I agree with this point overall but there have been notable exceptions. As I mentioned at the top of this thread, my favorite horror film is It Follows. It was a pretty unique film and, I believe, relatively popular but it hasn't been franchised. It's over a decade old and hasn't had a sequel.I don't know if I completely agree with this part 100% but understand your overall point. We can depend on horror for always trying to flip a highly recognized concept or theme in a unique way.
Shout out Obsession.
And i think thats why we are so much more forgiving of bad horror to the point it is it's own genre.
Shout almost everything on Shudder
we also have seen as always in Hollywood an instant attempt to then franchise that "unique" project. Even when the creator swore they wouldn't like Weapons.
And also go full Terrifier etc and set out to do it from jump cause well thats just how horror in Hollywood works.
And personally I'm cool with that in horror moreso than any other genre because its always been that since the start.
Sadly in the cable, video store, DVD, streaming era the disposable art thing has gotten more and more crushing.
Obviously that can, and probably will, change. Hollywood likes milking anything popular after all and remakes don't really have a time limit. A sequel or remake could come 40 years down the line.
That said, I really can't think of a horror film that debuted after the 90s, which is only surpassed by the 80s when comes to making endless horror sequels, that has had anything close to as many sequels as Nightmare, Friday the 13th, or Scream.
Conjuring perhaps comes close but that franchise has a whole cinematic universe featuring films that aren't direct prequels or sequels.