As with other genres, horror sequels can be a hit or a miss. It is rare that a horror sequel surpasses the original, and it is more than likely that the sequels will be subpar to the original. Sometimes the sequels are mostly as good as the original, at least enough to warrant a franchise, such as the case with the Scream movies. Sequels in any genre of film run the risk of being perceived as insignificant compared to the original, and unfortunately, many of them are unnecessary. We have seen it with blockbuster franchises that continue to pump out new movies just because it will make money, not necessarily because it adds anything new or insightful to the franchise. With horror, it's usually a smart move to make sequels, because traditionally horror movies cost less to make than other movies. The difference is, horror sequels don't just run the risk of not living up to the original or being subjectively awful, they run the risk of not being scary.
Horror movies are meant to invoke fear in their audiences. We are meant to question why we are scared of something and what makes us both individually and collectively scared. That's one of the reasons the horror genre is so incredible. There are so many subgenres from psychological to slashers that make us question fear for different reasons. Horror fans enjoy the feeling of being scared and the rush it brings, similar to the way thrill-seekers enjoy rollercoasters for the rush of adrenaline it gives a person. Therefore, when a horror movie isn't scary in any way, it can be a letdown. Especially for a sequel to a horror film that was scary. Let's take a look at ten horror sequels that should have been much scarier:
10 The Descent Part 2 (2009)
One of the most unnecessary horror sequels to ever be made is without a doubt The Descent Part 2. The original film worked excellently as a standalone film and was a hit with horror fans. It was smart, well-written, and most important;y, terrifying. It wasn't just scary because of the cave creatures the group of women eventually discovered, although they are horrifying to look at and absolutely ruthless. It was also scary because of the claustrophobia it made audiences feel as they were watching. It is nearly impossible to watch that movie and not feel like you are stuck in the crevices of those caves with them.
The sequel had none of that. It isn't scary, and it isn't even entertaining. The way the first film ended was perfect because it was a bit open-ended and left audiences guessing about Sarah's (Shauna Macdonald) fate and the cave system itself. Taking her back into the cave to try to convince authorities that her story about cave-dwelling monsters ruins any of the originality of the first film and quite frankly lessens the innate fear that the first invoked.
9 Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
Part of what made The Blair Witch Project so successful is that it built tension and suspense rather than throwing something scary in front of the camera. What it doesn't show adds to the anxiety that builds throughout the movie until it culminates in a rather shocking finale. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 takes the opposite approach by showing everything rather than letting the audience's imagination run wild.
The movie retraces some steps from the original by going over locations from the first and tries to tie itself to Blair Witch, but its attempts at continuity were unsuccessful. It had the potential to be much more frightening than it actually was if it had tried to be as creative and innovative as its predecessor. Instead, it became the type of horror movie that films like The Blair Witch Project are far superior to.
8 Hannibal Rising (2009)
Prequels centering around the early life of an iconic film character is almost always unnecessary. We already know what that character grew up to be and how their life has played out, which lessens the stakes. This is especially true for horror movies.
Origin stories about horror villains usually feel pointless because we already know that they have committed terrible acts, and we don't necessarily need an entire feature-length movie to explain why they are the way they are. A small amount of background on horror characters suffices because part of the intrigue of horror movies is speculating why the villain behaves the way they do. Explaining their entire background in a prequel takes away from the fear they instill in the original movie, such as the case with Hannibal Rising.
The origin story of one of horror's most famous characters does a disservice to The Silence of the Lambs by explaining away any of the mystery or intrigue about Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal is a menacing character that disturbs people because he clearly takes pride in his cannibalistic ways and has no remorse, and we as the audience don't really know why.
Hannibal Rising attempts to make the audience sympathize with the serial killer by showing his upsetting childhood and revealing that his sister was murdered by cannibalistic soldiers as a kid. While that is horrifying and disturbing on its own, the movie itself is not at all scary and could have been if it focused more on Hannibal on his own rather than his war-torn childhood.
7 Jason X (2001)
The tenth installment of the Friday the 13th franchise takes the already chaotic franchise to entirely new heights, literally. Jason X sees Jason Voorhees' body cryogenically frozen in the 21st century and rediscovered in the 25th century and brought to space by a group of students along with a scientist named Rowan. The premise is absurd, and it's rather comical to think that a franchise that started out as a summer camp slasher turned into something that send its masked villain to hell and then to space.
The movie definitely has a fair amount of entertainment value due to its wild plot, but as a horror movie, it simply does not work. It is laughably campy and silly in nature, with no real horror in sight. Some of the kills are decent, but nothing about the movie is scary. It could have been if maybe the filmmakers tried to utilize the aspect of being stuck in space with no prospect of escaping to instill some fear in the audience, but it turned into a goofy sci-fi comedy instead.
6 Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
The first Paranormal Activity movie was made on a shoestring budget before Paramount obtained the rights and enhanced the ending. It wasn't reliant on jump scares or terrifying moments throughout the film but instead took a slow-burn approach to the terror by building the audience's anxiety over what could happen to Katie (Katie Featherston) as this unseen entity invades her life at night. Paranormal Activity 3 goes back to when Katie and her sister Kristi were children in 1988 and befriended an unseen entity named Toby. Their mother's boyfriend was a cinematographer, so he sets up cameras around the house after strange things start happening after the sisters make friends with this being. It harkens back to the setup of the first movie and ties it together with the second, which certainly helped keep the franchise going.
It is a rare occurrence when a prequel is actually intriguing, but that is the case for the third movie. It is interesting to learn more about Katie and her history with this entity considering it seemed to disappear from her life for years. There are a few genuinely great jump scares, however, it is not nearly as scary as the original film. The scares at the end of the first film are more effective because the movie took time to build suspense, and viewers had no idea what to expect. By the third installment, moviegoers were already well-versed in the Paranormal Activity franchise and could anticipate the scares. It is definitely not the weakest in the franchise, but it could have been scarier if perhaps the setup was changed.
5 Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1983)
Although it has become somewhat of a cult classic among fans over the years, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch does not instill the same fear as the original Halloween movie. The first one is scary simply because it is terrifying to think that a masked serial killer would terrorize an entire town just to get to you. It is also scary because serial killers are not uncommon and many of them do have obsessive tendencies.
The third installment rids itself of the franchise's iconic masked maniac and instead focuses on a nefarious toy company selling cursed Halloween masks. The masks will turn anyone who wears them into a bloodthirsty killer. A story about killer masks made by combining ancient rituals and witchcraft may have been an interesting idea if it wasn't attached to a franchise that had nothing to do with either of those things. More importantly, it might have actually been scary if it was a standalone movie.
4 A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
To be fair, it was always going to be difficult to live up to the horror masterpiece that was Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street. The sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, centers around an entirely different group of teenagers that are terrorized by the knife-clad hand of Freddy Krueger. A new family has moved into the Elm Street house and this time around, Freddy attempts to possess a teenage boy to torment the teens of the neighborhood once again.
The movie itself is actually a decent entry into the franchise, and it's always a great time to be had when Freddy Krueger is running rampant through people's dreams. Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) makes for a good final boy, but the movie is more bizarre than it is scary. It focuses more on the oddball moments of horror that make it strange rather than scary. Some of the "horror" scenes, such as the bus scene or the ending in the backyard, are more comical than frightening.
3 Friday the 13th part VII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
The Friday the 13th franchise has changed directions more than once after the first seven films took place at Camp Crystal Lake, to the point where the franchise has jumped the shark more than once. Still, if Jason Voorhees puts on the old hockey mask, people will watch the movie. Friday the 13th Part VII: Jason Takes Manhattan finds the slasher icon in the Big Apple after being woken up from his grave where he is on a ship full of high school students on their way to the city. Of course, he immediately starts to stalk and terrorize them before eventually docking in the city and wreaking havoc on land as well.
Jason isn't nearly as terrifying as he can be in this film, and some of his kills seem forced rather than coming naturally to him. Jason doesn't have any real motivation to attack these kids like he did at Crystal Lake, other than simply not liking teenagers, but he seems to be on a random rampage here. Yet, he ignores essentially everyone on the island of Manhattan once he gets there because he only wants to harm the teens. It makes it arguably less scary than the previous installments.
2 American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002)
This had the potential to be interesting and even scary if the execution had been better, but American Psycho II: All American Girl is unfortunately a rather boring sequel to American Psycho. In the original film, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is utterly deranged and truly does not like most people. He knows what he's doing is wrong, but does not feel any remorse for it. He doesn't have any true motives for being a serial killer other than the fact that he clearly enjoys it. He is a psychopath through and through. The sequel follows a student named Rachael Newman (Mila Kunis) whose main goal is to become the teaching assistant of former FBI agent Robert Starkman (William Shatner), and she will stop at nothing to land the job, including murdering her classmates. There is really no ambiguity to her actions as you already know exactly why she's behaving this way. It's more of a slasher comedy rather than a psychological horror thriller like its predecessor.
The tagline promised that it would be "Angrier. Deadlier. Sexier." and it was none of those things. It certainly wasn't scary, and a movie about a murderer should be inherently scary.
1 Brahms: The Boy II (2020)
The Boy was already heavily reliant on jump scares for its thrills and chills, but it mostly got the job done in that department. The sequel, however, is painfully boring. Brahms: The Boy II is one of the least terrifying horror movies made, and it is also one of the worst. As Rotten Tomatoes puts it the movie is "more likely to induce boredom rather than quicken the pulse." One of the most compelling aspects of the original was that the porcelain doll was never cursed or possessed, it was just operated by a deranged man living within the house. It is admittedly an odd concept, but it is also rather intriguing.
The sequel completely reverses this strange but interesting twist, making it both frustrating and not scary whatsoever. Not to mention, nothing in the film that happens leading up to that reverse twist is even remotely attention-grabbing.