10 Movie Sequels WAY Crazier Than The Original
Crank: High Voltage somehow makes the first seem positively tame.
As much as Hollywood unabashedly loves sequels in a commercial sense, they're incredibly tricky to pull off well in practical terms, because finding a way to creatively one-up what came before just isn't that easy.
But one way to ensure a sequel isn't merely a tepid retread of the first film is to just go way harder, ensuring if nothing else audiences will probably respect the effort and commitment.
Though not all of these 10 wild sequels are universally beloved, they get a lot of points for going hell-for-leather on the execution front: practically drowning the audience in ludicrous action sequences, incredible practical effects, delirious comedy, and in turn delivering a fundamentally crazier experience.
Inspired by this terrific Reddit thread, these movies had the good sense to put the pedal to the metal and go to places that the first time perhaps wouldn't allow.
But with the original's commercial success under their belt, many of these filmmakers were given carte blanche to basically do whatever the hell they wanted.
They weren't all box office hits and some only earned their fair due years later, but each is nevertheless a towering testament to how creative and staunchly weird sequels can get...
10. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Joe Dante's original Gremlins may be a relatively wild black comedy, but compared to its 1990 sequel, it seems positively austere.
Though Warner Bros. were keen to get a sequel off the ground quickly, Dante was reluctant, and only agreed to make Gremlins 2 when he was given full creative control over the project as well as a budget thrice that of the original.
The result was Gremlins 2: The New Batch, a sequel so gloriously unhinged one can scarcely believe a major Hollywood studio actually greenlit it.
Dante, who had a difficult experience making the first Gremlins, envisioned the sequel as a quasi-parody of both the original and movie sequels as a whole, upping the ante in a way that was both totally ridiculous and yet absurdly entertaining.
Beyond being far funnier and more cartoonish than its predecessor, The New Batch is also pervasively meta, regularly breaking the fourth wall to the extent that, at one point, Hulk Hogan even shows up to stop the Gremlins tampering with the very movie we're watching.
Because it took six years for Warner Bros. to convince Dante to make the sequel, it unsurprisingly flopped at the box office, though has endured over the last three-plus decades as one of the most daring sequels ever produced within the Hollywood system.
Also be sure to check out Key and Peele's hilarious sketch about how Gremlins 2 came to pass.