12 Horror Sequels You Should Die Before You See

Between Night Of The Living Dead (1968) and A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), the horror genre was at its creative peak, birthing such classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn Of The Dead, Halloween and The Evil Dead. These were low budget, independently produced (and distributed) pictures that were made for the sake of the film and not for the sake of the money. But as the 1980s crept in, all of that changed.

As early as 1982, George Romero complained about indie filmmakers being unable to compete with the major studios, claiming it was part of “the McDonaldization of America.” It’s apt that Romero, who satirised consumerism in Dawn Of The Dead, should liken Hollywood to the fast food industry, because Tinseltown genuinely seemed to be adopting their practices.

Instead of hiring chefs who can prepare many kinds of food, Hollywood makes the same thing over and over again. Slick, calculated horror franchises have become the norm, and sometimes it’s difficult to know if you’re watching a movie or a glorified trailer for the soundtrack, the video game, the upcoming box set, and invariably more sequels.

But which horror sequels did it worst? Time to find out; none of the following films even tried to push the boundaries of horror, quite the opposite in fact, but if you're a fan of soulless conformity, look no further.

Featuring two Oscar-winners pursuing an alien disguised as a blonde centrefold around LA, Species was a big enough hit for MGM to knock out this “feeble excuse for a movie” (San Francisco Chronicle) a few years later. It’s basically The Quatermass Xperiment given a studio budget, some name actors and all the blood, violence and bare flesh the target demographic could want.

The results are fabulously tacky. Having been infected with alien DNA, spaceman Justin Lazard, the first man on Mars, breaks sexual quarantine for two sisters who “share everything”, including the stomach-bursting parasites he passes on to them.

This is just the beginning, however, as soon he’s picking up scores of hookers and strippers who promptly bear his fork-tongued offspring (which he keeps in a barn). In one tasteless/hilarious moment, Lazard, pursued by Michael Madsen’s ET hitman, drags a housewife into his van, only for Madsen to pick the wrong vehicle that’s rocking from side to side in broad daylight.