With so many horror films coming out every year, it’s no surprise some unfortunately miss the mark. When films become franchises and the fans get excited for the next installment, those films not meeting expectation can be all the more disappointing. Here’s five of the most disappointing horror sequels you’d do better to miss.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
“Arne Cheyenne Johnson stabs and murders his landlord, claiming to be under demonic possession. Ed and Lorraine Warren investigate the case and try to prove his innocence.”
Part of the most successful horror franchise of all time, the third film featuring the Warren’s was highly anticipated, following on from the spin-offs The Nun and Annabelle, it had a lot to live up to. The first film was a master stroke in tense, horrorifying, possession based horror, but unfortunately the third film didn’t read the memo, and whilst it was a decent attempt at capturing the magic of the first two, it fell considerably short.
Still featuring the Warren’s, the film follows them attempting to prove a young man’s innocence, as they arrive in a small town after a man murders his landlord when possessed. Trying to change the formula of the first two seemed to be the third film’s downfall, as they’re trying to prove the possession to the law as much as rid the victim of the deathly spirit.
It: Chapter Two
“After 27 years, the Losers Club receive a call from their friend Mike Hanlon that Pennywise is back. They decide to honour their promise and return to their old town to end the evil clown for good.”
One of many horror films based on a Stephen King novel, this film marks the third film in the It franchise. The original was straight-to-tv and became a cult classic with a huge amount of fans, so when the first of the remakes was announced it was meant with both excitement and trepidation. All the worry was forgotten pretty quickly once fans saw It: Chapter One, as not only was it relatively faithful in all the right ways to the novel, it stamped its own authority on the story.
Unfortunately this didn’t follow into the sequel, It: Chapter Two, with it being much less scary, interesting and overall good compared to either the TV original or the first chapter. Focusing moreso on the The Losers Club as adults, with the occasional flashbacks to them as children, it feels a lot less scary watching the adults figure out the admittedly nonsensical background story to Pennywise. Not as big an offender as the other disappointing horror sequels in this list, but still disappointing none the less.
Alien 3
“Ellen Ripley’s escape pod crash-lands on Fiorina 161, a penal colony planet terrorised by an alien. She rallies the inmates into killing it but realises that she is carrying an alien embryo herself.”
The original Alien is considered one of the best sci-fi horrors of all time, and in some regards is still comsided the benchmark when comparing modern horrors of the same ilk. The second went on to up the ante from a single xenomorph stalking Ripley and her crew, to an entire group of them attacking and killing a unit of marines as well as going after the sci-fi heroine.
Then there’s the third… a film mired in controversy with directors dropping in and out, story changes late into production and a lead actress who was hesitant to return. All of this and much more end up bringing us the worst film in the franchise to this day, arguably even over Alien: Resurrection.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
“A group of college friends embark on the ‘Blair Witch Hunt’ tour and land up at Rustin Parr’s house. When they wake up the next morning, they remember no details of the previous night.”
Everything that the original built up and broke ground with was thrown straight out the window with this disappointing horror sequel. The original was tense, scary, original and innovative, the sequel rehashed a similar story and tried to capture the magic of the original, but as is the case with these cash grab sequels, not only missed the mark by a little, but by a huge margin. Watch the first and stop.
Related: 31 Days of Horror: 5 of the Goriest Horrors to Watch this Halloween
Jaws: The Revenge
“The island community of Amity is terrorised by shark attacks when a vengeful shark returns to avenge the death of her progeny.”
When the main star of a film publicly announces not only his distaste of it but calls the film terrible, you know you’re not watching a particularly good film. This is exactly what happened with Michael Caine, who infamously said about Jaws: The Revenge “I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.“.
Normally there would be a group of fans somewhere on some sort of social media denouncing the comment and defending the film, but that hasn’t happened with this one, and for good reason. With nothing other than the town, a shark and a few side characters present, there’s nothing and no-one from the original trilogy, and it isn’t a stretch to call this nothing but a shameless cash grab by the studio attempting to bank on the previous entries in the franchise. Not only a disappointing horror sequel, but an all round terrible film in its own right.
There’s five of the most disappointing horror sequels that we’ve had the displeasure of getting excited about and then watching. What others would you have chosen?
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