming off an apathetic run in the series (despite the relatively good reception of its predecessor, H20) it’s probably not a good move to snap your audience out of their collective coma so they can pay attention to a moment as hamfisted as this one. It’s not the fact that Busta Rhymes is in the movie that’s embarrassing, it’s the fact that we have to sit through a nightmare 75 seconds of dialogue so hackneyed and cliched it almost plays like a rejected Scary Movie 5 joke. The second clip isn’t much better but I’ve included it so you can get a sense of closure.

I can’t wait until this series regains its footing. What’s your most embarrassing franchise moment?