There is no better end to a Halloween celebration than a good old-fashioned horror movie. Films like “Friday the 13th,” “Halloween,” “Scream,” and their ilk have made millions off of this fact, churning out dozens of sequels to meet demand for fun horror flicks.
Where there are sequels, however, there are bastardizations of the source material, and the horror genre seems to be a festering ground for the worst of the worst of sequels. Some of these sequels seem to have nothing to do with horror. Some are so far gone from their roots they may as well be different movies. Here are the top five worst offenders in this regard.
5: “Saw 3D”
I really like the original “Saw” –it’s creepy, it’s imaginative, and it is free of most of those stupid, overthought traps that became a staple of the series by “Saw III”. “Saw 3D”, then, is the quintessential example of a franchise so bastardized that it’s roots aren’t even visible anymore. There is none of the focus of the original, with so many characters that have so little influence on the plot. “Saw 3D” is all about the insane and idiotic traps that are created only to look good in 3D (and I assure you, they don’t look good in 3D). The only reason this is so low on the list is that it makes a certain amount of sense.
4: “Freddy Vs. Jason”
This is a movie that makes no sense. Freddy from “Nightmare on Elm Street” stops being able to haunt dreams, so he uses Jason to make people fear him again, but they have a falling out and it ends in a massive climactic fight scene that all leads to a convoluted ending. Neither horror icon wins—neither filmmaker wanted their man to lose—and the film is essentially a backdrop to an admittedly fun fight scene. The saving grace of this film is that it is so bad that it can actually be quite fun.
3: “Jaws: The Revenge”
“Jaws: The Revenge” is the perfect combination of “Saw: 3D” and “Freddy vs. Jason”; it blends the infidelity to the roots of the franchise with low-budget insanity to create a movie that might actually have been a good parody of the “Jaws” franchise had it not been so phenomenally stupid. Watch it if you hate your brain cells and basic principles of acting and storytelling.
2: “Troll 2”
A film that defies explanation, the film revolves around goblins (yes, goblins—not trolls) disguised as humans trying to eat said humans. That sounds like the basis of a decent film, but it is so bizarre that the premise quickly ceases to matter. Halfway through a bizarre scene involving corn and sexual innuendo, you will discover what kind of moviegoer you are: one who can enjoy bizarre, bad movies, or one who has standards in his or her life. Some of the worst acting in acting history rounds out this train wreck.
1: “Ghoulies II”
“Ghoulies II” is proof that there is no low filmmakers will not sink to to try to make a buck. The first “Ghoulies”, in addition to being a Gremlins ripoff, was terrible. The sequel had a third of the production values of the original with all the charm of an 8 a.m. class on a Monday. The rubbery, Satanist abominations that this film focuses on have no appeal, no charisma, and it isn’t even enjoyably bad. “Ghoulies II” is a movie that literally sucks the joy out of the audience, and is by FAR the worst horror sequel ever.
