8 Sequels Ruined By Idiotic Changes To The Original Concept

Of all the films on this list, the change in premise for the Weekend at Bernies movie was perhaps the most bewildering. While it could be very strongly argued that there was no need for a sequel at all, the premise of the original film was actually quite clever and the one aspect that should not have been touched in a sequel.

Hell, it was the film’s sole selling point.

The original shows the titular character of Bernie murdered by an assassin. When ‘young dude’ co workers Larry and Richard find the lifeless Bernie at his beachside mansion, they decide to pretend that Bernie is still alive for the very justified reason of continuing to enjoy his mansion for the weekend. Scenes involving Bernie sunbathing by the beach, ‘walking’, popping his head out from behind a couch, ‘surviving’ numerous assassination attempts and even surfing was great slapstick fun and made the film more watchable than it probably deserved to be.

For reasons only known to the producers of the sequel, this premise was not only ditched for the sequel, but was actively worked against, with Bernie being brought back to life.

The machinations of how this occurs, primarily through what can best be described as musical voodoo, is bizarre to say the least and completely un-amusing. The change in premise left the film with nowhere to go and left a lot of heavy lifting to the rather unfunny lead actors. Perhaps Weekend at Bernies 2: Rigor Mortis may have been a better choice.