A lot of the time a sequel isn’t nearly as great as the first movie, but throughout the years there have been plenty of exceptions, and it’s happened in recent years as well. Somehow, horror sequels do happen to exceed the original movie every now and then. This is usually accomplished when there’s already a low bar since the original movie wasn’t that great, and when the sequel does something that is either seen as an improvement or is just as effective as the original and expands the idea in a way that people happen to like. In horror, it’s kind of tough to do this unless one has a villain that they can work with that people happen to enjoy, and that isn’t about to be played out by the end of a single movie. There are plenty of horror movies that are fun to watch no matter how ridiculous they get, but then there are sequels that come as a nice surprise.
Here are a few horror sequels that were able to succeed.
10. A Quiet Place Part II
It kind of helps that we didn’t know that much about the creatures in the first movie. To be honest, we still don’t know that much about them other than the feedback from a hearing aid can mess them up royally, they can’t swim, and they’re attracted to noise. Apart from that, they’re a great horror monster since we don’t have a solid backstory on them and all we really know is that they’re extremely lethal.
9. Scream 3
I can feel people out there rolling their eyes, but there is some justification for this. Before things really started moving away from the main point, this was the finale that should have been paid attention to and followed since it was the closing of the circle on Sidney’s life. She had a half-brother that she’d never been told about, she found out about her mother’s past, and that should have been the end of it. But obviously with a number four and a fifth on the way that’s not happening.
8. Final Destination 5
After a while, it was really time for this story to just finally end, no matter how inventive Death and the writers were able to get. The deaths in this movie were just as gruesome as any other, since imagining having your eye burned by a laser or vat of bubbling tar wash over you is bad enough to make anyone cringe. But the fact that this movie linked up with the first one was perfect.
7. Paranormal Activity 3
Some people can’t stand these movies, some people love them, but the truly terrifying thing that happened was the manner in which the husband was killed at the end, since the image is still sickening enough to leave shudders going up and down my spine.
6. Friday the 13th Part IV: Jason Lives
There’s a good reason for putting this one on the list, and it’s due to the fact that recently, Corey Feldman has been trying to gain support for a Tommy vs. Jason movie that might not have much of a shot, but is still interesting to think about.
5. Doctor Sleep
While Doctor Sleep doesn’t have quite the same scare factor as The Shining, it was still something that worked on a very cerebral level since Danny had to revisit the nightmares that had plagued him for so long. Plus, while the True Knot could have been much scarier, they were disturbing as hell all the same.
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warriors
This movie was pretty goofy, but one has to admit that it had a certain allure since the teens were going after Freddy this time around, even if it didn’t do much good. The fact that they stood up and did something rather than just getting picked off was pretty cool since it meant that things were changing just a bit.
3. Saw II
The needle pit, the box trap, the numbers on the back of the victims’ necks, I mean come on, each trap became more and more diabolical as time went on, and the desperation of the people in the trap was interesting to watch, but still a little predictable. That being said though, it was stepped things up.
2. Evil Dead II
Hands down this is one of the movies in this trilogy since Army of Darkness runs a close second. The fact that Ash plays a much more maniacal part in this movie is a part of what made it so much better. Plus, it went over the top in a way that was undeniably funny, and definitely disgusting in some scenes.
1. Aliens
One of the absolute kings, or queens, of horror, this movie took the idea of the first one and ran with it, multiplying the number of xenomorphs until it wasn’t just nightmare fuel, it was an entirely new dimension of terror that couldn’t be escaped.
Sometimes sequels are actually better.
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