After reading a few of the replies to the TCM thread for the new DVD releases, I sat down and thought hard as to when each popular horror franchise dipped into Oblivion Hell.
Below are my thoughts, what does everyone think of when these franchises dipped to sequel hell?
----------------
Halloween
Halloween 1 & 2 were great movies, then with H3-6 the series went for a rollercoaster ride. In H1 & 2 atmosphere and scares were used more than the slasher type of killing. We had the H3 concept which bombed, then with H4-6 the story went into rollercoaster hell + the completely made Michael a slasher. I think H20 and Resurrection helped bring this series a bit out of obscurity even though many laughed at Resurrection. But the hardcore fans like to look at Halloween 1, 2, H20, & Resurrection as part of one series and 4-6 as another. Even when H20 released, the movie ignores that 4-6 even existed.
Friday the 13th
Then the Friday the 13th series took a complete nose dive at Part 3 imo. Really got stupid and wasteless when Jason Takes Manhattan, now that was crap. When I thought that Jason Goes To Hell it was going to bring the series back from the depths of hell, it only buried the series further with the stupid storyline of Jason jumping from body to body. The last 2 minutes when Freddy's glove comes out and grabs Jason's mask to hell made up for all the crap that was Friday 9: Jason Goes To Hell. Jason X was a decent sequel and I think that this movie was better than some of the rest of the sequels that were dumped on our laps after Part 3. Again it kind of got stupid at some points when Jason did get a robotic arm and leg, but that is hollywood. The big payoff came with Freddy vs. Jason which I liked very much, even though many didn’t. FvJ went on to make more money than any single movie based off of either franchise.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
With Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I think that the series started really getting bad with TCM2, when they really tried to make Leatherface a tool for the family. In TCM, he was such a bad@ss, but they kind of made him weak later and even a freak who dressed in drag. TCM: Next Generation the 4th movie in the series was a piece of crap, not even Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey could save this movie.
Hellraiser
Another franchise that went down the tubes due to bad sequels is Hellraiser. I feel that with this one also like Friday the 13th, after Hellraiser III it all went downhill. It became sequel after sequel of not even basing the story so much around Pinhead and his minions the cenobites, but around a central conflict that the main character was having which caused 5 minutes of total screen time for Pinhead in a few of the sequels. Clive Barker’s creation went sour, with him losing rights to the Hellraiser world it may never allow him to ever bring this franchise back to promise. He had to create a new line a few years ago called Tortured Souls, to replace the loss of the Hellraiser Cenobites and it’s world.
Nightmare on Elm Street
I feel that Nightmare on Elm Street took the same route as some of the other franchises above. I would say after the second movie, it all started becoming the same concept over and over except things got more ridiculous with each passing sequel. Like the Halloween series, I feel like Nightmare 6 and the New Nightmare helped bring some respect back to a series that was dying. As I mention for Friday, FvJ did more good than bad for the Nightmare series and there has been talks of a sequel in the works with possibly a 3rd character being added. Rumor has it to be ASH from the Evil Dead series.
Amityville Horror
The Amityville Horror series started off as a creepy series that would turn mediocre within the first few sequels. Here is another franchise where the first movie was such a classic, which was based off of a true story at the time. As the years past by, we learned that the Amityville story could be a hoax made up by George Lutz and his lawyer to make millions from the book sales and movie rights. Lutz never made the money that he expected from this fiasco. The original Amityville and Amityville 2 were good movies with the first one telling the story of the Lutz’s and the sequel telling the story of the Defeo family that started all this mess. After 8 sequels, only the second was worthwhile and it spurned a remake of the original. I liked the remake, but there were a few things that I didn’t care about in that movie. If the series were to get a relaunch, I would be all for them doing a prequel with the backstory of the Defeo family.
There has been a few franchises in the horror industry that I feel haven’t been affected by the sequelitis syndrome like these up above have.
Which ones? Below you will find the franchises that imo have endured sequelitis syndrome.
Evil Dead/Army of Darkness
Phantasm
SAW (Even though it's early, I like this series so far)
Night/Dawn/Day/Land of the Living Dead
Final Destination
Below are my thoughts, what does everyone think of when these franchises dipped to sequel hell?
----------------
Halloween
Halloween 1 & 2 were great movies, then with H3-6 the series went for a rollercoaster ride. In H1 & 2 atmosphere and scares were used more than the slasher type of killing. We had the H3 concept which bombed, then with H4-6 the story went into rollercoaster hell + the completely made Michael a slasher. I think H20 and Resurrection helped bring this series a bit out of obscurity even though many laughed at Resurrection. But the hardcore fans like to look at Halloween 1, 2, H20, & Resurrection as part of one series and 4-6 as another. Even when H20 released, the movie ignores that 4-6 even existed.
Friday the 13th
Then the Friday the 13th series took a complete nose dive at Part 3 imo. Really got stupid and wasteless when Jason Takes Manhattan, now that was crap. When I thought that Jason Goes To Hell it was going to bring the series back from the depths of hell, it only buried the series further with the stupid storyline of Jason jumping from body to body. The last 2 minutes when Freddy's glove comes out and grabs Jason's mask to hell made up for all the crap that was Friday 9: Jason Goes To Hell. Jason X was a decent sequel and I think that this movie was better than some of the rest of the sequels that were dumped on our laps after Part 3. Again it kind of got stupid at some points when Jason did get a robotic arm and leg, but that is hollywood. The big payoff came with Freddy vs. Jason which I liked very much, even though many didn’t. FvJ went on to make more money than any single movie based off of either franchise.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
With Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I think that the series started really getting bad with TCM2, when they really tried to make Leatherface a tool for the family. In TCM, he was such a bad@ss, but they kind of made him weak later and even a freak who dressed in drag. TCM: Next Generation the 4th movie in the series was a piece of crap, not even Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey could save this movie.
Hellraiser
Another franchise that went down the tubes due to bad sequels is Hellraiser. I feel that with this one also like Friday the 13th, after Hellraiser III it all went downhill. It became sequel after sequel of not even basing the story so much around Pinhead and his minions the cenobites, but around a central conflict that the main character was having which caused 5 minutes of total screen time for Pinhead in a few of the sequels. Clive Barker’s creation went sour, with him losing rights to the Hellraiser world it may never allow him to ever bring this franchise back to promise. He had to create a new line a few years ago called Tortured Souls, to replace the loss of the Hellraiser Cenobites and it’s world.
Nightmare on Elm Street
I feel that Nightmare on Elm Street took the same route as some of the other franchises above. I would say after the second movie, it all started becoming the same concept over and over except things got more ridiculous with each passing sequel. Like the Halloween series, I feel like Nightmare 6 and the New Nightmare helped bring some respect back to a series that was dying. As I mention for Friday, FvJ did more good than bad for the Nightmare series and there has been talks of a sequel in the works with possibly a 3rd character being added. Rumor has it to be ASH from the Evil Dead series.
Amityville Horror
The Amityville Horror series started off as a creepy series that would turn mediocre within the first few sequels. Here is another franchise where the first movie was such a classic, which was based off of a true story at the time. As the years past by, we learned that the Amityville story could be a hoax made up by George Lutz and his lawyer to make millions from the book sales and movie rights. Lutz never made the money that he expected from this fiasco. The original Amityville and Amityville 2 were good movies with the first one telling the story of the Lutz’s and the sequel telling the story of the Defeo family that started all this mess. After 8 sequels, only the second was worthwhile and it spurned a remake of the original. I liked the remake, but there were a few things that I didn’t care about in that movie. If the series were to get a relaunch, I would be all for them doing a prequel with the backstory of the Defeo family.
There has been a few franchises in the horror industry that I feel haven’t been affected by the sequelitis syndrome like these up above have.
Which ones? Below you will find the franchises that imo have endured sequelitis syndrome.
Evil Dead/Army of Darkness
Phantasm
SAW (Even though it's early, I like this series so far)
Night/Dawn/Day/Land of the Living Dead
Final Destination
Comment