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10 Horror Movies With Great Sequel Teases!

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Jason Goes to Hell Ending

Horror movies are notorious for releasing countless sequels in order to milk the franchises for all they’re worth. More often than not, they produce diminishing returns with each passing film. Still, it’s easy to get excited (or annoyed, depending on how you feel about sequels) when a movie ends with a cliffhanger, thereby teasing the inevitable sequel. Here are a list of 10 movies that have great sequel teases! Some of them did lead to sequels, but others we are still waiting for sequels to be made. 

Teases That Led to a Sequel

Halloween

Okay, okay, this wasn’t really a sequel tease. Carpenter didn’t intend to make a sequel to his classic slasher film, but it did set one up nicely. I missed the theatrical premiere of Halloween by about 11 years, but I can only imagine what it was like watching the film only to be left with the image of the lawn with a Michael Myers-shaped indentation left in the grass (not really, but you catch my drift).

Sequel Tease

Evil Dead II

It’s hard to believe Army of Darkness wasn’t released until five years after Evil Dead II came out. Imagine seeing Evil Dead II in theaters (and many of you probably did), only to suddenly find Ash in medieval times before the credits rolled. Having to wait five years to see what happened sounds torturous! Then of course you have the long wait between Army of Darkness and Ash Vs. Evil Dead (24 years!), which was practically unbearable, but I digress. Bringing Ash to medieval times was a great way to reinvigorate the franchise and put it in a setting that wasn’t just another cabin in the woods.

Evil Dead II Ending

Bride of Chucky

I’m showing my age here, but this is one of the first big sequel teases that I remember seeing as a kid. Both Chucky and Tiffany have died and she gives birth post-death to a vicious little doll baby with razor-sharp teeth. It paved the way for what could have been a really cool sequel, but instead we got Seed of Chucky. At least Curse of Chucky saved the franchise!

Bride of Chucky Ending

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

Everyone knows this one. It’s just a shame it came at the end of the worst Friday the 13th film. That being said, it is an absolutely epic sequel tease and was the least the filmmakers could have done to reward audiences for sitting through this garbage.

Jason Goes to Hell Ending

Piranha 3D

I wouldn’t necessarily call the ending to Alexandre Aja’s near-perfect Piranha 3D “great,” but it does foreshadow a sequel that could be tons of fun (too bad it turned out to be total shit). I’ve always thought that Aja’s Piranha felt like 2/3 of a movie. It ended right when the third act should have begun. Piranha 3DD had the opportunity to be a fantastic third act. Too bad it failed.

Sequels We Are Still Waiting On

Slither

Guardians of the Galaxy Schmardians of the SchmalaxySlither is James Gunn’s true masterpiece, and I’m still itching for the sequel that never happened because no one went to go see it in theaters back in 2006. If you did happen to see the film and stuck around after the credits, you would have seen a cat feeding on Grant Grant’s brains before becoming infected. Just imagine the possibilities! The sequel could have been called Meow.

Slither Ending

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

It’s had to believe that Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon had its world premiere ten years ago and we still haven’t gotten a sequel out of it. The film is notable for its meta commentary on the slasher sub-genre, including utilizing the trope where the villain just won’t die. After getting his head crushed, Leslie’s corpse is sent to the morgue, only to rise up behind a poor morgue attendant during the closing credits. A sequel has been in the talks for some time but never came to fruition. I call shenanigans! Give us a sequel worthy of Leslie Vernon’s legacy!

Behind the Mask Ending

28 Weeks Later

While not a perfect film, 28 Weeks Later is still a solid follow-up to Danny Boyle’s masterful 28 Days Later (it also stars a pre-fame Rose Byrne and Jeremy Renner).  In the final moments of the sequel, we flash forward to 28 days after the events of the film (see what they did there?) and witness the outbreak making it to Paris. Where is 28 Months Later? In limbo, that’s where. By the time they get around to making a sequel they may need to title it 28 Years Later.

28 Weeks Later Ending

The Crazies

Often overlooked when discussions of horror remakes take place, Brett Eisner’s The Crazies is actually a pretty good film. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any way, but it spins that wheel remarkably well. The final moments of the film shows Judy (Radha Mitchell) and David (Timothy Olyphan) escaping Ogden March, Iowa and heading toward the uninfected city of Cedar Rapids. As they are doing this, a satellite image tracks them and initiates a new containment protocol, which means everything is about to happen all over again. During the credits, and infected citizen is shown on a Cedar Rapids newscast. Does The Crazies need a sequel? Not really, but I’d pay money to see one.

The Crazies Ending

Freddy Vs. Jason

You may have read my interview with Damian Shannon and Mark Swift,  the writers of Freddy Vs. Jason, a few weeks ago (and if you didn’t, you can do so here). In it, they confessed that they are completely open to a sequel (and have many ideas for it), but there just isn’t a need for it at the moment. That may be true, but I have a need for it at the moment! That cliffhanger ending of Freddy Vs. Jason (in which Freddy’s severed head winks as Jason carries it out of the lake) still irks me to this day!

Freddy Vs. Jason Ending

What are your favorite sequel teases in horror films? Let us know in the comments below!

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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