10 Horror Sequels That Are Actually Worth Watching

If there’s one thing you can count on in horror franchises, it’s that the supposed “final chapter” (see: 2010’s Saw The Final Chapter) is never that. Despite series antagonist John Kramer (Tobin Bell) biting it in the third film, we are now ten films deep with another on the way. While James Wan’s first movie is worth watching, every sequel thereafter has offered diminishing returns, hashing and rehashing and re-rehashing the events of each previous film, managing to stretch the story of two or three fully realised films across a seemingly infinite lifespan.

And yet.

Bell put on his gore gloves again two years ago, stepping back into the role of the Jigsaw killer for Kevin Greutert’s Saw X, a direct sequel to the first film that didn’t retcon the franchise but allowed us an in-depth look into the bad guy’s private life. Kramer is shafted by con artists who convince him they can remove the cancer eating away at him. When they don’t, he rounds them up and chucks them in one of his grittier trap rooms to fight for their lives.

It’s a fun and enlightening ride, and even packs a rare reversal in which Jigsaw finds himself locked in one of his own machines, giving him the opportunity to demonstrate his humanity and save an innocent. And while the film doesn’t change anything, and isn’t even the best for traps or villains, it is one of the only Saw sequels that is truly worth our time.