Most people hate sequels, although horror movie sequels might be the exception to the rule since the best horror monsters return countless times, and fans anxiously await their next kills. Monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man, as well as slashers like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger, are all beloved icons with fans clamoring for more. However, in most cases, the sequels never match the brilliance of the first movies in any series, and that is also true with horror. Known as the law of diminishing returns, sequels often make less money and have less originality than the first films in a series, a large percentage of the time.
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However, this is not always the case, and there are some interesting moments where a horror movie sequel is actually better than the movies that came before.
5) Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
There aren’t many slasher movies better than the first Friday the 13th. However, when looking back at that original movie, it is really only a Friday the 13th film in name alone. While it introduced the idea of a slasher killer at a local campground, it was set up differently, with the murders happening from the killer’s POV. However, the big twist at the end is that it was a woman named Pamela Voorhees who was the killer all along, wanting revenge for the death of her son years before.
It wasn’t until Friday the 13th Part 2 that Jason Voorhees debuted as the slasher killer, surviving all those years after his apparent death at Camp Crystal Lake. That said, the best movie in the entire series, especially for fans of Jason, was the fourth movie, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. It has the best hero in young Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman), and the franchise began using a little more dark humor alongside the intense kills. Everything clicked here, and it was one of the ’80s best horror movies, regardless of genre.
4) Evil Dead II
The first Evil Dead movie was a masterpiece of indie filmmaking. What Sam Raimi accomplished with almost no money and a cast of college friends was astonishing. That is a movie that every aspiring filmmaker should watch to learn how to do practical effects and specialized trick shots for next to no cost. Evil Dead was also an incredible horror movie that had more heart put into its production than almost any other splatstick horror movie of its generation. However, Evil Dead II was just a little bit better.
Of course, what made Evil Dead II better was a decent production budget, which means more money, more experience from Sam Raimi behind the camera, and an improved Bruce Campbell in the lead role. It lacks a bit of the charm of the first Evil Dead movie, since it was more technically advanced, but it made Raimi a star director and remains listed among the best horror movies of all time.
3) Terrifier 2
Terrifier wasn’t actually the movie that introduced the world to the demonic killer known as Art the Clown. The modern-day slasher villain debuted in the anthology film All Hallows’ Eve (2013), appearing in two of the shorts. He then appeared in his own movie, Terrifier (2016), an ultra-low-budget film that became a cult favorite among horror and gore fans. However, he exploded in popularity with his next movie, the vastly superior Terrifier 2.
Even though it was still a low-budget film, Terrifier 2 was a massive success, grossing over $15 million at the box office and making Art the Clown an overnight sensation. The big thing that made it better was giving him an actual nemesis in Lauren LaVera’s Sienna Shaw (and her younger brother, Jonathan). Having someone who actually fought back that viewers cared about improved the story. The sequel also delved a little deeper into Art’s history and, as a result, turned a cult classic into a running franchise.
2) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street was a massive success when released, taking the slasher-killer concept and adding the supernatural element of having him kill people in their dreams. This made Freddy Krueger a much more dangerous and interesting villain than Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, and Robert Englund made Freddy a star thanks to his sarcastic attitude and quips.
As great as that first movie was, the third film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series remains the best of the entire franchise. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors presented the idea that the youngsters could actually team up and join forces in the Dream Realm to fight Freddy on his own turf. This made the movie more exciting than any other in the franchise, since it was more than just watching Freddy pick off the kids one by one. However, the kills here were as creative and disturbing as ever, and mixed in with the Dream Warriors from the title, this is one of the best horror sequels ever made.
1) Bride of Frankenstein
In 1931, Universal Studios discovered lightning in a bottle when it created its Universal Monsters movie franchise. The first was Dracula, with Bela Lugosi as the vampire count, and the second was Frankenstein, with Boris Karloff as the Creature. However, despite several sequels that brought back the monsters for more adventures, the best of these was Bride of Frankenstein.
Not only was Bride of Frankenstein the best sequel for the Universal Monsters, but it was arguably the best horror movie Universal produced in that era. This was part of the original Frankenstein novel, but here Dr. Henry Frankenstein agreed to create the Bride for his Creature, and the story ended in a horrifying conclusion. Frankenstein was a great movie, but its horror sequel was a genuine masterpiece.
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