What happens when you paste the name of a classic movie on a bad movie, and call the thing a sequel?
Let’s say the results are less than stellar in the case of “S.
Darko”. Stick around to see the full list of lame cinematic follow-ups.
Horror films and psychological thrillers are gold mines for unnecessary add-ons,
and plenty of franchises — like "Hellraiser" and "Child's Play," for instance — which
have spawned numerous sequels that don't add much to the original story.
In many cases, these sequels end up going direct-to-video — or straight to streaming,
nowadays — which usually indicates that their quality is substantially lower than the original.
One of the most egregious examples of this is the direct-to-video sequel to Mary Harron's "American
Psycho," the classic slasher film starring Christian Bale as serial killer Patrick Bateman.
Released two years after the original, "American Psycho II: All American Girl"
stars Mila Kunis as a college student who becomes a murderer during her time studying criminology.
Christian Bale isn't in the film, but Patrick Bateman does appear — albeit,
played by someone else with his face never shown. The connection to the
first film is small, but that's because there was originally no connection at all.
"American Psycho II" began as an original screenplay called "The Girl Who Wouldn't Die," but
was undeservedly given the "American Psycho" title late in production in
a transparent bid to capitalize on the original film's success. It was a cheap
cash grab that definitely resulted in more than a few disgruntled Blockbuster customers.
"I have to return some videotapes."
"The Blair Witch Project" changed the horror game when it arrived in the summer of 1999.
One of the earliest examples of the modern found-footage genre, the story of three film
students lost in the woods was an unprecedented success that spawned a sequel only a year later.
However, it wasn't originally supposed to be released — at least not that quickly.
After "The Blair Witch Project" broke the record for the best budget-to-box-office ratio
in American history, its distributor, Artisan Entertainment, wasted no time in greenlighting
a second installment. While production company Haxan Films didn't want to rush it,
Artisan pushed on regardless, choosing to move forward without the involvement of
either of the original "Blair Witch" directors. True crime documentarian
Joe Berlinger took the helm, but even he was dissatisfied with the
final product after studio executives made sweeping changes to his initial vision.
The final product was "Book of Shadows:
Blair Witch 2," which came and went with little fanfare or praise.
The "Blair Witch" franchise was rebooted with another installment in 2016, but the magic of
the first film still has yet to be replicated — and it's hard to believe that it ever will be.
"The Bourne Identity" kicked off the Bourne franchise with a bang, telling the exciting,
yet thoughtful story of an amnesiac CIA operative on a mission to discover his past. While not every
film in the series was universally acclaimed, the first three were positively received,
bringing in a combined 950 million dollars at the box office. While "The Bourne Identity"
was an adaptation of the first installment of Robert Ludlum's bestselling trilogy of novels,
that didn't mean that production on follow-up film "The Bourne Supremacy" was a forgone conclusion.
Matt Damon, the face of four out of five of the films in the franchise,
has commented that "The Bourne Identity" was never made with a trilogy or even a sequel in mind.
According to Damon, expectations were low due to a number of production problems,
along with the film's release date being the same as the live-action "Scooby-Doo."
Even though the Mystery Gang brought in a bit more cash, "The Bourne Identity"
defied expectations and revolutionized the action genre for years to follow.
Harold Ramis' "Caddyshack," the 1980 comedy about the workers and members of an elite golf club,
features an all-star cast that includes Bill Murray and Chevy Chase.
After the picture surpassed expectations and catapulted Rodney Dangerfield to big-screen
stardom, Warner Bros. requested a sequel… and things got complicated from there.
Production on "Caddyshack II" was a mess right from the start. An initially apathetic Ramis only
agreed to the sequel at Dangerfield's request, but when numerous story ideas and rewrites left
Dangerfield unsatisfied, he and Ramis dropped out of the project a few months later. Chevy Chase
was the only original cast member who would end up appearing in the sequel, albeit in a smaller role.
The actors who replaced the original cast, as well as their new characters, were the final
nails in the coffin for this troubled sequel. With terrible reviews and dismal box office returns,
"Caddyshack II" is a follow-up that reaffirms that some ideas should just be one and done.
Brian De Palma's 1976 adaptation of Stephen King's "Carrie" is nothing less than a horror classic.
The tale of a high school outcast who wreaks telekinetic havoc on her bullies has not only
been remade for film and television multiple times over the years, but also inspired a sequel that
was released a whole 23 years after the original. Set within the same universe as the original film,
"The Rage: Carrie 2" centers around a young woman named Rachel who has powers similar
to Carrie, and uses them to exact revenge on the classmates who drove her only friend to suicide.
Much like "American Psycho II," "The Rage: Carrie 2" started as an original story,
but the powers that be thought that making Rachel and Carrie related would boost ticket sales.
Despite the return of Amy Irving as Sue Snell, it didn't work:
"The Rage: Carrie 2" was panned by critics and failed to make a profit.
Once a studio decides that it wants a sequel, there isn't much that can stop it
from happening — but it definitely doesn't help if the people responsible for the original film
want nothing to do with it. One filmmaker who was particularly uninterested in returning under
studio control was Richard Kelly, the filmmaker behind the 2001 science fiction coming-of-age
film "Donnie Darko." Although "Donnie Darko" didn't do well financially on initial release,
it's since gained a cult following thanks to its enigmatic plot that follows a troubled
high schooler who's seeing visions of a strange man in a rabbit suit.
"I made a new friend." "Real or imaginary?" "Imaginary."
In 2009, the sequel "S. Darko" was released, centering around Donnie's
youngest sister and featuring a similarly strange plot. According to Kelly, however,
not only did he have no involvement in "S. Darko," but he's never even seen the film
and has no plans to watch it any time soon. That's probably for the best, considering that
critics and moviegoers didn't seem to like it either. Even though he hasn't released a movie
since "The Box" in 2009, Kelly has promised his own "Darko" follow-up in the future.
William Friedkin's 1973 blockbuster "The Exorcist" is widely regarded as one of the best horror films
ever made, frightening in a way that few movies at the time were able to match.
The battle between two priests and the demon possessing 12-year-old Regan spawned a franchise
that includes several sequels, a television series, and a reboot trilogy slated for 2023.
William Peter Blatty, the author of the novel the film is based on, produced the
first film and wrote the script, winning the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Since "The Exorcist" was one of the biggest films of the 1970s, Warner Bros. was hungry
for a sequel, but neither Blatty nor Friedkin were interested in signing on. Regardless, production
on "Exorcist II: The Heretic" eventually went ahead with a new writer, new producers,
a new director, and the return of Linda Blair's Regan as a young teenager dealing with the trauma
of the previous film's events. Whereas the first film elicited scares, the sequel drew anger and
laughter from both critics and moviegoers, failing to meet financial expectations in the process.
Blatty eventually returned to write and direct "The Exorcist III," which was released 17 years
after the original and completely ignored the events of "The Heretic." The threequel got much
better reviews and has many more fans, but it's still not as universally beloved as the original.
Sequels typically arrive no more than a few years after the films they're following up. The odds of
success tend to fall the longer it takes, but a long wait can still end up with a big hit.
That wasn't the case, unfortunately, for "Gremlins II: The New Batch."
The sequel to 1984's "Gremlins" showed up in theaters six years after the original,
and despite earning positive reviews, it had a dismal box office run.
Director Joe Dante didn't want to make a "Gremlins" sequel when Warner Bros.
originally asked, but he eventually agreed on the condition that he could have full creative
control. Dante's vision resulted in a film that saw the Gremlins invade a New York City
skyscraper, featuring several instances of wildly anarchic meta humor. "The New Batch"
didn't catch on during its initial release, but it's acquired a cult following over
the years — there's plenty of fans hoping that they'll live to see a "Gremlins III."
It's one thing to not be interested in a sequel — it's another to be forced into one thanks to a
contract. That's exactly what happened to Jan de Bont, director of the runaway bus action
film "Speed." De Bont felt that the story of "Speed" had reached its natural conclusion,
but the surprise success of the first film meant he was contractually obligated to make one anyway.
Thus, "Speed 2: Cruise Control" was born. Replacing the bus with a boat
and Keanu Reeves with Jason Patric, "Speed 2" failed to recapture the excitement of the
original despite featuring the always-entertaining Willem Dafoe as the main villain. Even though it
featured one of the biggest, most expensive movie stunts of the 90s, "Cruise Control" is
only talked about nowadays when listing the worst sequels in cinematic history.
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