It's better to quit while you're ahead! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the weirdest, grossest, and all around most disappointing scary sequels that lacked the nuance or intrigue of their predecessors.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the weirdest, grossest,
00:18and all-around most disappointing scary sequels that lacked the nuance or intrigue of their
00:28predecessors.
00:3110.
00:33The Exorcist – Believer Demons, ghouls, and monsters have nothing
00:38on the scariest thing of all – bad reboots.
00:41It's all the worst here because Believer isn't just a lousy horror film, it's a lousy
00:46exorcist film.
00:55Not even the highly marketed returns of Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair can make this flimsy
01:00narrative work.
01:01Combined with overblown special effects and empty jump scares, Believer left fans of the
01:06original wondering how things got so off-base.
01:14Even more chilling, this movie was supposed to kickstart a whole new trilogy of exorcist
01:19films, but ironically, the poor audience feedback didn't inspire much faith in Believer's future
01:26on the big screen.
01:339.
01:39The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre While Leatherface and his signature chainsaw
01:44are always a treat, this time, the blood-spurting mayhem was peppered with just as many meta
01:49quips and clever gags.
01:55Unfortunately, The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre only hits some of its punchlines,
02:05and they're drowned out in fake blood anyway.
02:14The rest of the runtime is full of cult-like imagery, strange acting choices, and a lot
02:19of throat-tearing screams.
02:21Altogether, it makes for a distinctly off-kilter, movie-going experience, a memorable one, but
02:26off-kilter nonetheless.
02:31It's worth a watch to see a young Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey pay their dues, but
02:41if you're hoping for a real Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, you're better off looking
02:46elsewhere.
02:478.
02:48Guinea Pig 2 – Flower of Flesh and Blood Do not let your guard down just because this
02:53movie has Guinea Pig in the title.
02:55On the contrary, Flower of Flesh and Blood is a ruthlessly brutal endurance test at the
03:02multiplex.
03:03I'd just say you'll want to watch it with a bath bucket nearby.
03:14Chronicling a woman's kidnapping and subsequent torture, the practical effects were so convincing,
03:20it spawned an investigation to determine whether the footage was fictional or not.
03:28This is after the movie was deemed too graphic for the public and banned from certain video
03:33stores.
03:34Guinea Pig 2 goes so far past the line, it's not even a movie anymore.
03:39It's a straight-up urban legend.
03:427.
03:43The Fly 2 As annoying and inconsequential as an actual
03:47gnat, this follow-up to David Cronenberg's sci-fi Calling Card is the epitome of what's
03:52wrong with cash-grab sequels.
04:01For all of the original's gory set-pieces, it managed to ground the story with compelling
04:05character drama or engaging themes.
04:08In comparison, The Fly 2 is all body horror all the time, and not in a good way.
04:22By unceremoniously abandoning the legacy characters, it's obvious this gross-out gore-fest was
04:29only made to milk the franchise's legacy.
04:32The Fly 2 certainly has some squirm-inducing moments, but as a sequel to one of the best
04:37monster movies ever made, we expected fewer prosthetics and much more charm.
04:476.
04:50The Descent Part 2 Fittingly, The Descent is a good way to describe
04:55the quality of this franchise.
04:57The first film was a lean, mean, spelunking adventure full of equal parts shrieks and
05:02guts.
05:03This ill-advised follow-up, however, stretches that concept until it completely snaps.
05:17The Descent Part 2 suffers from the cardinal sin of bad sequels, which is doing the same
05:22thing, just worse.
05:30It's the same leading lady, same set-up, same monsters, everything.
05:34But they fail to realise that throwing more blood at the screen does not make for a strong
05:39story.
05:40Instead of leaving good enough alone, The Descent is now remembered as a disappointing
05:44franchise rather than a fantastic stand-alone.
05:475.
05:53Hostel Part 2 To be fair, this franchise isn't exactly known
05:57for being all sunshine and butterflies, but even for the horror genre, Hostel Part 2 is
06:03something else.
06:13Picking up the same plot threads of its predecessor, it follows the exploits of a few unwitting
06:18tourists who find themselves in a glorified slaughterhouse.
06:22In other words, it's a 90-minute excuse to film some of the most gruesome scenes in
06:27cinematic history.
06:35Horror sequels always amp up the body count, but Hostel Part 2 throws so much graphic material
06:41at the screen, it becomes genuinely difficult to sit through.
06:56This is one vacation that should have stopped after the first leg.
07:004.
07:01The Final Destination Not to be confused with the first film, Final
07:05Destination, this is strictly THE Final Destination, which is a pretty good metaphor for how eye-rolling
07:12this movie is.
07:22It's billed as the last in the franchise, and that much is made very clear with the
07:27increasingly zany death scenes.
07:29We're talking flying tires, pool pumps, head explosions, and more.
07:38Final Destination has always thrived on its silly, Rube Goldberg-like assassinations,
07:43but the intricacies aren't what made it scary.
07:46It was the idea that even the most mundane objects could take you out.
07:55The Final Destination leans so much into absurdity, it misses out on what made the
08:00series stand out in the first place.
08:023.
08:03Halloween – The Curse of Michael Myers Cults, babies, curses.
08:08Is this a Halloween movie or what?
08:18Michael Myers' MO is about as straightforward as you can get.
08:22He's a guy in a mask who terrifies babysitters with a butcher knife.
08:26Nuff said.
08:27Despite that, Halloween spends its entire sixth instalment retconning its iconic villain
08:32with a bunch of needlessly boring lore.
08:40You can barely call it a slasher film anymore – in fact, the movie spends so much time
08:44on Myers' connection to an old druid curse, it may as well be from a different franchise
08:49altogether.
08:51So we doubt any other series wants it, considering the Curse of Michael Myers just isn't very
08:56good, period.
09:032.
09:07Alien 3 Shooting without a finished script never goes
09:11well.
09:12If you need convincing, just watch Alien 3.
09:14That is, assuming you can make it through without yawning or throwing your remote at
09:18the screen.
09:28As early as the opening act, the movie makes an irrevocable misstep by killing off most
09:33of Alien 2's surviving cast offscreen.
09:37Because who needs story integrity when you have a release date to meet?
09:41From there, Alien 3 insults its audience with an overabundance of violence and a drought
09:46of meaningful character growth.
10:00It's a good thing this supposed ending didn't pan out – Alien 3 isn't the goodbye anyone
10:06on screen, or in the audience, deserved.
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10:311.
10:32Saw 3 Most horror sequels play by the rule that
10:36bigger is better.
10:38Saw took that to heart and amped up its third trek to theatres with untold amounts of gore,
10:44violence, and disturbing imagery.
10:55The franchise's gnarly impulses peaked here, and for the sake of our eyes, that's a good
11:00thing.
11:01Even for an R-rated film, Saw 3 pushes the absolute limit of what a mainstream movie
11:06can get away with.
11:08Then, just when you think it can't get any grislier, Jigsaw brings out the rack.
11:13Could we say any more?
11:22Saw 3 is all kinds of grotesque, to the point it's almost gratuitous.
11:27Jigsaw really outdid himself with this one, that's for sure.
11:40What horror follow-up do you think jumped the shark?
11:43Let us know in the comments below.