20 Horror Sequels That RUINED Characters

Sequels are a tough nut to crack at the best of times, but the general hope is that the next movie in a series will find a way to deepen the audience's relationship to the surviving characters - whether hero or villain.

But it's especially common in horror of all genres for a sequel to do a huge disservice to a well-liked, even totally beloved character, ensuring that a large swath of the fanbase is left totally infuriated.

And that's surely the case with these 20 horror sequels, each of which ruined characters the audience was firmly attached to and invested in.

The most predictable thing a sequel can do, of course, is kill off the previous protagonist, either for mere shock value or because the actor refused to return. 

But characters can also get ruined many other ways, perhaps by being turned into a villain in the sequel, having their personality puzzlingly changed, or in the case of a classic villain themselves, having their backstory excessively explained.

No matter how good - or not - these sequels were otherwise, each ruined a character who absolutely deserved better...

The original Final Destination ended with just two main characters surviving to the end credits - Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) and Clear Rivers (Ali Larter).

And though Clear returns in a supporting capacity in Final Destination 2, Alex is nowhere to be seen, with Clear revealing to new protagonist Kimberly Corman (A. J. Cook) that he was killed in a freak accident involving a falling brick.

The news of Alex's death naturally pissed off many fans, not least that it occurred off-screen - a downright insulting fate for a character who worked so incredibly hard to cheat death in the original movie.

As for why Alex didn't at least get killed on-screen? This was due to Devon Sawa being unavailable as he dealt with personal issues, and so the producers decided to move on without him.

Yet, could they not have simply said that Alex was missing in action, in turn leaving the door open for him to return once Sawa felt ready to act again?

Instead, one of the series' best characters was done totally dirty and treated like an afterthought.