8 Horror Movie Characters That Stupidly Turned Evil In The Sequel

Horror sequels have garnered a reputation for being terrible. No matter how fantastic the original flick was, the more sequels there are, the bigger the odds are of the franchise becoming awful.

Look no further than iconic juggernauts A Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday The 13th, for example. Despite each film becoming all-time horror classics that helped establish the slasher genre, the bombardment of sequels drastically diluted the original experience. While Freddy’s outings became increasingly campier, Jason ended up going into space. Both even shared the spotlight in the atrocious Freddy Vs. Jason.

To keep an ever-growing franchise interesting, writers are required to produce new plot twists and revelations to keep the action feeling fresh. Whether it’s by expanding upon the lore or shifting the series into completely new territory, there’s plenty of paths available for sequels to take.

Sometimes, though, the ideas writers conceive for sequels can be downright lazy, with one of the most egregious being turning established characters into villains.

While characters like Anakin Skywalker and Michael Corleone turning to villainy showed that these developments can be the basis for thoughtful character studies, some writers didn’t get the memo on how to do this right.

While Paul W.S Anderson’s Resident Evil films aren’t as revered as the games they’re based on, these schlocky action-horror outings nevertheless have their share of fans who’re eager to get their hands on more Resi goodness.

While these films have little to do with the source material, with Anderson instead opting to create his own continuity, they do occasionally draw upon some plot points from the games. One such beat being a mind-controlled Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) betraying her friends.

This plotline was already a silly addition to Resident Evil 5 which likewise resulted in one of the most frustrating boss fights in the series’ history. But the films took this concept to even more nonsensical heights.

Before Jill even gets to take on the villain mantle proper in 2012’s Retribution, the finale of Afterlife teased her as the next bad guy by showing her with the mind-control device on her chest.

Whereas Jill’s heel-turn was kept a mystery until the finale of the game, Retribution uses this plot point simply as an excuse for more of Anderson’s corny action set-pieces. Trust this film series to botch one of the only elements it borrows from the games.