10 Horror Movie Sequels That Killed Franchises
6. Hostel: Part III
Eli Roth's 2005 film Hotel is widely credited with popularising the "torture porn" subgenre, with its emphasis on prolonged, brutal torture and suffering.
The Quentin Tarantino-produced original was a phenomenal box office success, grossing $82 million against a mere $4.5 million budget, enough that a new horror franchise was seemingly born.
Roth returned with Hostel: Part II in 2007, which, while posting a decent enough return on its investment, grossed a more modest $35.6 million; less than half what its predecessor raked in. This prompted Roth to exit the franchise, opting not to return for Hostel: Part III, which ultimately went straight-to-video in 2011 and featured no returning characters from the first two films.
The threequel was largely panned by fans and received little attention from critics at all, while likely selling poorly enough that Sony opted not to continue with the series. It didn't help, of course, that torture porn was firmly declining in popularity by the early 2010s, and so it was simply a case of the market deciding it didn't want any more Hostel movies.