10 Horror Movie Sequels That Started In Surprising Ways

4. Hostel: Part II

The Grudge 2 Karen Davis Kyako Sarah Michelle Gellar
Lionsgate

Oh, Paxton...

Having survived a whole bunch of Achilles-slicing, eye-popping, finger-chopping antics in 2005's Hostel, Jay Hernandez's Paxton had been put through quite the wringer. Of course, such an experience will leave one traumatised, and that's clearly the case for our sole Hostel survivor by the time we pick things up with him at the start of Hostel: Part II.

Living in seclusion with his girlfriend, we find a Paxton who is dealing with severe PTSD. It also doesn't help Hernandez's character that his beau believes he's exaggerating his trauma, with her feeling that a) Paxton's time in Slovakia can't have been that bad, and b) there's absolutely zero chance of the nefarious Elite Hunting Group being able to track Paxton down.

How wrong was she? In a jarring move, Hostel: Part II's opening sequence ends with Paxton's girlfriend finding his headless corpse in the pair's kitchen. From there, we see Paxton's decapitated head couriered to the waiting hands of Sasha, the big boss of the aforementioned Elite Hunting Group.

With that, this first Hostel sequel switches its attention to a trio of new female characters who soon find themselves in the sinister clutches of Sasha's organisation.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.