Sequels are always a crap shoot when it comes to quality, and that’s never more true than with horror movies. Particularly those that end up as a franchise, where you have a set of (usually) diminishing returns. For this list, we’re (mostly) sticking with direct sequels, Part II’s and the like. When a sequel works out, it’s like catching lightning in a bottle. Again. When it doesn’t, it’s like licking a car battery. With this list, we’re hoping to give you bottles full of lightning. Either way, you’re probably going to get shocked. I… I’m sorry, that metaphor got away from me a bit. ANYWAY, here are the terrifying double-dips that ended up working out.
Here are the 50 Greatest Horror Sequels of All Time.
20. Child’s Play 2 (1990)
How much Chucky is too much? The answer to that question is going to determine how much you enjoy this movie. For me, the answer is: there is no such thing as too much! I can’t believe I’m typing that, as I usually find doll/doll-related movies pretty boring. I re-watched the original after many years, though, and found it damn fun. Revisiting the second movie was the same experience. It’s a different kind of film – we all know who the killer is, so there’s no point in hiding Chucky. Instead of a sort of monster movie, we get a supernatural slasher where the killer is a doll. It shouldn’t work, but it’s bloody good fun. (The way Chucky uses mostly children’s toys etc. as murder implements is particularly inspired.)
Brad Dourif returns as the voice of Chucky and he’s magnificently demented, whether throwing out the traditional 80’s one-liners (“How’s it hanging, Phil?”) or screaming as his plastic crotch is stapled to the floor, you believe this crazy, animatronic menace is really out to kill Andy and anyone who gets in his way. Alex Vincent is back as Andy, and he’s much better in this film – I love his almost resigned way of dealing with the adults who don’t believe that Chucky’s back. He also gets a great friend/sibling in Kyle (Christine Elise), a fellow sojourner in the foster care system.
There are some missteps – why the hell would you kill off Jenny Agutter off-screen, for crying out loud – but the fun of the final scene outweighs any problems of script or performance. Watching Andy and Kyle trying to outwit and survive an all out Chucky assault in a manufacturing plant full of Chucky dolls (and parts) is a delight, and the effects crew works overtime to give is a plethora of crazy Chucky faces and set pieces. If you don’t like Chucky, look elsewhere, but if you love the walking, talking murder machine this might just be the best film of the series.
–Bob Cram
19. 28 Weeks Later (2007)
While a fun sequel, 28 Weeks Later might as well be a completely different franchise. It takes the original’s weird and artsy style and ditches it for generic action scenes, and a new immunity storyline that ultimately goes nowhere. That’s not to say there’s nothing to like though. It’s perfectly fine as far as action movies go, and Jeremy Renner and Rose Byrne both are good in their respective roles. While not memorable, it’s not particularly awful either. Worth checking out if you’re a fan of the original, if just to complete your 28 Days story experience.
–Valerie Morreale
18. Day of the Dead (1985)
Closing out Romero’s original Dead trilogy, Day of the Dead is often passed over in favor of its predecessors, and while they’re admittedly better, DotD ain’t no slouch either. Taking place in an underground military facility instead of a farmhouse and a mall, the tone of this one is far bleaker. Not that the other two were chuckle-a-minute gag factories themselves, but there’s something far more insidious about a power gone corrupt in an underground steel and concrete coffin. How the military is portrayed in this and the constant struggle for power is the inspiration for the third act of 28 Days Later, and The Walking Dead definitely wouldn’t exist without it. Not bad for a film that fans consider a bronze place winner.
–Sailor Monsoon
17. Final Destination 2 (2003)
There’s only one reason Final Destination 2 is on this list, and it’s the opening sequence. The rest of the film is a by-the-numbers retread of the first film without the fun, the characters, the convoluted death scenes, and – oh, did I mention? – the fun. The opening sequence of FD2 is SO good, however, that it almost makes up for how lackluster the rest of the film is.
Like all of the Final Destination movies, FD2 opens with a character experiencing a vision of their imminent death. In this case, it involves a rain-slicked highway, various people in various motor vehicles (including a motorcycle and a cop car), and – most importantly – a fully loaded logging truck. When the inevitable happens and the chains holding the logs snap, the carnage that ensues is nothing short of epic. I’m STILL afraid to get behind a logging truck, and I learned to drive on a road full of ’em. (In Northern Maine.) It’s shocking and absolutely terrifying. Those fifteen minutes alone make the film worth watching.
–Bob Cram
16. The Exorcist III (1990)
Exorcist III, aka Legion, acts as if Exorcist II: The Heretic doesn’t exist, and honestly that’s something we should all aspire to. Most people also skipped Legion, assuming it would continue the precipitous slide in quality that started with the second film, and who could blame them? How many “Part 3” movies are any good? That’s too bad, because Legion is a fantastic, moody, elegiac horror film that trades mostly on mood, but that also contains one of the best freaking scares in movie history.
The film is primarily set up like a police procedural, with George C. Scott investigating a series of killings that emulate the MO of the long dead Gemini killer. His investigations lead him eventually to Patient X at a psychiatric ward, and here we connect more directly with the original film. It’s Father Karras. Well, his body, anyway. Who or what is inside that body is another matter.
There are some fantastic scenes between Scott and Brad Dourif, who plays the Gemini Killer, and a creepy moment with an old lady crawling on the ceiling, but for my money a shot of a long hallway gives one of the best scary moments. Just keep paying close attention…
Studio interference meant the film has a tacked on exorcism and flinches away from what could have been a bleak and amazing ending, but it’s still a damn good film and deserves to be seen by more people.
–Bob Cram
15. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
Every generation gets a thriller with the perfect premise. Whether it’s a detective working with one serial killer to catch another, a deranged psychopath who kills his victims by creating extreme scenarios to test their willingness to live, or a maniac who kills people based on the seven deadly sins. A thriller is only as good as its killer and its premise. New Nightmare has one of the best. Taking the meta approach two years before Scream, New Nightmare posits “what if the Nightmare on Elm Street movies were just movies but their popularity willed into existence a supernatural being whose visage and desire to kill is based on those films?”
It’s a complicated setup for sure, but it works like gangbusters. It adds a new spin to the mythos and takes the franchise into a new and interesting direction, one no other franchise has had the balls to go to since. When every other slasher was going into space, Freddy was breaking the fourth wall and coming after the people who made Freddy films. This film was on another level.
–Sailor Monsoon
14. Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Karloff returns! Lugosi appears! Rathbone classes the joint up and Jack Pierce provides the distinctive makeup effects. Two years after Universal pulled the plug on doing horror films they relaunched their monster series with this absolute classic from director Rowland V. Lee.
Rathbone plays Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, son of Henry, who moves to Castle Frankenstein to try and restore the family name. Easier said than done, especially with a resentful populace and the local police being represented by Inspector Krogh (Lionell Atwill) who had his arm “torn out by the roots” by the monster! Luckily, Wolf finds a friend and aid in Ygor (Bela Lugosi), who has managed to survive a hanging with only a slight bone-in-the-neck issue. With Ygor’s aid, Wolf finds the monster and decides to restore it to life to prove his father was right and thereby restore the family name.
Yeah, they, uh, they were kinda writing the script as they went along.
Anyway, while Son of Frankenstein never quite hits the lyrical heights of the original film or Bride, it’s still great monster-movie fun with some excellent characters and spooky sets that remind me more of the original film. Lugosi is great as Ygor and Karloff is always good value as the monster, investing the character with pathos (rather than appearing as just a big lug). One of the last great Universal Monster flicks.
–Bob Cram
13. Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Known in the US as 5 Million Years to Earth, this is the third entry in the Quatermass series – following The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2 – and is absolutely the best of the bunch. The Hammer film adaptations of Nigel Kneale’s BBC TV miniseries are all good, but this one gets the perfect balance of weird sci-fi and outright horror. With Andrew Keir taking over from Brian Donlevy (who Kneale always thought was miscast) in the title role, we also get one of the great science heroes of cinema, as he attempts to unravel the mystery of a strange object buried beneath a London Street.
The military decide it’s a German propaganda weapon leftover from World War II, but Quatermass and his allies begin to believe it’s a spaceship, possibly from Mars, possibly on a genetic colonization mission to populate the Earth with modified human slaves. And it may not be completely dead.
Quatermass and the Pit combines folk horror, science fiction, and social commentary in a uniquely Nigel Kneale way. The concepts are heady and the effects are decent – if dated – given the shoestring budget. The final, apocalyptic scenes are handled fairly well, and the ramifications of the revelations stay with you long after the horrific vision of alien domination fades from the sky.
–Bob Cram
12. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
The sequel to one of the greatest horror films of all time, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 feels more like a fever dream than a true sequel. While still centering the family from the first film and following roughly the same format, it’s way different tonally. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to love though, as seeing Dennis Hopper’s Lefty duel wielding two chainsaws screaming is a lot of fun and the film still looks incredible in every shot. Those hoping for the same brutality will be left wanting, but it’s still worth the watch if you’d like to see the original cast back in action for one more go. Caroline Williams as Stretch is an excellent final girl, but it’s the shot-for-shot recreations where this one lost me. Others may find the homages very enjoyable though, and it’s still a good watch overall.
–Valerie Morreale
11. Doctor Sleep (2019)
Doctor Sleep turned out to be a surprisingly satisfying sequel to The Shining, something I wasn’t sure was even possible. But then again, that was before I truly understood the talent of Mike Flanagan. What made Doctor Sleep work for me was how it honored Kubrick’s film while also carving out its own identity, leaning into Stephen King’s broader mythology within the novel. Seeing an older, haunted Dan Torrance (played brilliantly by Ewan McGregor) struggle with his past and his gift gave the story real emotional weight, and his connection with Abra added heart and hope to the darkness. The Overlook Hotel sequences were chilling and nostalgic without feeling like empty fan service, tying the two films together in a powerful way. For me, Doctor Sleep managed to both respect The Shining and expand its world, making it one of the rare sequels that truly enriches the original. I also have to give a shoutout to Rebecca Ferguson for playing Rose the Hat with such incredible, eerie charisma! This movie isn’t half as terrifying without her performance.
–Romona Comet
30-21 | 10-1
What are some of your favorite horror sequels of all time? Maybe they will show up later in this list!