12 Awful Movie Sequels That Franchises Completely Ignored

7. The Exorcist II

Wiped Out By: The Exorcist III

The Exorcist franchise is a great big mess, thanks to the confusing numerical conventions in the titles and the fact that two separate prequels existed after the sequels.

It's impressive they made any sequels after The Heretic was released to terrible response. Some have tried to suggest that the film actually deserves more appreciation, but the reality is that it's a very bad film. And it wasn't just bad, it was utterly misguided, as director John Boorman admitted that he'd tried to make something "a kind of riposte to the ugliness and darkness of The Exorcist".

Mercifully, the third film, which ignored its poor predecessor, was a far more pure vision of what the Exorcist should be. It's scary, it's entertaining and it thankfully doesn't try to do anything too "positive".