The 10 Best Horror Movie Sequels (According To Rotten Tomatoes)
Sequels are notoriously terrible. Not all sequels, of course, as many of them are rather commendable. Some are even superior to their predecessors, but that is an exceptionally rare occurrence.
This seems even rarer when it comes to horror movies. Despite many horror franchises containing endless sequels and cheap iterations meant to cash in on the success of the original, most of these sequels are negatively received by critics and the public alike. Horror may be the worst genre when it comes to remakes.
However, not all horror remakes are dreadful, cheap cash-ins. Some are actually worth watching.
10 Doctor Sleep - 77%
Doctor Sleep should never have worked. For one thing, no one was asking for a sequel to The Shining. Secondly, it's borderline impossible to measure up to Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece. Thirdly, Doctor Sleep was released nearly forty years after the original. But despite all that, it worked. And it worked wonderfully. Confidently directed by Mike Flanagan, Doctor Sleep follows an adult Danny Torrance as he gets involved with a cult named The True Knot and must return to the Overlook Hotel. It's a little fan service-y, but it sits proudly beside The Shining.
9 Halloween - 79%
Halloween is an odd case indeed. It shares the exact same name as its predecessor, which might lead to some confusion. It also retcons the entire series, ignoring everything after John Carpenter's iconic original. This means Michael isn't Laurie's sister - a revelation that should please diehard Halloween fans who thought that was an odd creative direction for the story to take. While the 2018 sequel obviously doesn't measure up to the original, it serves as a respectable expansion to its story and got the Halloween franchise back on track.
8 The Conjuring 2 - 80%
The Conjuring proved an enormous success. Directed by James Wan, the movie earned strong reviews from critics and grossed over $300 million at the worldwide box office. The success led to an expanded Conjuring universe, which includes a direct sequel released in 2016. This, too, proved a huge success. It grossed a solid $320 million and again earned strong reviews from critics. Many agreed that the sequel re-used aspects and scare tactics from the original but was nevertheless a well-made and scary ghost movie worthy of success. There's a reason these movies are so popular.
7 Scream 2 - 81%
Scream 2 was placed in an exceedingly difficult position. The first movie was a huge success, earning widespread acclaim and essentially bringing the slasher genre back from the dead. Scream 2, another meta-horror movie, realized that horror sequels typically suck. There's even a long discussion in the movie about sequels and their inherent inferiority.
Writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven needed to acknowledge the movie's own inferiority, avoid the pitfalls it was satirizing, and provide an entertaining story so as not to become a joke itself. It was an incredibly difficult trick, but they managed to pull it off.
6 Ouija: Origin Of Evil - 82%
Ouija: Origin of Evil is one of the rare horror sequels (in this case, a prequel) that exceeds the original. Again directed by Mike Flanagan, Origin of Evil serves as a prequel to 2014's middling Ouija. Unlike its predecessor, Origin of Evil earned strong reviews from critics - many of whom declared it far superior to the original. Many noted its surprising degree of horror and drama, but despite the strong reviews, Origin of Evil made less than the original. While Ouija scored $103 million, Origin of Evil grossed a disappointing $81 million.
5 10 Cloverfield Lane - 90%
10 Cloverfield Lane has very little in common with its found-footage predecessor. Unlike its predecessor, it's filmed in a more traditional, cinematic style. And unlike its predecessor, it has very little to do with monsters. Of course, the entire premise of the movie concerns the contaminated outside air, but 10 Cloverfield Lane is largely a character-driven horror dependent on mystery and paranoia. It's led by incredible performances from Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., and John Goodman. The latter earned widespread acclaim for his performance as psychotic kidnapper Howard Stambler.
4 Dawn Of The Dead - 93%
Is Dawn of the Dead a true sequel? In many ways it is, as it's directed by George A. Romero and follows his iconic Night of the Living Dead. However, the movie has very little to do with its predecessor, outside of the zombie apocalypse. No characters carry over, and there are no references to Night whatsoever within the film. In many ways, Dawn of the Dead can stand on its own.
Whatever it is, Dawn is a zombie masterpiece, and it helped turn George A. Romero into a household name. It influenced all zombie entertainment to follow, and it remains disturbing (and disgusting) to this day.
3 Evil Dead II - 95%
Serving as one of the greatest horror comedies of all time, Evil Dead II stands as a unique sequel/reboot. The first Evil Dead played it straight, even though its miniscule budget of $350,000 limited its acting and visual effects. Evil Dead II was made for a far more expansive $3.5 million, and it shows. It became widely regarded for its stop motion animation and prosthetic makeup work, and Sam Raimi's direction proved far more fluid and cinematic. This is the movie The Evil Dead wanted to be, and its budget finally allowed the filmmakers' vision to come to reality.
2 Aliens - 97%
Aliens is another sequel vastly different from its predecessor. The first is a horror masterpiece, expertly directed by Ridley Scott. The sequel is far more action-oriented, directed by cinematic virtuoso James Cameron. Like Evil Dead II, the increased budget is on full display - whereas Alien was made for as little as $8 million, Aliens was made for $18 million. This allowed for more characters, more aliens, more blood and gore, more bombastic violence, and even an epic battle between an exosuit cargo loader and the Alien Queen. The result is pure movie magic.
1 Creep 2 - 100%
Sitting at a rare 100% is Creep 2, the sequel to the surprisingly successful 2014 original. Once again starring Mark Duplass as an unnamed serial killer, Creep 2 may prove even better than its predecessor, even though it's a wildly different movie. In the first Creep, audiences grow disillusioned alongside Aaron as he realizes that Duplass's "Josef" is an unhinged psycho. In Creep 2, he just comes right out and admits that he's a serial killer. This allows for a vastly different, albeit equally interesting, dynamic between him and Sara.
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