Sequels that don't get the respect they deserve

Jaws 2 was so much better than Jaws 1.

French Connection II

Saw II

Superman 3 was not bad. It just suffered in comparison to the first two.

I thought Fright Night 2 with Julie Carmen was pretty great.

Scream 2

Tim 2: Fun film, Very funny. Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows: Made me cry. Bells on Their Toes: Nice try.

The New Testament

Addams Family Values. Still very funny.

Return to Oz

A Very Brady Sequel

R10 Absolutely.

Batman Returns was unfairly deemed "too dark" at the time.....but look at what we have now.

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. So much fun.

Beyond Valley of the Dolls

In many ways Jurassic Park 2 was better than Jurassic Park, at least as a story. But the wow factor has dimmed by the second go-around.

Exorcist 2: The Heretic

Why was there never a Mommie Dearest Sequel? Or Prequel, at least,

R10 I agree. Return to Oz was not a sequel to the MGM movie. They got the copyright from MGM to use the Ruby Slippers (in the book the slippers were silver). However, Return to Oz was a film adaptation of the following L Frank Baum Oz Books. It was so well done and even to this day I love it. It was way ahead of it's time.

The Exorcist III--MUCH better than part II (not that that's hard).

'Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows' has much hotter men in it than the original.

"Shock Treatment" the wonderful follow up to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

WHET Cliff DeYoung?

R20 I used to have Shock Treatment on video cassette! I'm surprised it's as forgotten as it is.

I actually like Grease II. Am I the only one?

R22

Dawson's 51-Load Weekend

I actually like Shock Treatment just a bit more than Rocky Horror. I think it has a more cohesive plot, equally good songs (love the finale of Anyhow, Anyhow) and was prescient in regards to reality television, instant celebrities and other things. Too bad it's never aired on cable although I do seem to remember TCM showing it years ago along with Rocky Horror.

Halloween 2. 1981. My favorite of the entire franchise to this day. I fucking love that one. Could care less what anyone thinks...

Porky's Revenge 2

1981's 'Halloween 2' is even better with the extra scenes which flesh out Laurie's childhood.

Also, Jimmy is DEAD in the alternate cut. Good, as Bette Davis would say.

R28- That is the "tv version" correct?

Is there a version that combines the tv version and the theatrical version?

It sounds awesome. (I have never seen the tv version)

Halloween 2018 is my very close 2nd favorite of the franchise.. (No accounting for taste!) Loved it

No, there is a version that combines the 'Halloween 1' theatrical and TV versions but not the 1981 sequel.

Or was there...? For some reason, I thought there might be, but not sure. I can't find any evidence online.

The TV version shows Jimmy ALIVE, ugh, I was wrong! It has the goofiest ending with Jimmy joining Laurie in the ambulance. In the theatrical version, it's a mystery if he is dead or not.

Ok, Ok. Obviously, "The Godfather, Part III" had glaring issues. It wasn't, however, as bad as what the consensus reactions were.

Particularly, the ending scenes at the opera Cavalleria Rusticana. They were beautifully shot and were very moody and foreboding.

Now that I think of it, at the end, Vincent Corleone is still alive. Andy Garcia, after the awful, AWFUL last Mama Mia movie, could redeem himself and reprise his role.

That's it. I'm calling for "The Godfather, Part IV".

R17 it scared the shit out of small children

Really glad to see the love for Shock Treatment here. I'm a fan, and probably listen to its score more than I do RHPS.

[bold]Gremlins 2[/bold] is totally bonkers -- and absolutely hilarious.

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. I enjoy the original Prom Night, but it's nowhere near as fun and off the wall insane as Hello Mary Lou. A shame it hasn't hit Blu-Ray yet. It's probably one of my favorite 80's horror movies.

YES!!! R34!!!!!!!! I love Streak and the Googly Eyed Gremlin!!!!! He is so filled with joy!!!! OMG. YES!!!!!

I admit to enjoying Friday the 13th Part 2 and 4 more than the original most of the time.

Also, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 might have made Freddy more of a comic, but it's a really imaginative film with a likable cast. Even 5 has some good moments.

Halloween H20 has recently been getting a lot of critique in the wake of the reboot and I don't understand it at all. Sure, the masks looks like shit and they recycle music from Scream, but I thought it was a far more interesting and believable story than the new version.

Urban Legends: Final Cut. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but I caught it a year or two ago and felt we'd all been way too hard on it. It's a bit light for a slasher movie and, besides one scene, it could have probably been rated PG-13, but it has some interesting ideas in there and I liked seeing Loretta Devine back as Reese.

Halloween II (2009)

It has some beautiful visuals and the way the events from the previous movie completely shattered Laurie feels so realistic to me. It is what I imagine someone who'd gone through an event like that would be like. Their mind would be broken to pieces. So many people hate this movie because it is so different from the rest, but you know it's a Rob Zombie because his creative stamp is all over it. Nobody else would or could make a movie quite like this and I think it's what makes it special. It's uniqueness.

Scary Movie 3 is infinitely better than the two that preceded it.

Exorcist II: The Heretic - I find it beautifully bizarre. The visuals, music, cinematography, and even the strange looking buildings (Regan's apartment and the psychiatrist's office look futuristic) all come together to create a gorgeous surreal nightmare. It is more akin to Suspiria than the first Exorcist, and that isn't a bad thing at all in my opinion.

H2 2009 is AWFUL with Rob Zombie's stupid wife running around in a gown.

'Friday the 13th 2' is fantastic with SO MANY HOT MEN!!!!!!

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2

I don't get why people think it's so different than the first movie. The witch manipulates reality and gets inside the character's heads just like the original. It is a complete mindfuck. Everyone says the studio interference ruined it but I beg to differ. Based on interviews with the director and what he described as his original vision, it sounded to me like his thought process going in was "Fuck The Blair Witch Project and fuck everyone who liked it." I think the studio interference helped make it more inviting to the viewer by adding in more traditional horror elements and made it feel more like a true sequel than what it would have otherwise.

Seed of Chucky is stupid but fun. it's nice to see Jennifer Tilly is a good sport and doesn't take herself too seriously as the movie pokes fun at her the entire time. I was a fan of hers before but that movie made me like her even more.

The reason people didn't like it as a sequel is because it was filmed like a regular movie rather than "found footage." That's all.

It's a good horror movie but it's nothing like the first one because of how it was shot and presented.

R39, I'd agree with you there. A lot of stuff in that movie doesn't work, but what does work really packs a punch. If they'd been able to find a way to make the opening 20 minutes real instead of a dream, scaled some of Laurie's unprovoked outbursts down a smidge, and gotten rid of all the ghost mom/white horse junk, it would have been one of the best Halloween movies in years. I still remember how intense the opening nightmare sequence was, the scene with Lynda's father ambushing Loomis at the book signing, Annie's demise and her father's reaction to seeing her corpse. Those moments are some of the most powerful I've ever seen in a horror film.

I'll say all the Child's Play sequels don't get enough love. That really has to be one of the best, most inventive franchises out there. Maybe it's because Don Mancini has written all of them and it gives them a singular vision. It never feels like they're just turning them out as mindless product. They each have their own stamp. Except maybe 3. 3 feels rushed and I think it was considering it came out a year after 2.

R47- Did you see the reboot??? I fucking loved it!!!

The remake with Aubrey Plaza? I just caught that recently and it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I actually had a fairly good time with it. Not very memorable, but hardly a disaster.

Wasn't there a 'Rosemary's Baby' sequel?

[quote]Gremlins 2 is totally bonkers -- and absolutely hilarious.

Key and Peele did a skit about the lunacy that is GREMLINS 2.

[quote]I actually like Grease II. Am I the only one?

As far as I'm concerned Grease II is better than the original. Better songs and Adrian Zmed was hotter than Travolta.

"Cool Rider" and "Girl For All Seasons" are gay camp classics.

And Maxwell Caufield is hotter than fellow closet case, John Travolta.

R50 Yes, there was. In 1976. It was a TV movie called Look What's Happened To Rosemary's Baby.

As a Halloween 2 fan (1981) I just realized that I also LOVE Friday The 13th Part 2!!!!!!!!!!

Great opening scene.

AMY STEELE- Is there a better F13 heroine??

And that great last 20 minutes of F13 Part 2 ("There;'s someone in this FUCKING ROOM!!!!"

YES!!!!!

Love that one so much more than the original as well!!

AMY STEEL!!!!

JOHN FUREY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That hot gay RUSSELL TODD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Motherfucker R56 is drinking a few like ME!

YES, BITCH!!! YES!!!!!!

John Furey with that GREAT hair!!

F13 Part 2 is the BALLS!

YES, MOTHERFUCKER

In 1981, I also wondered if the hot wheelchair stud could perform.

There were so many hot men in that... I even like the blond guy with the cap with his tight, wiry body! "Jeff" with the green tank top!

European Vacation. For some reason Christmas is considered better when it fucking sucks. It’s not as darkly funny as the first one but it’s still very funny. The rest aren’t even worth talking about.

R58. I want you to MOUNT ME.

YES R59~~~~~~~~~

You fuckers are my bitches.

Friday Part 2. European Vacation...

Great taste!

I know it has a very different tone than "Silence of the Lambs" and they recast the main character, but I remember thinking that "Hannibal" was better than people gave it credit for.

Demetrius and the Gladiators . The Robe is almost unwatchable today (thanks to its cheesy piousness and overlong running time) but D&tG was still super entertaining and just campy enough.

And I'm also probably the only person in the world who prefers The Godfather Part III to the second one; Lee Strasberg's character from Part II was so fucking annoying he made even Sofia Coppola's take on Mary Corleone from PIII seem tolerable in comparison.

Count me in as another one who loves Friday the 13th Part 2.

Amy Steele is the best heroine in the F13 series. Much better than her predecessor.

I also like Nightmare on Elm Street 2 because of the gay angle but also because Freddy really is scary in it and the film has a dream-like/nightmarish quality to it.

Damien: Omen 2 - Lee Grant camping it up: "DAMIIIEN!!!"

Scream 2. I love the opening with the homage to He Knows You're Alone. Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett Smith's discussion about black characters in horror films would sound like a conversation you would hear today. Some great sequences.

Mamma Mia 2. Okay, there really isn't a story but I loved Lily James' voice and as much as I like Meryl, I am glad her warbling was limited to one song.

Jesus Christ. R63 is my Spirit Twin. Can I just sit with you and watch part 2 films??

It was like reading my own words.

I am swooning for R 63!!!!!!

I know it's not a great movie by any stretch, but I have a nostalgic love for Halloween 3: Season of the Witch. Maybe because it's completely different from the rest of the franchise. I'm a sucker for horror movies from that period. Modern day horror movies just don't have the same atmosphere and warmth.

Another vote for aAVery Brady Sequel.

Christine Taylor and Jennifer Elise Cox knew the performing styles and idiosyncracies of (respectively) Maureen McCormack as Marcia and Eve Plumb as Jan backwards and forwards, and parodied them brilliantly, and by this point they had worked up an incredible comic rapport together. I was not surprised at all when some of the many strange pronunciations Taylor copies so hilariously from McCormack, like saying the word "school" as if it were "skyül," years later became memes. The director would not believe Taylor when she insisted that that was how McCormack pronounced words on the original show, but Cox always backed her up, and so they remained in the movie--they weren't in the original screenplay.

Halloween III is pretty good when isolated from the rest of the series. Carpenter and Hill were onto something really interesting when they decided to turn the franchise into an anthology and I'm sure, if the audiences had just given it a chance, the series would be in a much more interesting place today. Maybe it would have had 84 different timelines and alternate realities. It makes my head hurt.

[quote]Damien: Omen 2 - Lee Grant camping it up: "DAMIIIEN!!!"

Yes! One of my all time faves, which I rewatch at least twice a year. Even though it blows chunks, I also watch The Final Conflict several times a year.

Add me to the list of Shock Treatment fans.

Godfather II was an amazing sequel.

Toy Story 2, 3, and 4 were more interesting to me than the first one.

Thanks, r64. I think I am going to arrange a Part 2 Marathon.

The A Very Brady Sequel was brilliant. All of the cast members were fantastic. They looked like they had a ball doing both films and they both clever films.

**SPOILERS BELOW** Halloween III Season of the Witch seems to get more respect with each passing year. I remember in the '80s and '90s it got shit on. But it seems to have gained a lot of respect since the 00s and forward. The fact that there is a whole sequence where ***SPOILER ALERT8*** children are murdered is what sets it apart from a lot of horror films. Many horror films don't even dare go there but this film did. I also LOVE the score. It's no wonder Carpenter has pretty much given up directing films to focus on music full time.

[quote]The director would not believe Taylor when she insisted that that was how McCormack pronounced words on the original show

Thanks! I didn't know that!

The music score to Season of the Witch might be the best score in the franchise next to Carpenter's original. It's creepy as hell. It's nice to see this movie finally getting a little love. I remember renting it on VHS as a kid and really enjoying it and being a little unnerved by it. Never understood all the hate. Just goes to show you that, most of the times, real creativity isn't appreciated in Hollywood.

I love the early '80s electronic scores for Halloween II and III. They've aged remarkably well considering.

I also liked hot daddy Tom Atkins in III.

Those synth scores are back in it seems. Every other indie horror film I've seen for the past 5 years has some version of a synth score. I don't mind it. It's always sounded creepier to me than a big John Williams/Jerry Goldsmith orchestra sound.

The theme in H2 when the scene is being replayed from H1, when Michael Myers sits up behind Laurie is the BEST scary theme EVER!!!

When H2018 came out, so many bitches here shouted down those of us who voiced our love for H3. Nice to see others here also loving it.

R31 I agree with you, re: Godfather 3. The last 20 minutes were stunning! I also thought Pacino deserved a nomination, as did Diane Keaton and Talia Shire, (although it was a very competitive year). If they had recast Sophia Coppola and given in to Robert Duvall's salary demand, (which, in retrospect, really wasn't a big deal), it could have been nearly as good as the first two.

The Gods Must Be Crazy 2

I wish Carpenter had made a sequel to The Fog, but I guess it wasn't successful enough at the time to warrant one. I like The Fog better than Halloween. I think it has one of the best atmospheres of any horror film ever. The lighthouse scenes with Adrienne are iconic. Hal Holbrook and Janet Leigh are perfect in this.

The Flintstones Viva Rock Vegas. It's not great, but if you like the Flintstones there's a lot of backstory.

They show Fred and Wilma's courtship, choosing a little plot on the edge of town to have their rock house built.

Before Fred and Wilma got together, Fred and Barney lived in trailer park and that was cute. Wilma was living in her mother, Joan Collins' mansion.

Texasville was the mostly forgotten sequel to Last Picture Show. Of course, it didn't come close to capturing the original, but it had some nice moments. And Annie Potts was fantastic.

Not sure it deserves any respect, but as a very gay little boy I LOVED “Mannequin 2: On the Move.”

It’s premise was just as a ridiculous, switching out Kim Cattrall’s cursed Egyptian chick for Kristy Swanson’s cursed medieval chick.

The guy was cute, too, in retrospect.

The Evening Star wasn't great but better than I expected. It has some really nice moments from Marion Ross and Juliette Lewis.

I actually didn't mind The Two Jakes. It's no Chinatown but I liked it back in 1990. I need to see it again, though.

Eating Out 2

The Descent, Part 2

Another Part of the Forest (1948) was a prequel to The Little Foxes (1941) based on another Lillian Hellman play showing the young Regina Hubbard played by Ann Blyth. Dan Duryea is also in the cast.

[quote] The Evening Star wasn't great but better than I expected. It has some really nice moments from Marion Ross and Juliette Lewis.

Plus a quick flash of Scott Wolf's naked butt.

Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest

So many people disregard the Children of the Corn sequels, saying "they're all crap." But this one I loved even more than the first. Eli is one creepy kid.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who enjoyed Gremlins 2, Godfather III & Halloween III.

And I'm really surprised I'm not the only one impressed with some of the imagery of Exorcist II

R88- I was not even going to mention Exorcist 2. (LOVED it- mainly because of that otherworldly production design-)

It's such a bomb that I didn't want to be bitched out. (And now re-reading the thread- someone gave a thoughtful analysis about Exorcist 2, and I agree with every word.

R89 - critic Pauline Kael said this about the movie:

Even the madness of Exorcist II is of a special sort: the picture has a visionary crazy grandeur (like that of Fritz Lang's loony Metropolis). Some of the telepathic sequences are golden-toned and lyrical, and the film has a swirling, hallucinogenic, apocalyptic quality; it might have been a horror classic if it had a simpler, less ritzy story.

And this:

The film is too cadenced and exotic and too deliriously complicated to succeed with most audiences. But it's winged camp - a horror fairy tale gone wild, another in a long history of movie-makers' king-sized follies. There's enough visual magic in it for a dozen good movies; what the picture lacks is judgement - the first casualty of the moviemaking obsession.

Yes! R90-

R86 He would have had to spend an hour nude with full frontal, to save that movie.

R92.

R87, most of those Children of the Corn movies are pure shit, but Urban Harvest is a great time. I rented it when it first came out and was very surprised by how imaginative it was at times. It's been awhile since I've seen it, but I remember a social worker lighting a cigarette and having her face explode or something and someone landing on a water spout that shot out through their mouth.

Pauline Kael also said of the Exorcist II, along with some of Boorman's other movies, "it [they] would be great if they were in a language other than English". She's right. Apparently, the movie was SO different in the beginning than how it turned out. Boorman kept doing rewrites of the script and fucked the movie over. And don't forget--he made the sequel because he absolutely loathed the first movie and I think he even publicly trashed it. I like Friedman and Boorman but that was not a smart move from Boorman. I think he completely missed the point of why the first one became such a huge hit and it shows in the sequel. To me, the best moments of the sequel are the ones like when Reagan is in the penthouse and you hear Pazuzu saying things like "be joined with us Reagan", and you see Reagan about to walk off the roof of the building, etc. That part with Burton trying to have sex with demon Reagan was just messed up though.

Exorcist II fascinates me, because Linda Blair always goes on and on about how she never wanted to do a sequel, but they presented her with a script that was so good and so smart and made so much sense that she'd have been an idiot not to do it. Clearly, something changed after she signed on. Has anyone ever leaked that initial script?

The 'Children Of The Corn' sequel with Greg Vaughan from 1998 is very bad but I like seeing Alexis Arquette die.

I wish there was a new version based on the actual short story, which is terrifying! It's really the scariest thing I've ever read, and the original film is nothing like the story.

Exorcist II is what happens when there is too much coke. I'm sure Linda thought the script was great because she wanted the $$. It was directed by John Boorman who had directed the excellent Deliverance a few years earlier. So, there was a pedigree of talent: Boorman, Richard Burton and Louise Fletcher, fresh off her Oscar win for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I think what went wrong was Boorman apparently wasn't a fan of the first Exorcist film (??), Ellen Burstyn didn't return, Blair was not a strong enough actress to carry the film on her own. The script was a mess, shooting was a mess (coke?). Boorman was still editing the film when it was released.

It is a fascinating failure. I LOVE Ennio Morricone's beautiful score. It should have been nominated. And Dana Plato is actually very affecting in a small role. It's sad to remember what happened to her because as a child actress, she was very good.

Whoever said gays have good taste never spent a moment on here.

I won’t argue it’s better than part III, but I always enjoyed Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice. It has some funny homages to The Wizard of Oz throughout and is overall more engaging than the original. The death scenes are more creative than a typical slasher - kind of Omen/Final Destination-esque. But like a lot of 90s low budget horror the lead characters are irritating and unlikable and there’s some really dated CGI effects. For some reason this is the hardest one to find on DVD.

Since when has Friday the 13th Part 2 not gotten respect? It's one of the more highly regarded of the sequels. Now Part 5...

Friday the 13th Part 5 is a shitty Friday the 13th sequel, but a kick ass slasher movie. It has a wacky vibe I like.

Sister Act 2, which was very different from #1 but has a lovely story of its own and a lot of fun performances

R96, according to Blair, the script was changed MANY time by Boorman. What ended up on screen was not the original plan.

Friday the 13th Part 5 has a great cast of interesting characters. Violet, Ethel, Reggie the Reckless, Demon, etc. I think the only reason people hate it is because of that twist ending where it was a copycat killer and never Jason all along.

[quote] Violet, Ethel, Reggie the Reckless, Demon, etc.

I’ll bet Reggie got killed first.

[quote]I think the only reason people hate it is because of that twist ending where it was a copycat killer and never Jason all along.

Whoa! Spoiler alert, bro!

R106, Here's another spoiler for you. Reggie the Reckless didn't die at all. He survived the entire movie.

[quote] Why was there never a Mommie Dearest Sequel?

Because the most compelling part of the original died in the original.

No one wanted to pay good money to see a fat, suddenly Southern Christina pout and complain about not finding enough ways to punish Mommie or make money from Mommie's corpse.

[quote] Because the most compelling part of the original died in the original.

Spoiler Alert: Joan Crawford dies which renders a sequel nonsensical. I don't get why anyone would want a Mommie Dearest sequel.

Hardly a spoiler...she died several years before the movie was released!

The Exorcist II killed Louise Lasser's career. After her big Oscar win, they only movies she did after that were The Exorcist and that equally terrible movie with Natalie Wood.

R110, it was a joke.

R111, are you talking about Louise Fletcher/

Paddington 2

Will someone please release the Louise Lasser cut of Exorcist 2??!?

And the butthole cut of Cats

[quote]Will someone please release the Louise Lasser cut of Exorcist 2??!?

The infamous head spin scene

R116 Marry me

R116 and that's why I love DL.

R12 I thought Batman Returns was the best one. Michelle Pfeiffer was terrific.

Grease 2. Stephanie and Michael were HOT.

Psycho II. A sequel to a movie like Psycho should be pure trash, but they figured out a way to continue telling the story of Norman Bates in an interesting and fascinating way

Other Side of Aspen II