10 Horror Movie Sequels That Took Risks... And Failed
Blair Witch 2 is a classic case of "What were they thinking?!"
The film industry has always relied on franchise filmmaking and established IP, and even in the so-called glory days of old Hollywood, remakes and sequels were constantly being churned out. That's understandable, for at the end of the day, moviemaking is a business, and sequels often make the most money, but it does mean there can be a pronounced lack of variety in the moviegoing experience.
Horror cinema is no different, what with all its seemingly endless franchises, many of which feel like endless repetitions of the same formula. Therefore, a horror sequel taking risks and subverting expectations is a great thing... right?
Well, on paper it absolutely is, and many great horror sequels - such as Aliens and Evil Dead II - took major creative risks that paid off beautifully. Having said this, subversion for the sake of it is never enough, as it has to feel earned and logical; otherwise, such decisions will just piss everyone off.
The following ten horror sequels could've taken stock of that. They all took huge risks but failed to do so in a way that felt organic, and their audacious elements severely undermined them in the end.
10. I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Kicking off with the most recent film on the list, we have I Know What You Did Last Summer, the 2025 sequel to the 1997 slasher of the same name. It's a legacy sequel no one asked for - these days, the original is best remembered for being parodied in Scary Movie, and it was never a particularly great movie to begin with - but to be fair, that first film was perfectly alright in many departments. Nevertheless, a certain creative decision really didn't go down well.
Namely, one of the two killers in this instalment is none other than Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.), one of the lead characters in the first two pictures. This was a bold choice, for sure, but it didn't really feel earned. In his past appearances, Ray never came off as someone who could ever become a murderer, and his motivations made even less sense. He wants to get revenge for the devastation inflicted upon his life by... re-enacting the killings that destroyed his life in the first place? Really? There's a way to subvert expectations in a clever way that feels earned, and this most definitely wasn't it.
Fans of the earlier films have savaged this plot turn, and that's not surprising in the least. This is one of those cases where the backlash was so foreseeable that it's a mystery as to why the filmmakers went in this direction to begin with.