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…
Auteur Filmmaking is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days in reference to big name directors like Quentin Tarantino and even Wes Anderson, but the truth is that film is a collective medium, and no one person can be responsible for every single aspect of a particular production. However, the smaller a film’s budget, the bigger the individual impact of every creative decision behind it – and the easier it becomes to identify a genuine auteur.
This isn’t necessarily a judgement of value, as blockbuster filmmaking comes with its own challenges and a good movie remains a miracle regardless of how big the crew is, but I’ve always been more interested in soulful b-movies produced by handfuls of passionate artists than blockbusters backed by creative armies.
That’s why I love exploring low-budget franchises that never left the hands of their original creators, as you really get to know the artists involved with these flicks and can accompany their evolution over a period of time. With that in mind, I’d like to invite readers to join me in this multi-part series as we look into a vampire saga helmed by one of the most fascinating auteurs of the 1990s. Naturally, I’m referring to Ted Nicolaou’s criminally underrated Subspecies!
The Birth of an Unlikely Horror Franchise
A proud graduate of the University of Texas’ Film program, Nicolaou got his start in the industry as a sound technician working on Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. From there, the filmmaker would go on to work for notorious indie producer Charles Band, the founder of both Empire Pictures and Full Moon Productions. According to Nicolaou, Band would usually contact him with an offer to direct a feature after more prominent filmmakers, such as the late, great Stuart Gordon, had already refused, meaning that his projects tended to have lower budgets and more inexperienced crew members.
The plans for Subspecies began almost immediately after the fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, with screenwriter David Pabian turning in an initial draft of the film after a Romanian producer contacted Band and explained that Romanian tax incentives could cover the cost of film production there so long as Full Moon took care of the post-production process. Since Stuart Gordon was unwilling to travel to Romania, Ted Nicolaou ended up taking over the picture.
However, while the financial incentives meant that this Romanian-American co-production could look and feel much more expensive than it really was, with Nicolaou scouting for locations in advance and selecting real castle ruins to be featured in the movie, the director was soon faced with an incredibly difficult shooting process. In interviews, Nicolaou would later describe the experience as something of a nightmare, with language barriers and the generalized distrust of capitalist outsiders sabotaging many of the team’s plans for the film.
In fact, the script, which had already been altered by Band, ultimately had portions of it rewritten by both Jack Canson and Nicolaou himself in an attempt to adapt the story to their unique limitations.
Radu Is One of Horror’s Greatest Underrated Villains
In the finished film, which was released directly to video in 1991, we follow a pair of American anthropology students, Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and Lillian (Michelle McBride), as they reunite with their Romanian colleague Mara (Irina Movila) in her native land. The group intends to study the folklore surrounding the secluded town of Prejmer, but their research is cut short by the return of Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove) – the evil son of a vampire king (Angus Scrimm) who had previously established a truce with the region’s human residents. It’s now up to Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) to protect the girls from a fate worse than death as the power-hungry vampire seeks to control a magical artifact known as the Bloodstone.
Right off the bat, you may have noticed that the film’s premise sounds decidedly old-fashioned when compared to other vampire movies from around the same time. While the 1990s saw the rise of cool-looking bloodsuckers with badass elements borrowed from Westerns, as well as the sexy aristocrats of Anne Rice’s stories, Subspecies has a lot more in common with Nosferatu and the Hammer Horror series than any of its contemporaries.
This is both a blessing and a curse, as the film falls victim to overly familiar genre tropes while also standing out as a rare example of a ’90s vampire flick that isn’t afraid to flex its muscles as a Creature Feature. In fact, I’d argue that the presence of age-old clichés is a small price to pay when confronted with one of the most compelling vampire antagonists in all of cinema.
Named after Vlad the Impaler’s real-life brother, Anders Hove’s Radu is such a fascinating character and the main reason why Subspecies is still worth watching 35 years later. From his animalistic mannerisms to the joy he feels in simply existing as a chaotic creature of the night, and that’s not even mentioning the iconic makeup that almost certainly inspired the undead from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Radu is a hypnotic presence harkening back to a time when audiences didn’t mind purely evil villains that couldn’t be redeemed through tragic backstories or sex appeal.
Gothic Atmosphere on an Indie Budget
Of course, the film’s Romanian setting and authentic art direction do a lot of the heavy lifting whenever Radu isn’t around. From the masked festivals of the village to the visually interesting selection of local extras, Subspecies’ multicultural elements help it to stand out when compared to similar flicks from the ’90s.
That being said, Nicolaou’s unique eye for special effects and exciting action sequences – as well as Vlad Paunescu’s excellent cinematography – make the movie a delight for fans of expressionist cinema and old-timey gothic horror. While the crew is obviously dealing with limited resources, many of the flick’s blemishes (such as the odd stop-motion demons that serve Radu) end up feeling more like charming idiosyncrasies than actual flaws.
I’d argue that the only real issue here is pacing, as there are long stretches of film where the protagonists are simply bumbling around without realizing what’s really going on around them. Thankfully, the gorgeous visuals and surprisingly effective soundtrack usually make up for this. Besides, how can you dislike a movie where shotgun shells are loaded with rosary beads and our lead vampires duke it out in a dramatic swordfight that would feel out of place during the golden age of Hollywood?
Your overall enjoyment of Subspecies will mostly depend on whether or not you find low-budget corner-cutting and janky practical effects charming rather than distracting, but I know I’ll keep coming back to this Full Moon feature again and again in the future.
That being said, while this first movie is worth revisiting by its own merits as the birth of an indie horror icon, I’d like to invite you to join us as we look into the cult sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II soon.
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