One early cinematic example of a sequel that lived up to its predecessor can be found in The Bride of Frankenstein. This follow-up, which saw Frankenstein‘s James Whale returning to the director’s chair, took an unconventional approach to the love story and did justice to the original film in the process. Another great example is Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The 1991 film blew the original Terminator film out of the water. With effective use of CGI and a great script, T2 still holds up as an excellent sequel to this day.
Since we think that sequels sometimes get an unnecessarily bad rap, we are bringing you 12 examples of sequels that lived up to our outdid the original!
12 Great Horror Sequels
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Blade II
This comic book sequel saw Guillermo del Toro in the director’s chair. He put his unique spin on the franchise by amping up the gore to an almost ridiculous level. The series really found its footing in the second film. The first picture set things up and everything went off the rails in the third but the second Blade film really got it right. Blade II successfully builds on the groundwork of the original, but manages to be a better film with the help of genre auteur Del Toro.
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Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Hellbound: Hellraiser II is an achievement in sequel filmmaking and is certainly on par with the first film. What’s not to love about one character wearing another’s skin? The sequel provided more screen time and more backstory on Pinhead and his band of Cenobites. It also moves at a faster pace than the first film because the original, understandably, took more time to establish the mythology. But the sequel was free to pick up where the first film left off and run with it. It also gave Clive Barker, writer Peter Atkins and director Tony Randel the opportunity to take the franchise to an even more depraved place and we loved every minute of it!
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A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise has been reinvented several times. The third and seventh films are great examples of this. Chuck Russell’s Dream Warriors took the franchise in a completely different direction than the largely underappreciated second film. It launched Patricia Arquette’s career and reintroduced both Wes Craven and Heather Langenkamp to the franchise. The concept of a group of teens taking on Freddy together was brilliant and it made for a very noteworthy installment that certainly did justice to the original film.
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Friday the 13th Part 2
It’s a damn shame that Friday the 13th Part 2 doesn’t get more credit. It is an exceptional slasher film with a likable cast. It marks the first appearance of Jason as the primary antagonist and it features one of the most ferocious and enjoyable final girls (Amy Steele as Ginny, a psychology student) out of any entry in the series. The end scene with Ginny using her understanding of the human psyche to appeal to Jason on an emotional level is absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, the second installment in this slasher franchise often gets lost in the mix. In spite of being sometimes overlooked, Part 2 is an exceptional film that definitely holds its own against the first entry.
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Scream 2
Scream 2 is a fresh and fun sequel. It furthered the meta approach of the first film by creating the Stab films within the Scream series. Fans were pleasantly surprised that the filmmakers succeeded in securing Tori Spelling to play Sidney after Sid had offhandedly remarked that with her luck, Tori Spelling would play her in a movie about her life. Scream 2 is never dull; it never feels like a retread. It lives up to the original film in every aspect and explores a lot of new territory not charted in the first film but still ties it all together in the end.
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Dawn of the Dead
Genre genius George A. Romero made the jump to color with Dawn of the Dead and also significantly amped up the gore quotient for this 1978 follow up. The Tom Savini makeup effects are phenomenal - the screwdriver to the head and the exploding head scenes both representative of pure practical effects genius. The film is well-scripted, the performances are realistic (for a zombie film) and ultimately, Dawn of the Dead does justice to Night of the Living Dead.
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Evil Dead II
Evil Dead II is very much like a reimagining of The Evil Dead. It’s the same setup, in that we find Ash (Bruce Campbell) trekking to a remote cabin in the woods. This time he is traveling with just his girlfriend instead of an ensemble of friends, but the core idea is the same. What the second film does differently, however, is to make the addition of a comedic element that is rarely present in the first. Also, Sam Raimi had a bigger budget with Evil Dead II, which allowed him to include effects that simply were not possible in the original. The second film is typically seen as the fan favorite in the franchise and we can’t help but agree. With the crazy camera angles and slapstick overtones, it’s not hard to see why Evil Dead II has amassed such a tremendous cult following.
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Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
The Final Chapter is certainly more celebrated than Part II amongst most fans and there is a lot to celebrate. It, too, is a slasher masterpiece and features inspired performances from all of its young leads. Jason finds a more than worthy adversary in the boyish but tough Tommy Jarvis (Cory Feldman) and the final scenes where Tommy dresses up like a miniature Jason and wails on the big oaf are truly epic. Part IV certainly did justice to the 1980 original and remains a standout entry to this day.
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The Devil's Rejects
The Firefly clan is on the run from the law and just as vicious as ever in this 2005 sequel to 2002’s House of 1,000 Corpses. Rob Zombie really hit his stride with The Devil’s Rejects. This grindhouse-inspired feature has a gritty aesthetic that Zombie seems to strive for in all of his films, but really gets it pitch perfect in Rejects. This sequel is unrelenting, gleefully evil and even more brutal than its predecessor. By all measures, The Devil’s Rejects is a better movie than House of 1,000 Corpses and a testament to Zombie’s potential as a filmmaker.
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Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare took a meta approach to the horror film before Craven had made it commonplace to do so with the Scream films. Taking Freddy Krueger out of the cinematic universe and introducing him to the real world was both effective and terrifying. Craven breathed new life in to the franchise and took the series out on top, giving fans a final entry (not counting Freddy vs. Jason) that is as good as the original and erasing the bad taste that Freddy’s Dead left in our collective mouth.
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The Silence of the Lambs
This follow-up to the 1986 film Manhunter is a vastly superior filmmaking effort. In a potentially risky move, The Silence of the Lambs recast the Hannibal Lector role but in a rare turn of events, managed to create a much more iconic version of the character than Michael Mann's film did. Anthony Hopkins was the perfect choice to play Dr. Lector and is now the benchmark by which anyone to don the role is compared to.
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Aliens
Aliens is suspense-fueled and full of action. The second installment doesn’t take many cues stylistically from the first. Aliens is an action film while Alien is a haunted house-style horror film taking place aboard a space ship. Deciding which film is better really comes down to splitting hairs but we absolutely assert that Aliens lived up to the original – whether it outdid it or not is ripe for debate. They are both tremendous films and each has its own unique set of bountiful merits. Both are phenomenal features. Alien focuses more on the ensemble cast. I think Aliens is faster-paced and really puts Ripley front and center.
