Top 10 Most Underrated Horror Movie Sequels Ever
#10: “Final Destination 5” (2011)
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As a series wears on into its fourth and fifth installments, the chance of it turning into a pure cash cow increases, and the size of its audience usually trails off as a result. But for those who stick around, there are often all kinds of easter eggs and call-backs to be found as the later parts pay homage to those that came before. “Final Destination 5” is a perfect example of this, working in a healthy amount of fan service to its latest tale of doomed teens and their quest to cheat death, making it a hugely rewarding watch for day-one fans. With some hugely impressive visual effects to boot, “Final Destination 5” is one of the series’ true high points.
#9: “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II” (1986)
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Despite its title, the original “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” plays things pretty subtle for the most part. The cannibalistic Sawyer family isn’t properly introduced until fairly far into the movie, and most of the horror comes from a general sense of off-ness rather than any actual massacring. The sequel is far less interested in subtlety - it kicks off with Leatherface chainsawing his way through a hapless victim and never looks back, ramping up to a full-blown chainsaw duel. Bigger, bolder, and a whole lot sillier than the original, it might not be a ‘better’ film exactly, but it is a whole lot of fun.
#8: “Alien: Covenant” (2017)
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While the first two “Alien” movies are widely accepted as genre classics, just about every subsequent sequel has undergone an endless cycle of rejection and re-appraisal, with different fans and critics stumping for different entries. 2017’s “Alien: Covenant” was no exception - continuing “Prometheus’s” quest to discover the true origins of mankind. Boasting another hypnotic performance from Michael Fassbender as the android, David, “Covenant” underperformed at the box office and was met with a reasonably lukewarm critical response. But since then, many have found themselves falling for its strange charms, and it’s worth looking up for the homoerotic flute-playing alone.
#7: “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” (1984)
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The disadvantage of letting a horror series run on forever is that we never get a truly satisfying ending, knowing that the bad guy will be back to terrorize a new set of scantily-clad youths in a few years no matter how dead he appears to be when the credits roll. So, this “Final Chapter” deserves props for doing its best to live up to its name - offering a genuine conclusion to the tale of Jason Voorhees in which the machete-wielding boogeyman finally returns to Crystal Lake for a new slasher spree and finally meets his match. Before long, he’d be dragged back up to sell more movie tickets, but for one satisfying moment, it looked like this really might be the end.
#6: “28 Weeks Later” (2007)
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Appropriately, the popularity of zombies never seems to quite die - they just keep coming back, often in a slightly different form. “28 Days Later” was part of the modern zombie wave which usually favors grittier, more grounded tales over splatterhouse excess, giving more focus to the hideous moral decisions characters are forced to make than to the elaborate ways they find of re-killing their newly-risen foes. While the first film centered on a handful of average people trying to survive in the immediate aftermath of a zombie pandemic, the sequel zooms forward a few months to follow a highly-trained NATO squadron as they try to reclaim a safe zone in the middle of London. This more action-oriented follow-up is a worthy successor to the original.
#5: “Creep 2” (2017)
“The Creep” series is another example of an understated, atmospheric horror film that gets to let loose when it comes time for the sequel. With Mark Duplass playing against type as a serial killer who lures videographers to their death, “Creep” puts a clever spin on the found-footage format - watching a predator lead their prey to their doom is all the more chilling when you’re looking through the eyes of the victim. Throw in one of the most complex and compelling deaths in recent horror history, and “Creep” has more than enough mileage for a second installment. Without a theatrical release, it never gained as much attention as it should have — even though it currently boasts a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
#4: “Psycho III” (1986)
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The original “Psycho” is one of the most famous films in cinema history, so it would be easy to write off the sequels as cash-ins designed to trade on its good name, especially when they arrive a quarter of a century after the first movie. Directed by Anthony Perkins (who also stars), “Psycho III” manages to breathe new life into the Bates Motel by leaning into its darkly comic undertones. Add in a depressed nun, a mysterious drifter, and an intrepid reporter, and “Psycho III” has all the ingredients to serve up a wickedly funny addition to the series, while still providing the shocks and scares you would expect. Naturally, it can’t compare to the original, but “Psycho III” still has plenty to recommend it.
#3: “Scream 4” (2011)
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The “Scream” series revolutionized horror by featuring characters who had grown up on slasher flicks - allowing them to call out all the cliches and tropes as they encountered them in their own stories. By its fourth installment, though, it threatened to turn into everything it was designed to make fun of - a by-the-numbers franchise that used the same tricks again and again to keep churning out sequels. So, naturally, this franchise exhaustion became the target of the fourth movie as it skewered the genre’s tendency to devolve into repetition and mindless torture. It turned out the “Scream” series was still as sharp as ever - it just needed to find a worthy target.
#2: “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” (1982)
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“Halloween III” deserves to be celebrated just for how ambitious it is. Rather than safely retreading old ground and setting Myers loose upon another set of victims, as “Halloween II” had with some success, the third part takes place in a world where the first two installments exist as fictional movies, leaving it free to tell a completely different story. A story which involves witchcraft, Druidism, child sacrifice, androids, and all sorts of other crazy, entirely un-Michael-Myers-related stuff. It’s a true “throw it at the wall and see what splatters” approach to storytelling and it makes for one of the craziest, most unpredictable horror sequels ever made. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. “Paranormal Activity 3” (2011) The Series Dips Back Into Its Origins to Produce the Scariest Installment to Date “Hellbound: Hellraiser II” (1988) Between This & “Inferno”, No Series Does Crazy Sequels Like Hellraiser “Rec 2” (2009) Possibly the Scariest Movie to Come Out of the “Cloverfield” Found-Footage Boom “Predators” (2010) Struggling For A Sequel Idea? Add More Predators! “Cult of Chucky” (2017) Internet Voodoo, An Insane Asylum & Multiple Chucky Dolls Make for a Wild Ride
#1: “The Exorcist III” (1990)
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Having seen his novel adapted into a horror classic and then a disappointing sequel, William Peter Blatty returned to set things right by writing and directing the third entry himself. In a particularly devilish turn, he based part of the new story on the Zodiac Killer - a real-life murderer who was said to have enjoyed the original. Ignoring the events of the second film entirely, it picks up 17 years after the first one as Lieutenant William F. Kinderman tries to solve a series of demonic murders. Combining the cold-blooded thrills of a serial killer story with the supernatural scares which the “Exorcist” series made its name with, Blatty created something entirely new and altogether terrifying.
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