The Halloween B-Team - 10 Horror Sequels I Heart
In honor of the umpteenth Simpsons Halloween Special to air post-Halloween, I've put together my own, better-late-than-never list for Halloween. Enjoy!
1. Psycho II – Obviously I love sequels and this is one of the best. The ending still floors me and if you love the original, but haven’t seen this, you’re missing out. Funny and freaky, with a great performance (again) from Anthony Perkins.
2. Children of the Damned – Some times the best sequels are the forgotten sequels following some of the biggest horror classics of all time. Now if you’ve never seen “Village of the Damned” you can skip this flick and go right back to the original. But if you wanna see how they expanded upon the ideas from the first film on a global level you should see this right now.
3. The Bride of Frankenstein – Just like we now recognize that while Dracula may be the popular favorite, it is Tod Browning’s Freaks that is his masterpiece. So too do we now agree that The Bride of Frankenstein is the better of the two Frankenstein films directed by James Whale. “To a new world of gods and monsters!” Indeed.
4. Pet Sematary Two – Well here’s where I probably lose a good chunk of you, but I love this movie. Maybe I have a soft spot for it because it was one of those movies I rewatched over and over again as a pre-teen. But I have revisited it since then and I think it stand up there as a mean, nasty little companion piece to the original.
5. The Fly II – Again, another much-maligned sequel to a hit film from the 80s. But for me this one really amps up the action in a way that only could have been done in the sequel. After Cronenberg’s incredibly cerebral film this bloody monster-on-the-loose flick was a gooey treat for action-horror fans. Tell me that the make-up and gore in this isn’t some of the best ever!
6. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter – My favorite entry in my favorite film series of all time. Some guys have Freddy, some guys have Michael Myers, but I have Jason and his mother to thank for making me a fanatic about horror. He is up there with godzilla and James Bond for long-stnading franchises that I don't think will ever go away. He is an ICON!
7. Revenge of the Creature – One of the few times where you just have to shake your head at the choices MST3K makes. I love this flick and I think it gets a bad rap simply by virtue of where they took the monster. But I like that the urban setting was something that really hadn’t been given to a monster of this ilk before.
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 – After Tobe Hooper had such an uphill battle with the reputation of his work on Poltergeist he went out and made three amazing films, back-to-back, for low-budgeter Cannon Pictures. This, the long-awaited follow-up to his 70’s classic, may disappoint quite a few of the original’s fans, but those are the ones who didn’t catch the dark humor bubbling under the surface of that previous picture.
9. Halloween III: Season of the Witch – No Michael Myers? No problem. While I was a firm believer for many years that the film should have just been released as “Season of the Witch” (to keep people from bitching) I am now very happy that it gets to live and breathe as one of the few films in the series that is better than a lot of the Myers-filled dreck that followed it.
10. The Exorcist III – While I’m an even bigger fan of Blatty’s spiritual sequel The Ninth Configuration, The Exorcist III is a fantastically chilling film. Front-loaded with great performances by such amazing actors as George C. Scott and Brad Dourif, this third film didn’t have to do much to make people forget about John Boorman’s whacked out 2nd film. But nobody was expecting the terror Blatty had waiting for them!
1. Psycho II – Obviously I love sequels and this is one of the best. The ending still floors me and if you love the original, but haven’t seen this, you’re missing out. Funny and freaky, with a great performance (again) from Anthony Perkins.
2. Children of the Damned – Some times the best sequels are the forgotten sequels following some of the biggest horror classics of all time. Now if you’ve never seen “Village of the Damned” you can skip this flick and go right back to the original. But if you wanna see how they expanded upon the ideas from the first film on a global level you should see this right now.
3. The Bride of Frankenstein – Just like we now recognize that while Dracula may be the popular favorite, it is Tod Browning’s Freaks that is his masterpiece. So too do we now agree that The Bride of Frankenstein is the better of the two Frankenstein films directed by James Whale. “To a new world of gods and monsters!” Indeed.
4. Pet Sematary Two – Well here’s where I probably lose a good chunk of you, but I love this movie. Maybe I have a soft spot for it because it was one of those movies I rewatched over and over again as a pre-teen. But I have revisited it since then and I think it stand up there as a mean, nasty little companion piece to the original.
5. The Fly II – Again, another much-maligned sequel to a hit film from the 80s. But for me this one really amps up the action in a way that only could have been done in the sequel. After Cronenberg’s incredibly cerebral film this bloody monster-on-the-loose flick was a gooey treat for action-horror fans. Tell me that the make-up and gore in this isn’t some of the best ever!
6. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter – My favorite entry in my favorite film series of all time. Some guys have Freddy, some guys have Michael Myers, but I have Jason and his mother to thank for making me a fanatic about horror. He is up there with godzilla and James Bond for long-stnading franchises that I don't think will ever go away. He is an ICON!
7. Revenge of the Creature – One of the few times where you just have to shake your head at the choices MST3K makes. I love this flick and I think it gets a bad rap simply by virtue of where they took the monster. But I like that the urban setting was something that really hadn’t been given to a monster of this ilk before.
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 – After Tobe Hooper had such an uphill battle with the reputation of his work on Poltergeist he went out and made three amazing films, back-to-back, for low-budgeter Cannon Pictures. This, the long-awaited follow-up to his 70’s classic, may disappoint quite a few of the original’s fans, but those are the ones who didn’t catch the dark humor bubbling under the surface of that previous picture.
9. Halloween III: Season of the Witch – No Michael Myers? No problem. While I was a firm believer for many years that the film should have just been released as “Season of the Witch” (to keep people from bitching) I am now very happy that it gets to live and breathe as one of the few films in the series that is better than a lot of the Myers-filled dreck that followed it.
10. The Exorcist III – While I’m an even bigger fan of Blatty’s spiritual sequel The Ninth Configuration, The Exorcist III is a fantastically chilling film. Front-loaded with great performances by such amazing actors as George C. Scott and Brad Dourif, this third film didn’t have to do much to make people forget about John Boorman’s whacked out 2nd film. But nobody was expecting the terror Blatty had waiting for them!
posted by Pork Chop Express at
11:40 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home