5 Horror Movie Endings That Were Ignored by Sequels

Oftentimes, a horror movie ends with a promise for more. This is especially true if it’s already part of a major IP. Yet, for a variety of reasons, those promises don’t always materialize into a reality. A prominent example is that a protagonist has turned into an antagonist only for the immediate successor to say, “Nope, we’re just going to stick with what worked in the other financially successful films.” It makes sense, as people go to a Halloween movie for Michael Myers, they go to an A Nightmare on Elm Street film for Freddy Krueger, and they buy a ticket for a Friday the 13th for Jason Voorhees. But it’s also a little disappointing. What’s wrong with some fresh blood being injected into a going-stale IP?

Yes, two of those three aforementioned slasher titans will follow. But not just them. What follows are five examples of horror movies with endings that were entirely ignored by the film (and, by extension films) that followed them.

The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead ends memorably, with the unseen entity rapidly approaching Ash Williams, but that’s not where Evil Dead II kicks off. At least, not really. Instead, the sequel ingeniously quasi-remakes the original film in its first few scenes. Then, after Ash has dismembered and buried his girlfriend (who just can’t quite seem to stay dead), he is then possessed himself.

So, in a way, Evil Dead II does pick up where its predecessor left off, it’s just not right off the bat. Both of the first two films are wonderful, but Evil Dead II is seen as superior for good reason. It starts off by taking a big swing and as the run time progresses those swings only get bigger.

Watch The Evil Dead on AMC+.

Jaws 3-D

1987’s Jaws: The Revenge doesn’t just ignore the end of Jaws 3-D, it ignores the whole thing. It’s a sequel to Jaws and the underrated Jaws 2 more than it is the fourth film. There’s no mention of SeaWorld, no mention of Sean Brody being attacked there, and no mention of Michael having a job there.

Instead, The Revenge opens by showing Sean as the new sheriff of Amity. And after he’s eaten about 15 minutes in, Michael comes into the picture. There is one similarity to Jaws 3-D in that Michael is a marine biologist, but there’s no real continuity outside that when it comes to his character. It’s clear that it’s not counting Jaws 3-D because he’s married with a child, and he doesn’t even mention his girlfriend from the previous film, Kathryn Morgan.

Rent or Buy Jaws 3-D on Prime Video.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is pretty far from being one of the great slasher sequels, but its ending is fairly interesting. It’s exploitative, it’s thinly written, and some of the acting is, shall we say, spotty. It also doesn’t even feature Jason Voorhees as the main villain, it’s a paramedic named Roy.

The Jason-free direction it promises in its final scene is more interesting. Or at least it would have been if the next installment weren’t called Jason Lives. On one hand, it’s for the best that Paramount went the direction they did with the sixth film, because it’s widely deemed one of the franchise’s absolute best. On the other, after watching Tommy Jarvis witness and survive two murder sprees, it’s not unbelievable that he’d be picking up a knife of his own.

Watch Friday the 13th: A New Beginning for free with ads on Pluto TV.

[RELATED: Every Friday the 13th Movie Ranked by Jason’s Physical Appearance]

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

As a whole, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is one of the franchise’s better installments, with fairly well-drawn characters and a handful of unique kills. On the former front, the highlight is the duo of Jamie Lloyd and Rachel Carruthers, whose dynamic is impactful and believable.

Rachel is, quite regrettably, killed off early in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. But it’s not at the hands of Jamie, who is implied to now possess the spirit of her uncle Mike in the fourth film’s final moments. It was a gutsy move to tell viewers the next film will have a little girl as its serial killer but, alas, the powers that be decided that more Michael is what the audiences wanted. Even still, viewers didn’t turn out for Revenge.

Watch Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers on Shudder.

Species

The sci-fi horror movie Species ends with Natasha Henstridge’s sexually driven alien Sil killed with a grenade launcher after getting impregnated by then taking out Alfred Molina’s Dr. Stephen Arden as well as Ben Kingsley’s Xavier Fitch. In between those homicides and her own death, Sil gives birth to Arden’s alien-human baby, which is incinerated by Forest Whitaker’s (it’s a stacked cast) Dan Smithson.

But, just as all seems well, it’s revealed that a rat is chewing on one of Sil’s blown-apart tentacles. At that point, it mutates and kills another rat with a tentacle out of its mouth. It’s an interesting finale that could have gone in some suitably bizarre directions in a sequel. Instead, those behind Species II came to the (admittedly fairly on-point) conclusion that what audiences bought a ticket for was the one person on the poster: Henstridge. Even still, for people to show up for a sequel, it has to receive far better reviews than the ones given Species II.

Watch Species on Fubo TV.