Producers often take the risk of expanding their movie into an unnecessary sequel. They aim to capitalize on the current success of the first movie but the outcome isn’t the same for everyone. Some like Dark Knight and Terminator 2 meet or surpass the benchmark set by their predecessor and some just fail to recreate that spark. But there is also a category that drowned the whole franchise and also received a huge backlash from fans. Why did you have to give an unnecessary sequel and ruin the original experience for us? They end up murdering the original essence created by the characters or the plot and undo it completely. Find out the 10 most disliked movie sequels that destroyed the franchise.
American Psycho II: All American Girl
Did you know that there was a horrendous sequel of Christian Bale’s well-known “American Psycho”? The chilly moments and the social commentary based on human emotions reserved its spot as one of the iconic psychological thrillers. But then the makers decided to make more money and connect the two movies. American Psycho II stars Mila Kunis as one of the survivors of Patrick Bateman who is willing to murder her classmates for her career.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
We have got to appreciate JJ Abram’s attempts to give a clean ending to his trilogy by answering all the questions and fixing errors in the storyline. Unfortunately, with so many things to rectify, the main plot got overlooked. It felt like the movie was rushed with the villain randomly popping up and getting resurrected without any buildup or Easter egg in the past. You know we are referring to the return of Palpatine.
Texas Chainsaw 3D
If you have ever used swear words for a movie while leaving the theatre, “Texas Chainsaw 3D” is one of them. The brilliant piece of a classic in 1974 got many sequels but none could get close to its standards. But it was “Texas Chainsaw 3D” that slashed mud all over the original with its unworthy visuals and ridiculous ending. It revealed that Heather Miller, the infant from 1974 whose still in her 20s, is a cousin of Leatherface and the two join hands to kill the real villain, the mayor.
Terminator: Dark Fate
Some sequels are so abysmal that even the directors try to throw a blanket on it and pretend it never existed. The same happened with the sequels of the iconic android sci-fi “The Terminator” and “The Terminator II”. By canceling the third and fourth installments, “Dark Fate” picks up where “The Terminator 2” left off. But it’s always better than one leaves the franchise till the second part. Because all the hard work and action in the first two films is disregarded when John is anyway killed by a new T-800 who travels back in time. No matter how crucial John’s death was to the plot, fans could not forgive Tim Miller for it.
Home Alone 4
The first two “Home Alone” may not be perfect but at least they stand as classic Christmas movies that we can rewatch every year and feel good. But its subsequent sequels keep getting more and more unrecognized and unacknowledged with every passing year. While the first two movies felt warm and cozy with their family-based theme, the fourth one changed the whole concept. The same beloved characters were replaced by new actors. As if that wasn’t enough to process that they got Kevin’s parents divorced. That’s the exact opposite of the huge family and the countless members and children that cracked us in the original films.
Mortal Combat: Annihilation
The 1997 sequel to the 1995 “Mortal Combat” was just a bad sequel but failed completely even as an individual movie. Despite having a huge budget they earned from “Mortal Combat”, this sequel was exploding with cheesy moments and eye-injuring CGI.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure
This television-film sequel of the light-hearted 1989 comedy couldn’t get anywhere near to what its predecessor achieved. One of the side characters in the original, socially awkward and manchild Cousin Eddie got his own story in the sequel. What the filmmakers didn’t realize was that the audience liked this character as long as it wasn’t the lead of the movie. Cousin Eddie’s forceful, manchild and slapstick comedy was intolerable and suffocated everything that we felt about the franchise.
S. Darko
Some cult classics should be left untouched, at least for the sake of fans. But that didn’t happen with the eccentric SciFi of “Donnie Darko”. This fantasy sci-fi takes the viewers on a hypnotic journey of a teenager who is told by a bunny figure that the world will end in 28 days. The movie was a huge critical success and a gem that couldn’t be remade by anyone. Yet Chris Fisher attempted to make a sequel of Richard Kelly’s movie but didn’t get the reception he was expecting. Nothing in the sequel was worth appreciating- from direction to acting and storytelling.
Blues Brothers 2000
“The Blue Brothers” was a musical comedy, written by Dan Aykroyd and John Landis, that holds a special place in our hearts. It stars two brothers, played by Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi whose first mission after getting released from the prison is to save the orphanage they grew up in. It got a sequel 20 years later which flushed out the original essence completely. “Blue Brothers 2000” brings back Dan Aykroyd but doesn’t capture the same style of comedy with its cheesy and disposable plot.
Seed of Chucky
The top-10 list of best horror film classics will always save a special spot for “Child’s Play”. Horror movie lovers appreciated the dark mystery and chilliness of this original. Even though the franchise lost its scary touch with every sequel and replaced it with comedy, the subsequent sequels still had some eerie feeling. But “Seed of Chucky” completely threw its horror backbone out of the window and turned it into a dull comedy. The hard attempts to be funny with pop culture references were apparent but failed to hit the right button.