10 Horror Movie Sequels That Should Have Ended Their Series
These much-milked cash cows just didn't know when to throw in the towel.
Sequels truly are the bread and butter of the horror genre.
Once a decent horror film makes a killing at the box-office, you can almost always expect a sequel to quickly swoop in to hoover up whatever cash hasn't found its way back into the viewer's pockets. More often than not, horror sequels are fairly pedestrian, failing to live up to the spooktacular heights of their predecessors, although sometimes they'll strike gold and produce a sequel that expands on the original in fresh and exciting ways, giving fans a chance to relive the thrills, spills, and chills all over again.
Sadly though, the quality of said sequels matters not when there are piles of money to be gained from churning out endless follow-ups to beloved fright flicks and as a result, many of the big names in horror royalty have seen their names tarnished by a glut of poorly conceived films that wanted nothing more than to bleed you dry.
The films featured here today are representative of the point where the filmmakers should have thrown in the towel and let these sleeping corpses lie, allowing their respective franchises to bow out with a much-needed sense of dignity.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
10. Jeepers Creepers 2
The original Jeepers Creepers was a surprise hit back in 2001. Its unique premise, atmosphere, and wonderfully terrifying villain immediately struck a chord with horror fans, so much so that a mere two years later, Jeepers Creepers 2 was released in cinemas.
In typical sequel fashion, this follow-up gave us a bigger body-count, higher-stakes, and a bounty of air-headed teenagers that we couldn't wait to see fall prey to the titular Creeper. When you boil it down, Jeepers Creepers 2 is a fun - if not unnecessary - film that gave fans more of what they'd come to love the first time around, but did very little beyond that.
Jeepers Creepers 3 however is an abomination and should never have been made.
After languishing in development hell for an entire decade, fan expectations were high when the film finally landed in 2016. Sadly all the nostalgia and goodwill in the world couldn't prevent fans from seeing this film for the turgid mess that it is. Absolutely nothing that made the first two films interesting or scary was present and it feels like no effort at all went into its creation.
They definitely should have stopped whilst they were ahead.