The Great Horror Sequels

Today’s episode of Sounds of Cinema continued this month’s Halloween theme with a look at the great horror sequels. Hollywood now makes sequels to just about anything but it was the horror genre that led the way. While a lot of sequels are cynical cash grabs, some manage to equal or exceed their predecessor. What follows are the films discussed on today’s show as well as some additional titles.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Universal Studios established itself with its horror titles of the 1930s and 40s. In 1931 the studio released two classics: Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, and Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff. The movies were a success and Universal set about making more of them. The studio’s first monster sequel was 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein which is generally considered to be the best entry in the entire Universal Monsters catalog. It featured better production values, more interesting characters, and deepened the ideas of the original film. And just as the original Frankenstein created one of horror cinema’s most indelible images, the sequel did the same with Elsa Lanchester’s bride.


Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943)
Today Hollywood makes sequels to just about anything and major studios vie for “cinematic universes” in which characters inhabit a shared world and appear in each other’s films. While this is done more often now, it isn’t entirely new. The classic Universal Monster films were the original cinematic universe as they created sequels and spinoff films and eventually brought the characters together in titles like House of Dracula. Of these “team up” movies, the best was Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.


Dawn of the Dead (1978)
George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead quickly became a classic and a regular fixture of midnight movie showings. However, Romero’s first zombie sequel, 1978’s Dawn of the Dead, is frequently cited as the fan favorite of the Living Dead series. It was a sprawling and ambitious story set amid a zombie apocalypse but this time updated for the late 1970s. A group of survivors take shelter in a shopping mall and the movie draws smart and sometimes funny parallels between mass consumerism and the walking dead. It was also extraordinarily violent for its time and went to theaters unrated.


Jaws 2 (1978)
The Jaws sequels do not have a very good reputation. That’s mostly due to the later films, in particular 1987’s Jaws the Revenge. However, Jaws 2 is an underrated movie that was a success both commercially and artistically. The first half of Jaws 2 adheres closely to the original formula, as another great white shark patrols the beaches of Amity Island. The basic conflicts and scenarios of the 1975 movie are recreated and most of the surviving characters from the first film reappear. But the second half of Jaws 2 is quite different, as a group of teenage sail boaters are attacked by the shark and are gradually picked off. At the time of its release, Jaws 2 was the highest grossing sequel ever made and its marketing campaign included one of the most often quoted and parodied Hollywood taglines: “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water . . .” 


Psycho II (1983)
Twenty-three years after Psycho (and three years after Alfred Hitchcock’s death), screenwriter Tom Holland and director Richard Franklin set about making Psycho II. Making a sequel to a Hitchcock film, and especially Psycho, was considered by some to be cinematic heresy but Holland and Franklin acquitted themselves with a smart script and tight direction. Norman Bates (again played by Anthony Perkins) is released from a mental institution and returns to his mother’s hotel but he suffers violent delusions. Psycho II was stylistically different from the original film but it was a successful movie in its own right. Its influence can be seen in the popular television series Bates Motel.


Aliens (1986)
James Cameron took over directorial duties from Ridley Scott and made one of the great sequels. Where the original Alien was a slasher movie in space, Aliens was a Vietnam-influenced war film. The picture represents exactly what a sequel ought to do: it expands the story world, escalates the drama, and develops the characters. Unusual for a sci-fi horror flick, Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Ellen Ripley.


Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
The original Friday the 13th opened in 1980. At the time it was a subversive little picture but by the late 1980s the series and the slasher subgenre had worn thin. Filmmaker Tom McLoughlin brought a different sensibility to the sixth installment. His movie was slickly made but also self-aware and funny. This is not the scariest of the Fridays but it is the most fun.


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in 1974, a few years ahead of the slasher boom. The original picture was gritty and nasty but despite its title The Texas Chainsaw Massacre contained very little on-screen gore.  The rights were subsequently tied up for years and director Tobe Hooper didn’t get to make a sequel until 1986 when the slasher genre was in decline. Hooper’s sequel was a Grand-Guignol-style horror show that was a satire of the slasher genre. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was a critical and commercial disaster in 1986 and it remains one of the most divisive horror sequels. But there’s no denying that the movie has tremendous energy and a grotesque sense of humor that make it a unique film. 


Evil Dead II (1987)
Evil Dead II is essentially a remake of the original film but with improved production values, better direction, and funnier gags. Many of the key cast and crew members returned for the follow up and they used the opportunity to revisit and revise the original picture. Certain set pieces and plot points are reiterated but they are all done better. The first Evil Dead film had a sense of humor but the sequel took it to an absurd limit with gross out gags that were inspired by The Three Stooges. Evil Dead II quickly surpassed its predecessor to become the highpoint of the series and the main point of reference for the television series Ash vs. Evil Dead.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
The Nightmare on Elm Street series was one of the most popular franchises of the 1980s but the series began with a grassroots following. With the release of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Freddy Krueger stepped into the mainstream. Dream Warriors was the best sequel in the series proper (excluding New Nightmare) and one of the best slasher films of its era. The movie delved into the fantastic and surrealistic aspects of the concept and it created interesting characters. It also walked a fine line of bringing Freddy forward while keeping him a frightening and threatening presence. The subsequent Nightmare films would have more to do with the tone and style of Dream Warriors than with the original film.


Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Clive Barker’s 1987 horror picture Hellraiser was a haunted house picture about a family that is destroyed by secrets and deceit and the powers of a magical puzzle box that can open doorways to Hell. A sequel was released the following year. Directed by Tony Randall, Hellbound: Hellraiser II was a much bigger movie that took its characters to the other side. It’s an uneven film and the story is in some respects a mess. But the scattershot nature of the plot actually works for the picture. Hellbound is ambitious and surreal with big ideas and avant-garde visuals. There’s never been a horror sequel quite like it.


Scream 2 (1997)
Released less than a year after the premiere of the original film, Scream 2 continued the story of Sidney Prescott as she is stalked by another killer in the Ghostface costume. Just as the first film played on the clichés of the slasher films, Scream 2 referenced Hollywood serialization. While this film was not the surprise of the 1996 picture it was still an impressive sequel.


The Devil’s Rejects (2005)
Rob Zombie’s first directorial feature film was 2003’s House of 1000 Corpses. The movie had some interesting characters and unusual visuals but it was scattershot and occasionally obnoxious. Zombie improved by leaps and bounds for the follow up, 2005’s The Devil’s Rejects. The sequel was a road movie in which a family of homicidal criminals goes on the run while pursued by an overzealous Texas sheriff. The Devil’s Rejects was gritty and unpleasant but it was also tightly scripted and subversive.


Saw II (2005)
The first Saw sequel did much to set the tone and themes for the remainder of the series. Building on the foundation of the original picture, Saw II brought the audience up close and personal with Jigsaw and made him into one of the most interesting and unique horror villains. In Saw II we discover that Jigsaw’s torture scenarios weren’t just gratuitous violence but an expression of a twisted ideology.


28 Weeks Later (2007)
28 Days Later told the story of a group of survivors coping in the aftermath of a plague that has reduced the people of the United Kingdom to zombie-like creatures. In the sequel, 28 Weeks Later, the UK has been pacified through an American military occupation but things eventually go south. For attentive viewers in 2007 the political implications were unmistakable; 28 Weeks Later was a lightly disguised allegory of the conflict in Iraq which was not going well at that time. The casting is also amusing as 28 Weeks Later included several actors who have gone on to great success including Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Idris Elba, and Imogen Poots.


Hostel: Part II (2007)
Eli Roth’s Hostel was one of the most successful titles in the torture subgenre that was so popular during the 2000s. The movie focused on a group of male backpackers who are captured by an organization that abducts tourists and offers them as thrill killings to rich clients. The sequel reiterated the core idea but changed the gender of the victims and improved the story with a much more controlled tone. Hostel: Part II was a gristly but thoughtful take on misogyny and economics. It isn’t very subtle but Hostel: Part II is a provocative feminist movie.