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15 Awful Sequels to Great Horror Movies

By Society & Culture & Entertainment Last updated Sunday, June/23/2024

Sometimes a sequel is so bad, it makes the original seem worse than it really is. Here are 15 examples that show that even the best movie isn't immune to the stink of an awful sequel.

1. The Amityville Curse (1990)

Great Original:The Amityville Horror (1979)
Why This One Stinks:

Terminally dull, with "scares" amounting to little more than barking dogs, books flying off shelves and spontaneously combusting fireplaces.
Doesn't even bother to take place in the infamous haunted house or have any relation to it whatsoever. Instead, it takes place in ANOTHER house in Amityville, New York that just happens to also be haunted.
Cliché alarm: weird old man warning of dangers in the haunted house.
Even worse than crummy sequels about a killer clock and a killer dollhouse.

2. The Birds II: Land's End (1994)

Great Original:The Birds (1963)

Why This One Stinks:

Excruciatingly slow pace, focusing more on dull family life than on animal life.
A less-than-imposing flock (apparently, they could only afford 20 or so birds, only a couple of which are trained).
Cliché alarm: mayor refuses to heed the warnings of imminent danger because the panic could hurt the town's economy.
Tippi Hedron, star of the original, appears in a bit role...NOT as her original character.
An "Alan Smithee" film, meaning the director, Rick Rosenthal (Halloween II, Halloween Resurrection) didn't want his name associated with this made-for-cable mess. Oops.

3. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)

Great Original:The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Why This One Stinks:

Removes the realistic terror of the original's documentary format by trying to show what was only imagined in the first movie.
No further insight or exploration of the Blair Witch's back story.
Turns one of the most unique movie-going experiences of all time into a formulaic ghost story.
Cliché alarm: ghost children.
Somehow the characters know that playing a videotape backwards reveals a hidden message.
Tries to be a high-minded meditation on violence in the media. Fails.

4. Child's Play 3 (1991)

Great Original:Child's Play (1988)
Why This One Stinks:

Killer doll Chucky had ceased being scary and had yet to be reincarnated as the darkly comedic figure of Bride of Chucky.
Tyler is one of the most annoying child characters in cinematic history.
Too many creepy molestation overtones, with Chucky perpetually looking for a suitable place to "be alone" with Tyler so he can put his soul inside him. Shudder.
The soul-transferring voodoo incantation apparently takes half an hour to recite, dragging the movie out ad nauseum as Chucky is repeatedly interrupted before he can finish.

5. Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Great Original:The Exorcist (1973)
Why This One Stinks:

Richard Burton's overwrought acting.
Regan (Linda Blair) suddenly develops a "Spidey Sense."
Pseudo-science alarm: A "synchronizer" machine allows people to see others' memories.
Linda Blair tapdancing.
James Earl Jones dresses as a giant locust.

6. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Great Original:A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Why This One Stinks:

The introduction of "dream demons" that gave Freddy his ability to invade dreams.
Lame deaths via video game and hearing aid.
Freddy impersonating the Wicked Witch of the West.
Cheesy 3-D sequence during which the character actually puts on 3-D glasses to battle Freddy.
Cameos by Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold.
It isn't the final Nightmare.

7. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Great Original:Halloween (1978)
Why This One Stinks:

Michael Myers is nowhere to be found.
Instead of Michael Myers, the villain is an evil toymaker.
The toymaker's plan for world domination: killer Halloween masks.
The toymaker's henchmen are androids.
Did I mention that Michael Myers is nowhere to be found?

8. Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985)

Great Original:The Howling (1981)
Why This One Stinks:

Replaces the original's intriguing modern setting with a creaky old castle. In Transylvania.
Replaces the original's top-notch werewolf effects with shag carpets and plastic fangs.
Awful, pretentious dialogue: "I saw her sent upon a hairy beast, and she held forth a golden chalice full of the filthiness of fornications."
New Wave filmmaking includes repetitive New Wave soundtrack and seizure-inducing music video-styled direction (lasers!) designed for viewers with attention deficit disorder.
Hairy werewolf sex.

9. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Great Original:Friday the 13th (1980)
Why This One Stinks:

Jason appears on screen for about 10 minutes; instead, his soul jumps into various people's bodies.
Filmmakers don't even bother trying to explain how Jason found his way back from Manhattan (in Part VIII), not to mention how he overcame being melted by toxic waste.
Takes a page from Halloween's book by sending Jason after a blood relative.
Made-up mythology that only a blood relative can kill Jason, and only with a magical dagger.
Jason's soul takes the shape of a giant worm.
Jason is reborn (fully clothed) when the worm crawls into his dead half-sister's birth canal.

10. Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

Great Original:Jaws (1975)
Why This One Stinks:

The ridiculous concept: a shark, apparently annoyed that the Brody family has killed three giant maneating sharks in the past three movies, somehow tracks down old widow Brody from the northeastern US all the way to the Bahamas.
A climactic scene in which the shark rises onto its tail like a dolphin and ROARS.
Mario Van Peebles' accent.
Makes Part 3 look like Part 1.

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