10 Scrapped Horror Movie Sequels Much Better Than What We Got
The best ideas don't always make it.
In Hollywood, sequels are the rule rather than the exception. If a film connects with audiences and makes money it’s pretty much guaranteed to have a follow-up. And thanks to lower budgets, marketable villains and the genre’s rabid fan base, nowhere else is this practice more prevalent than in the world of horror.
But a successful scary movie is a double-edged sword with many filmmakers finding themselves backed into a corner as their creations become popular. A fight takes place with studios and producers on one side expecting a box office haul greater than or at least equal to the previous installment and on the other? The artistic drive within those behind the scenes trying to come up with something different and something that justifies expanding the story.
More often than not, the money men win the day. It's not surprising: after all, without them, there’s no movie. Creativity dies to make way for the safe and familiar, leaving a battlefield littered with rejected ideas and coated in the tears of fans everywhere left dreaming of the unrealized possibilities and what might have been.
And when those abandoned projects come to light, it's inevitable that some of them end up looking like far better options than what we actually got...
10. Flies
David Cronenberg’s The Fly was a rarity for horror films. Not only was it a remake, but it totally upended the plot of the 1958 original, presenting it as a more realistic take on the source material. A hit with both critics and fans, a sequel was inevitable and 3 years later The Fly II was released. Unfortunately, this follow-up was considered subpar and lost a lot of what made the prior installment such a success.
But it didn’t have to be that way. Prior to the sequel being greenlit, an idea was floated by Tim Lucas, publisher/editor of Video Watchdog. Entitled Flies, Lucas’ pitch was to have followed Veronica (Geena Davis) from the original as she attempts to pick up the pieces of her life after watching her lover Seth (Jeff Goldblum) transformed into a fly-like monster.
The film would’ve seen Veronica as a reporter working on a story about Bartok Industries and their use of Seth’s research and equipment. During her investigation, she'd discover that Seth’s consciousness had become trapped within Bartok’s computers and is now being forced in assisting the company to develop all sorts of nasty things. Seth's consciousness would also inform her that there’s a possibility he can be brought back to life through cloning via the Telepods used in the first film.
Even though it was radically different than the original, Flies was a progression of the story, keeping one foot within the original’s scifi/horror wheelhouse while expanding the world at the same time. It would’ve been unexpected and that seemed to be the main point for its rejection as producers didn’t consider the idea “cinematic” enough, as well as being too smart.