10 Horror Franchises Where The First Movie Is NOT The Best
7. Hostel
The best instalment: Hostel Part II
In the early 2000s, there was a boom in torture-focused horror films - the Saw and Hostel franchises are perhaps the most well-known Western examples of this mostly terrible subgenre of horror which, thankfully, died out pretty quickly. The Saw films have certainly been far more successful and are generally better, but while the best Saw film is still the first one, that's not the case with Hostel. It's arguable that Hostel's sequel eclipsed the original movie, as well the terrible direct-to-DVD third film that followed in 2011.
The reason? 2007's Hostel Part II completely fixes the main problem with its predecessor. The first film's leads were a trio of loathsome misogynists and it was tricky to get invested in their fates; the sequel, in contrast, has a group of likable characters who viewers won't want to see die horribly. Another neat trick is that it expands the scope; the movie spotlights two of the rich clients paying to torture people to death, so the film feels more well-rounded.
It's also, in general, a royally effed-up and genuinely disturbing, albeit also darkly comedic, misanthropic satire. It features many shocking twists and also a certain scene involving a bath-tub which is one of the most viscerally disturbing horror scenes of the 2000s - if you know, you know.
It's not a horror classic or anything, but it's good for what it is, and one of the very few torture-porn horror films out there that actually works.