6 Inferior Horror Sequels That Ruined the Franchise

The horror genre is sort of a fickle industry a lot of the time. With production budgets so low you can literally see the zipper running up the monsters back, it's easy to understand why companies churn out sequels by the shedload. Don't believe me? Just look at the Paranormal Activity franchise alone as an example. Cheap found footage horror movies that have made millions at the box office are a no brainer for big studios to green-light sequels for.

Who cares if the plot requires another instalment when there's money to be made. All that being said, this is where the studios stumble as they push out a hasty follow up to cash immediately in on the success of an "indie" horror hit. This, unfortunately, leads to backlash from audiences who feel cheated at such blatant cash grabs. So I'll be highlighting six of my personal favourite examples of the worst horror sequels that have killed their own franchise. Let the madness begin...

6. Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2014)

Daniel Radcliffe brought Hammer studios back from the dead with the first remake of Shirley Jackson's The Woman in Black in 2012. It had solid scares and a decent return at the box office. So this sequel was hastily green-lit and came out within two years. The story and scares seemed cheap and tacky compared to the tense and imaginative first instalment, and as of writing, there seems to be no sign of a third incarnation. A shame as this could have been the start of a British equivalent to the now massive Conjuring film series.

5. Poltergeist 3 (1988)

The second sequel in the popular haunted house series that followed a young girl and her family terrorized by spirits. This one, however, decided to change the urban setting of the first two and make a movie set around an apartment/shopping complex in Chicago. Also, it dressed the main actress Heather O'Rourke as a child when she clearly was a lot older, in an attempt to keep its child in danger theme. The film suffers a lot from the untimely death of said young actress Heather and also for recasting lead boogeyman "Cane" due to his death after Poltergeist 2. This all makes Poltergeist 3 the odd one out of the series, and it didn't fare well at the box office. The franchise took a long break after this one until it was rebooted in 2015 (the remake sucked, too).

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

Following on from the major success of the Blair Witch Project, which was the movie that termed the genre now known as "Found Footage." Book of Shadows dropped into cinemas exactly a year after Project and was a complete and total mess of a follow-up. Besides the confusing script, bad acting and ineffective scares, the movie commits career suicide by destroying the original film and making the events of the first movie seem like a hoax. The film was made as a response to Blair Witch Project, and a look at how society was quick to believe in viral marketing at the time. Frankly, all audiences wanted was a trip back into those woods and perhaps a shot of the actual witch this time around. It wasn't worth the ticket price and because of the bad word of mouth, it killed any chance of original Blair Witch director's vision of a third prequel movie. Although with a new Blair Witch TV show being developed, we may be closer to seeing that in the near future.

3. Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

The fourth shark movie in the series that finally put the nail in the summer blockbuster coffin. This movie is just a dull shamble of a film which basically revolves around the widow of the original movie's hero, Sheriff Brody. She knows her husband's death was due to fear that the family of the sharks he destroyed are coming back to take their revenge. I'm not making this up, that is the plot for this stinker. Throw in Michael Cain, who has stated in interviews he only made the film for a holiday to the Bahamas. You have a recipe for total disaster. I'd say watch it just for the unexpected moment when the shark blows up for no reason. A shame really because Back to the Future said we'd get to Jaws 20... ah well.

2. Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension (2015)

After the previous three movies use of tense atmospheric shots utilized in found footage, they decided to tagline this movie as the film where you finally SEE the ghosts. The movie was also sold in 3D to add to the buzz of such blockbusters at the time. Unfortunately, the series was already starting to crumble under its story arc weight with drastic changes in the narrative. This time, we have time travel added into the haunted house, witches/demonic pact plot. To add insult to injury, the movie barely has any decent scares, and is predictable from the get-go. Really it's just a retelling of previous entries with less conviction and care for its audience. This is where the mighty franchise became like a poor copy of itself, and rightfully hasn't had a follow up since.

1. Troll 2 (1988)

Now, this sequel has the number one spot on this list because it is so bizarre and unique. The movie is a sequel by title-only for starters, and doesn't follow on from the first film. If that sounds strange how about the fact it doesn't actually feature any trolls in the entire movie! Nope, that's right, the film is about Goblins (close enough, right?) that eat humans after they've morphed them into plants. Yea, I'm not kidding, the film also is hilariously bad for the acting alone, and the script was translated straight from Italian and sounds like a Chinese instruction manual. However, what makes this unique for this list is that audiences love the film. It has been voted worst bad movie of all time, and its following has grown exponentially since it hit DVD. It's the only film on this list that I really think you should see, and I highly recommend you find a copy of it as soon as possible. Nilbog is Goblin spelt backwards, don't ya know?

So that's all the inferior horror sequels I have for you at this time. I'm sure there are lots more that didn't spring to mind. If you want you can leave them for me in the comments below and I'll write them up next time. In the meantime, be sure to check out my YouTube channel for more Horror movie reviews and other assorted scary content.