Let’s be honest here for a second — most sequels to horror movies suck. Sure, sometimes horror franchises can become self-aware and then embrace the campy of fun elements later on down the road (remember when Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th was sent to space in Jason X? Good times, good times), but I’ve had to sit through more dreadfully awful and noticeably un-scary films like The Woman in Black 2 or Sinister 2 than any one person should have to endure.
Then there are some films you never even knew existed. Like, did you know that they made a Lost Boys 2 — Lost Boys: The Tribe. What about a follow up to The Exorcist, Exorcist II: The Heretic? Or are you aware that there’s not just one, but two sequels to Poltergeist? And guess what — none of these movies listed are good.
Why do they turn out so bad so often? Simple: money. Horror movies naturally don’t cost all that much to make and are usually able to make their budget back during the opening weekend at the box office (See Happy Death Day, which hit theaters this past weekend, as a prime example). Therefore, once studios find a bankable horror franchise they’ll often run it into the ground with sequels, prequels, spin-offs and expanded universes, all at the expense of the film’s actual quality. Hence the reason why the Saw and Halloween follow-ups feel so different and uninspired compared to the original.
However — there are those rare moments when a scary movie sequel comes along that actually isn’t terrible. Those sparse films that are able to recapture the energy and scares that made the first film a success and channel that into their own film.
While it doesn’t happen often, it’s certainly a cause for celebration. That’s why we’re counting off the top ten scary movies sequels that are actually good. We’re not including anything like Nightmare on Elm Street 87 on this list — just because a franchise has a billion titles to its name doesn’t mean they’re quality films. Rather, this list is strictly reserved for films we actually think deserve to be seen.
Click next to see what we got: