8. Highlander 2: The Quickening (1991)
Sequel To: Highlander, the 1986 cult classic which gave us the phrase: "there can be only one".
Who Made It?: Russell Mulcahy, who also helmed the original. He also made directed many of the most famous music videos of the 1980s, including Buggles' 'Video Killed The Radio Star', Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart', and the majority of Duran Duran's biggest hits.
Why Was It Made?: Unlike many of the films on this list,
Highlander was not a big hit at the box office. Instead it found a very loyal audience on home video both in Europe and in America. Word slowly spread and eventually Mulcahy gave in to fans' demands.
Why Is It So Bad?: Highlander 2: The Quickening is one of the most infamous examples of retconning in cinema history. In other words, it undoes pretty much all the key elements that made
Highlander so enjoyable by re-writing the history of the immortals; for instance, making them aliens from the planet Zeist that came to Earth many years ago. This created enormous plot inconsistencies and reduced much of the film down to exposition and pointless action scenes. Even in the subsequent Renegade Cut, which removes all references to aliens and Zeist, the film makes very little sense and is incredibly boring.
What Happened Next:Highlander 3: The Final Dimension, made without Mulcahy, disregarded
Highlander 2's continuity but met with poor reviews and flopped at the box office. The series subsequently shifted into several TV series, more films, anime and TV cartoons, before finally dying a much-needed death with the horrendous made-for-Syfy movie
Highlander: The Source.