Editorials
My Sister is a Werewolf?!: The Best (and Silliest) Horror Sequel Subtitles of All Time!
When you make a sequel to a horror movie you have a choice. You can just slap a number on it, like it’s the latest issue of a comic book, or you can get creative.
Horror movie subtitles, the titles that come after the franchise’s main title (usually preceded by a colon), are a great way to keep the original franchise title alive while declaring that the new installment has its own personality. When done right, they’re witty, exciting or even just laugh-out-loud hilarious.
With the announcement of the awesomely-titled The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, we thought it would be a good idea to look back at the delightful history of horror movie subtitles and highlight the best of the best. These are the subtitles that were genuinely great, or were so damned silly you gotta love ‘em… whether the movie was any good or not!
Honorable Mention: Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
There has long been a controversy amongst fans of the Evil Dead movies as to whether “Dead By Dawn” is an official subtitle for the movie Evil Dead, or just a tagline on the poster that sounds like a really great subtitle. (See also: The X-Files: Fight the Future.) The words “Dead By Dawn” never actually appear on screen in Sam Raimi’s splatstick masterpiece, but to many of us they are as deeply ingrained in the film’s identity as any of the subtitles that made the official list. So we have to give it credit either way.
11. Hellraiser: Deader
What’s worse than being dead? Being deader, of course! The seventh film in the Hellraiser series (which, like many Hellraiser sequels, has almost nothing to do with the original) is about a reporter investigating a modern day death cult, whose members call themselves “Deaders.” So although the subtitle sounds ludicrous, it actually does make sense in context.
10. Critters 2: The Main Course
The second Critters movie has a subtitle that works on multiple levels. The series is about a species of aliens which lands on Earth and starts eating everybody, and so the food-centric phrase “The Main Course” perfectly applies. But also, Critters 2 is superior to the original in arguably every way, from the great ensemble to the witty script to the bizarre and wholly original set pieces. The first Critters really was just an appetizer. This is the real deal.
9. Amityville: It’s About Time
The Amityville Horror series got pretty silly pretty quickly – don’t get me started on the one about an evil lamp – but you gotta admire whenever a horror franchise says “screw it” and just does a time travel installment, especially when it’s the sequel to an allegedly true story. “It’s About Time” is a great subtitle because… well, yeah, this one is about time. They’re not being clever about it, they’re just announcing that they basically gave up and are committing to the franchise’s total weirdness.
8. The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie
Say what you will about Troma, but the little horror studio that could is not afraid to self-aggrandize. The third film in the monster/superhero/horror/comedy Toxic Avenger series is no mere sequel, it’s a story about the Toxic Avenger selling out by selling his soul. Of course it’s utterly absurd, but evoking the controversial but acclaimed Martin Scorsese classic The Last Temptation of Christ – thus comparing not just Toxie to Christ, but the filmmakers to Scorsese himself – is a power play if ever I’ve heard one. Bonus points for confidence!
7. Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
The sequel to the surprisingly entertaining and successful Anaconda could have just been called Anacondas, since in the follow-up there’s a whole bunch of them. But no, oh no, they didn’t put a bunch of blood orchids in this movie just to let the snakes steal the spotlight. People need to know about those blood orchids, otherwise they might not be interested in the film. You know how much people love blood orchids, right? They’re so popular right now. Anyway, that’s probably why the sequel to a giant snake movie has a title that’s more about flowers than snakes. I assume. Probably.
6. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
The Tremors movies have consistently been producing quality straight to video sequels for decades now, and the subtitles are mostly just fine. You gotta respect “Back to Perfection,” though. It sounds like a huge boast but it’s actually totally banal. The original Tremors took place in Perfection, Nevada, and the third film takes place there too. But also it’s fair to say that the third film in the series ably captures the ensemble charms and monsteriffic humor of the original, so yeah, it kinda actually is “back to the perfection.” In addition to being “Back to Perfection,” of course.
5. Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night II
Sometimes a subtitle is so good it’s better than the actual title. Such is the case with Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night II, in which the title of the movie gets demoted to subtitle status, and with good cause. The absolutely insane sequel to Prom Night has almost nothing to do with the original, to the point that calling it a sequel at all is practically a joke. The supra title “Hello, Mary Lou” puts this cult classic’s wonderful villain front and center; and as a welcome bonus, it rhymes!
4. Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood
This was a tough call between Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood and Leprechaun 4: In Space, two titles which both sound more like fake movies than real ones. But you have to give the edge to Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood. It’s the sixth film in the series, but instead of admitting that, they’re calling it the first sequel to Leprechaun in tha Hood, as though putting a Leprechaun in “tha hood” was the original blockbuster idea that gave birth to the franchise in the first place. It’s not just a catchy, funny title, it’s actively rewriting history to elevate Leprechaun in tha Hood to classic status. Kudos for moxie.
3. The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia
It’s a “Haunting in Connecticut.” And it’s set in “Georgia.”
I repeat.
It’s a “Haunting in Connecticut.” And it’s set in “Georgia.”
This title is a masterpiece of misplaced marketing bravado, as the follow up to the successful supernatural thriller The Haunting in Connecticut was originally going to be called “The Haunting in Georgia.” But because the franchise’s branding took priority over what words actually mean, they renamed it The Haunting in Connecticut 2 and gave it a laugh-out-loud subtitle to announce that it’s actually set in Georgia.
Dang, that’s funny.
2. The Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf
The Howling II is our number two pick for a variety of reasons. First off, it’s called “Your Sister is a Werewolf.” That’s just funny on its surface. Not many films are bold enough to use second-person in the title, and fewer still are bold enough to announce that you, the audience member, has a werewolf for a sister. It’s like they’re trying to start a bar fight with you or something.
But this particular sequel has had multiple subtitles over the years, and one of them is yet another prime contender. The Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch is almost if more more eye-catching than the one accusing your sister of lycanthropy. They’re both classic horror subtitles.
1. The “Final” Anything
There’s one cardinal rule of horror sequel subtitles, and that is if you call your film the “final” installment, it won’t be. And it’ll get a laugh out of horror fans forever. Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, Saw 3D: The Final Chapter, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare and Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice all continued after their allegedly “final” installments, in many cases for a very, very long time. It’s extremely ironic that if you call your sequel the “final chapter” as a marketing ploy to sell tickets, and it works, then the sequel will be so successful that the studio demands another one.
So far there’s one exception to this rule, and that’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, which has yet to either produce another sequel or reboot itself.
But they’re working on it, so it’s only a matter of time…
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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