What would you consider to be off the beaten path horror franchises worth watching? Straight to VHS movies with a low budget but still capable of delivering a good monster or story.
As far as franchises go, it's pretty much non-existent. Probably the best one is Puppet Master which is yeah, kind of sets the bar low. But in general, great straight to video flicks:
Two scarecrow flicks that are pretty different from each other:
Scarecrows (1988 )
Yes, it got a tiny theatrical release but it may as well have been straight to video. And I really hate that gotcha that faggots use "Well actually, it's not straight to video because it got a token theatrical release for 2 days in some 3rd world country." Those people deserve to die. Not even joking. Because almost every straight to video production gets a token release somewhere. Puppet Master was release theatrically in Thailand so according to the contrarian retards that does not count as straight to video.
... Anyway, Scarecrows. Fun gory scarecrow flick where the scarecrows act more like zombies so if you squint a little you can imagine it as a zombie movie as well.
I love Night of the Scarecrow. It is my favorite straight to video horror. Super fun movie that deserved to be a franchise. I was planning to go to a con to get my tape autographed by the director (same guy who made From a Whisper to a Scream and Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 3) but I couldn't get out there and the director died just a few months ago. So yeah, but this movie is awesome and comes highly recommended.
The Wrong Turn franchise is one of the few times where a series going straight to video turned out well. All of the sequels except for part 3 and the reboot/remake are good in the sense of being sleazy ultra-violent slashers. I've gushed over part 2 enough times but check that one out. I also enjoyed part 4 and part 6 just for being really fucking twisted especially part 6.
Then you have Japanese V cinema. That's when you get into the likes of the Guinea Pig series and a small but diverse variety of other twisted gems:
Not horror but close enough, Takashi Miike's Fudoh: the New Generation was straight to video and is one of Miike's best films.
If you want something really unique then I can't recommend enough Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. You don't need to see the others. This is it's own thing. And what's amazing about it is that it's a fusion of arthouse/horror/action. It really is like if David Lynch or maybe Cronenberg was drafted to make an action movie. And it goes hard with the gore as well. I would describe this as surrealist action horror.