Posted by Joseph Lee on 07.22.2010
From another Friday the 13th and Silent Hill 2 to Evil Dead 4 and Grindhouse: Thanksgiving/Don’t, 411’s Joseph Lee breaks down the top 10 horror sequels he wants to see!
Opening Logo courtesy of Benjamin J. Colón (Soul Exodus)
Welcome to A Bloody Good Time.
Last week I presented I thought were the most disappointing films of the last decade. There was a lot of hateful comments. A lot. Oh well, that’s part of the job. I supply my opinion, people agree or disagree with it. No big deal. But I will attempt to not defend what I said, because I don’t need to, just respond in general. So before I get to feedback, let’s discuss a 2008 monster movie that caused some uproar.
Of course I’m talking about Cloverfield and the fact that a lot of you acted like I crapped all over it. So I guess I should say this. I did not hate Cloverfield. Not once have I said that, neither in my original review or last week. I have a lot of problems with the film, but I was merely disappointed with it. It’s just okay and that’s what I’m sticking with. The monster still looks dumb and the characters are still really stupid. But I never said it was bad. It’s not exactly good, but I didn’t say it was bad either.
Let’s look at the rest of the feedback.
Guest666 replied: Cloverfield was okay,nothing spectacular, you guys really need to get your collective psuedo-elitist movies heads out of your own asses.Like the man says these movies aren’t bad they just didn’t live up to the hype or potential.As much as I love Resident Evil(all the films)he’s right the first movie doesn’t match with the game but it still stands on it’s own as a fairly decent addition to the zombie movie canon(and Nemesis which I feel is hugely underrated came close to matching the game)and hell who can go wrong with Milla Jovovich kicking seven kinds of ass.
Yeah, this is what I said about Cloverfield. And Resident Evil, just a fun brainless action movie but disappointing considering what it should have been.
Michael L says: Fully agree on Scream 3. My main problem with the film is that it nicely sets up things, but never follows through. One cop warns another that in the films, one of the partners always ends up dead, but that never happens. Randy returns via video to warn the Woodsboro gang that in a trilogy, all bets are off and that anyone is a potential victim, but they all survive. The one thing that saves the film for me is that it includes Puddy as a bodyguard.
Yeah, I agree. If the original Scream had this plot, they would have killed off one of the main characters and they would have killed off one of the partners. That movie was clever. Scream 3 was just generic and never came close to the intelligence of the first film or the fun of the second.
Scott B said: Wait, you didn’t love the Resident Evil games until the one that SUCKED BALLS? Come on, it was another fucking 28 Days Later bullshit. No Zombies, just infected humans. Fuck that, I want ZOMBIES in my ZOMBIE GAME.
Yeah yeah, zombies and whatever, but I hated the early controls for the first few Resident Evil games. Resident Evil 4 had smoother controls so I liked it better.
Guest#7422 decides to get indignant: What a load of crap. Disappointing implies expectation. Who in their right mind expected any of the movies on this list to be worth two shits? What are you twelve?
No, I’m not twelve, thanks for asking. A lot of people expected Cloverfield, Scream 3 and Exorcist: The Beginning to be good, at least if you followed the horror sites at the time. The others were just my personal expectations based on cast, story or trailers. I thought I explained why I did in the column. Did you read it?
411′s own Ben Piper is helpful: Andrew Divoff does a lot of guest roles on TV. Most recently he was on LOST and The Good Guys.
Thanks! I will have to check out his appearances as I’m a big fan of him.
Guest#2028 asks: What about The Mist or The Happening?
I really liked The Mist outside of some problems I mentioned before, and I don’t think there’s a person alive who expected good things from The Happening. I could be wrong.
Zingy adds: Halloween 5 sucked too. Halloween is a classic, Halloween 2 wasn’t bad at all, Halloween 3 doesn’t count, Halloween 4 was actually pretty good, and then Halloween 5…was a complete piece of shit. Hell, a pair of cops even get wacky sound effects. WTF?
Yeah, not only is Halloween 5 a bad movie, but a huge let down given the film that came before it.
Guest#3450 says: Nice list. Big kudos for including Cloverfield. You hit it right on the head. A brilliant, neigh, GENIUS marketing campaign that delivered a mediocre movie. Also definitely agree with Darkness Falls (a really terrible movie), Exorcist: The Beginning (Also god awful). Scream 3 is pretty bad, and although I love the Hannibal series I avoided the Hannibal: Rising. Final Destination also had a fun, first two movies, but the 3D gimmick turned me off the the third installment. Nice write up. I’m interested to see your other lists.
Darkness Falls started out so well though. It’s a shame it couldn’t keep going with that level of suspense.
dennett316 replied: You missed the point entirely, he didn’t say these movies were bad just that they weren’t as good as the concept suggested they could be. For example, as the writer said the opening scene of Darkness Falls was nice and creepy, but the movie fell apart drastically after that. White Noise was dull, plain and simple, but the concept for a great scary flick is there for all to see….they just screwed it up. It’s not a Worst Films list, he even says this in the opening text…..did you just skip to the list and not understand the difference between Bad and Disappointing?
My thoughts exactly.
Now let’s get to this week’s topic.
When I first started this column, I thought I’d check out my top 100 horror films to see which stories I’d like to see continue. As it turns out, most of the great films in horror’s history have had sequels to them or are sequels themselves. Sometimes it’s because there’s actually a story there that can be continued. Most of the time it’s because someone wants to squeeze some more money out of a franchise. Sequels are far more prevalent than remakes, but the motivations for them are usually the same. In fact they only times it seems a remake occurs is if a sequel is so bad the story can’t continue or if there’s no where else to take a character. Or in the case of Friday the 13th, they just wanted to stop keeping track of what number they were on.
With several sequels on the way (Scream 4, Saw 3D, etc), I thought I’d list the sequels that I personally want to see. Some of these may actually be in development. Some may have either stalled or been canceled, and some may not have even been thought about. But I’ve thought about them a lot and really want to see all of these happen, even if it’s a strong possibility that none of them ever will. So let’s jump right into the list.
#10: Another Friday the 13th Movie
One of my reasons for wanting this movie is very, very stupid. It would be the thirteenth Friday the 13th, and I just think that would be cool. You can go ahead and laugh now. Are you done? Okay. The truth is, I just never get tired of Jason and so I’ll always want to see more films with Jason in them. He’s not a fleshed-out character, the films never have any real story, I just like seeing Jason Voorhees kill unsuspecting (read: stupid) teens over and over again. This probably doesn’t say an awful lot about me, but I’ll see a movie if it has Jason and his machete in it.
There was a sequel to the pseudo-remake in the works, but it seems that has been declared dead. Platinum Dunes doesn’t appear to want anything else to do with Jason. Let them go away then and
#9: Phantasm 5
This one has been in development for a long time, and as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. In spite of the fact that Don Coscarelli released some footage a few years ago (although many consider this a joke) and several rumors about a Phantasm’s End epic final battle have been on the internet for what feels like an eternity. While there are some who hint that they want it to happen, those who are in the know say otherwise. If Reggie doesn’t think it’s happening, it’s probably not. He’s been there since the beginning. But like the other films on this list, it doesn’t mean I want it any less.
Phantasm 5 could and should be an epic finale to the series, a farewell to The Tall Man and the rest as the actors are approaching advancing age (especially Angus Scrimm) and this is the series that for better or worse horror fans will remember them by. It doesn’t necessarily have to be epic in the sense of budget (these films were always low budget) but in story. A final Phantasm film that wraps everything up (while still leaving a few questions) and finishes off the evil Tall Man once and for all is something that fans never quite had and is something that most of us still want. Sadly, it is more likely that Phantasm will get remade than get a sequel.
#8: House of Re-Animator
First we had Re-Animator which is a film that is widely hailed as one of the best horror comedies out there. Then we had the sequels which have their share of fans and detractors. Personally I enjoy the films. I find this odd because when I first watched Re-Animator, I hated it. I really hated it. But time has been kind to it, as I’ve grown to love it and question what I ever disliked to begin with. As far as the sequels go…well there’s still Jeffrey Combs. I can’t imagine anyone else playing Dr. Herbert West than him. It’s such a good character that he’s played variations of it in some of his other films.
A few years ago, Stuart Gordon told the world he was going to make a political spoof using the Re-Animator characters called House of Re-Animator. It would feature William H. Macy as the President and George Wendy as the vice president. Herbert West comes to work at the White House and his serum has to be used to reanimate the dead VP. This was going to parody the Bush Administration and feature Dr. West and zombies. But the movie stalled and Gordon has since stated that since Bush was no longer in office, the entire point of his story is gone. It’s not like Joe Biden is known for his various heart attacks, after all. Honestly, I don’t see why they can’t just go ahead and make it. It doesn’t have to be about the Bush presidency, just make it about a generic president who needs his VP brought back to life. I’m sure you could still throw in some satire if you really felt you needed to.
#7: Freddy vs Jason 2
As I mentioned above, I’ll watch anything with Jason in it. The same holds true for Freddy. What I really want to see is these two horror icons go at it again with a true winner this time. Who says you need Ash? The comics told that story and we don’t need to worry about it. Of course there is one small problem. They’ve since rebooted both properties and the rumor is the Nightmare series is going to continue with Jackie Earle Haley. This doesn’t bother me so much as I liked Haley’s Freddy and if we get a better set of writers it can be a better film.
You can have Haley’s Freddy battle Jason or bring back Englund, I don’t care. I just want to see another film that features my favorite horror characters beating the hell out of each other for my amusement. It doesn’t really matter who plays Jason, because it’s a guy in a mask. My preference would be to see Hodder vs Englund but that’s even less likely to happen than the film happening at all. It doesn’t matter how the film is made, as long as it gets made. It’s time to decide who is better: Freddy or Jason?
#6: Silent Hill 2
I know the first film of Silent Hill had it’s detractors, but I loved it. It had it’s flaws (mainly the subplot with Sean Bean) but I thought that Christophe Gans and Roger Avary captured the spirit of the games perfectly. The look of the town in particular is exactly what I expected in a Silent Hill film. The same can be said for the monsters. Did they mess up some things? Sure, but as I said, the overall product is a lot better than some make it out to be. It’s a really good horror film, in my opinion.
There is enough material in the Silent Hill universe that a sequel not only should have been made by now, but it should have easily been made. There’s more than enough plot elements and nasty monsters to make a good follow-up. But for some reason it’s been four years and there’s been hardly any word about another film. The last I heard was that yes, another film is being made, but Roger Avary is in prison and so it will be a while. There was even a rumor that it’d be filming after the next Resident Evil film, but that’s obviously not happening right now. As the games have shown, this doesn’t even have to be a straight sequel. Just set the story in Silent Hill and let the mind games do the rest. Silent Hill 2 (the game) proved that you don’t need recurring characters and plot if you keep the same themes. The film could easily be the same way. I just want to visit the town in my theater one more time.
#5: Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat
Speaking of films that should already have been released, here is the long-awaited sequel to Dog Soldiers, one of the best werewolf movies I’ve ever seen. That movie came out in 2002, and ever since then fans have been wanting to find out exactly what happens to Private Cooper after he narrowly escapes a horde of werewolves in the Scottish Highlands. Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat was to pick up right where the original left off and would involve Cooper meeting up with a group of American soldiers, unable to convince them that they are all in serious danger.
The last word about this film was in 2006 where there were rumors about who would direct. As of two years ago, the film has been taken off of sites like IMDB and even the production company’s own upcoming slate. That’s a shame because even without the involvement of Neil Marshall, I think another film about soldiers vs werewolves could be great. The setting was already there (in the woods, cut off from civilization) as were the elements for another excellent chapter to what was already a fun film. Bringing Cooper back would have connected the two films regardless of who was involved. It’s so rare that we get good werewolf movies that anyone would be disappointed when one is canceled.
#4: Splinter 2
For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Splinter was one of 2008′s best horror films and was about a parasite that transforms anything that comes in contact with it into a deadly host that will kill you no matter what condition it’s in. The movie featured an infected hand as a possible threat and it works. At no point do I consider laughing at this creature because there is a very real danger of death if any of the likable cast came into contact with it. Add in heaps of gore and a clever and smart script and you have one of my favorite horror films in recent memory.
As far as I know, this is the only film on this list which hasn’t even been discussed as having a sequel. I find that odd because the premise is right there to set up another one. The end of the film hinted at it, sure, but that’s what horror films do these days. With the parasite not completely destroyed and still out there, there are several things you could do. You could chronicle the survivor’s attempts to get to civilization and have the creature follow them or you could just ignore the previous characters and focus on all new characters in a different location. How awesome would the film be if the film wasn’t confined to one single gas station? What if a whole town had parasite problems? Just think about that and hope that this film happens.
#3: Evil Dead 4
Like a fifth Phantasm film, I don’t think we’re ever going to see Ash against the Deadites again unless it’s through some ill-conceived remake. But that doesn’t mean that the scores of Evil Dead fans haven’t been clamoring for another sequel all this time, in spite of the fact that Bruce Campbell is now in his fifties. He’s on that spy show Burn Notice all the time, I think he can handle another Evil Dead movie! But with Sam Raimi busy with so many other projects, including a World of Warcraft movie (seriously?), Evil Dead 4 seems to be a film that’s never going to happen.
The story is easy to figure out. You can have Ash attempt to put his demons to rest once and for all and journey back to the cabin to battle the deadites. Throw in some stupid teens to be possessed and lots of blood and there you have it: a fourth Evil Dead movie. I think there would be enough interest that it could be reasonably successful and like Phantasm, it’d be a good way to give the fans and the Ash character a proper farewell. Not that Army of Darkness wasn’t a good way to end things, but we haven’t seen the deadites and Ash since the 90′s. That’s way too long.
#2: Behind the Mask 2
For as much as I praised Splinter above, I love Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon a whole lot more. Like the Screams of the world before it, it takes all of the beloved slasher conventions and turns them on their head. It pays homage while also mocks as a wannabe slasher villain details to an eager documentary crew all of the tricks of the trade and just now he is going to cement his legacy as belong with the big slashers of the world like Jason or Freddy (who are real in this movie).
We know how Leslie planned to stalk and kill his victims, but how did he plan to come back and give us an even bigger bloodbath? That’s one of the reasons another film would work. You could now poke fun at the slashers bizarre ability to come back from seemingly everything thrown at them, when a normal person would be killed. You could bring back characters from the original just to kill them off, like many slashers have done in the past. There are so many aspects of a slasher series that have yet to be touched on and I think if played right, a sequel could not only be just as good as the original, but possibly better.
#1: Grindhouse: Thanksgiving/Don’t
We’ve got Machete coming in September and Hobo with a Shotgun(the trailer that American audiences didn’t even get to see) coming sometime in 2011 (with Rutger Hauer as the hobo!). But for some reason the best of the fake trailers, in my opinion, haven’t been given their due. I’m talking about Eli Roth’s slasher parody Thanksgiving and Edgar Wright’s Don’t. Sure, Grindhouse failed in theaters because the general movie-going public didn’t get it. This has not only kept the theatrical version of the film from seeing the DVD release many fans want, but any potential sequels were now null and void.
I don’t mean Machete when I say that, either. That’s going to be a stand-alone film, not a double feature like this was. To be perfectly honest, I don’t expect Machete to do well in the box office either, in spite of the fact it looks really awesome as a movie. But what I want is the proposed Roth/Wright team-up of Grindhouse 2, which would give us full-length version of Thanksgiving and Don’t. Sure the trailers were just meant to be jokes, but the movies presented looked like something I’d like to see full-length. As long as they retained the humor and style of the previous Grindhouse film, I can’t see it failing to entertain.
And there you have it. If you have your own sequel ideas, leave some comments here or on my Twitter. Next week, I’m going to discuss some 100% foolproof ways a horror film can be entertaining. See you then.
Closing Logo courtesy of Kyle Morton(Deviant Art profile)
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