Top 5 Horror Sequels that Deserved It

Not Every Movie that Sinks from Sight is an "Undiscovered Gem."

It's not uncommon for horror sequels to fall through the cracks. For the casual horror fan, once a series leaves the theatres it's as good as over. For the die-hard, unsatisfactory horror sequels are no less than a betrayal of the fan base, for they potentially mean the death of a franchise.

I've written before about 5 horror sequels that didn't deserve the drubbing they got - but the fact is that not every under-performer deserves a second chance. What follows are five sequels that deserved to sink from sight.

5. Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor

Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor appears lowest on the list of regrettable sequels because - unlike the rest of these movies - it had the decency not to be finished. The story involved a survivor of the original massacre returning to the site of Camp Arawak after being plagued with nightmares of that fateful night. There was an evil park ranger, and the film itself would have been made out of new footage combined with footage from the original film.

It was a recipe for disaster. Fans of the series who picked up the Best Buy exclusive boxed set got to see the raw footage that was shot in the two days of production, and they're as anticlimactic as can be expected. A new fourth installment in the series has been filmed with the return of Felissa Rose to the lead. Release of the film was delayed so that the original CGI after effects could be re-done, and the producers are now hoping for a Fall theatrical release.

4. Hellraiser: Hellseeker

The Hellraiser series takes a significant nose-dive after the second film, and it continues for the rest of the eight films. The dreaded Cenobites of the original two films shift from amoral supernatural creatures to standard punish-the-bad-guy demons, and Pinhead loses the cold neutrality that makes him truly terrifying.