Editorials
Stay Home, Watch Horror: 5 Standout Sequels to Stream This Week
It can be too easy to write off a sequel. Often considered a quick attempt to ride the wave of its predecessor’s success, the consensus is that sequels very rarely manage to reach the same heights of the movies they follow. Yet genre franchises consistently prove otherwise. For every weak sequel, countless others successfully improve upon the originals.
That begs the question of what makes a good horror sequel. The formula isn’t so straightforward and easy to duplicate, but a few key ingredients hold true in the genre’s best. A good follow-up won’t settle for merely replicating the exact same plot. In addition to a higher kill count, sequels expand upon the mythology in thrilling ways. They try something a little different to break the mold, whether it be tonal shifts, a fearlessness in dispatching character favorites, or merely playing with audience expectations.
This week is dedicated to the horror sequel, and these five remind us of what it was we loved about the original while forging new paths. As always, you can stream them right now.
Maniac Cop 2 – Shudder, Tubi, Prime Video, Vudu
From writer Larry Cohen and director William Lustig, this sequel wastes no time at all dispatching the protagonists of the previous entry. That means a new pair of heroes to battle undead maniac cop Matt Cordell (Robert Z’Dar), and this time he’s enlisted an ally in the form of a serial killer. Expanded mythology, new characters, and double the baddies are the tip of the entertaining iceberg here. It’s a sequel that manages to top the original, and in true ’90s style, Maniac Cop 2 even comes with its own rap theme song.
Ring 2 – Shudder
Picking up immediately after Ringu‘s events, also on Shudder, Reiko and Yoichi have gone missing. Investigating the death of her former boss, Mai Takano searches for Reiko for answers. Reiko’s hiding her son, who’s been displaying eerie new powers similar to Sadako. New truths are revealed about Sadako and her wrathful curse, and not all familiar characters make it out of this story alive. That shift in character perspectives has proven divisive, and some of the same story beats are retreaded. Still, the expanded mythos and effective scares make it easy to see why Sadako has become a horror icon.
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers – Prime Video, Shudder
A reformed Angela has taken up a new surname and is now happily working at a summer camp. When campers start misbehaving, it becomes clear that Angela still harbors murderous tendencies. Pamela Springsteen takes over as Angela, fully embracing this sequel’s tongue-in-cheek humorous tone. As in, this camp-set movie goes full camp. Sleepaway Camp has become a slasher cult classic, but its sequels get far less love. It’s well past time to change that. A minor caveat: Sleepaway Camp II is leaving Shudder soon, so you have a minimal window to catch it there, but it’s currently not slated to leave Prime Video.
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones – Crackle, Pluto TV
With a new Paranormal Activity movie on the way, now seems like a good time to revisit one of the strongest entries of the franchise. Written and directed by Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day series), The Marked Ones is a spinoff sequel that follows recent high school graduate Jesse (Andrew Jacobs) and his friends as they encounter a terrifying entity after attempting a ritual. As the malevolent presence targets Jesse, his friends race against the clock for answers to save him. It should go without saying that The Marked Ones nails it in the scares department. Even better is the creative way it ties itself to the central franchise storyline. Just when you thought the series had grown stale, this sidequel provided a refreshing jolt.
Return of the Living Dead 3 – Tubi, Prime Video
Dan O’Bannon’s The Return of the Living Dead is one of the most beloved horror comedies of the ’80s. Its immediate follow-up, for the most part, worked as a rehash. The humor was replaced with romance for its third outing, offering a gory Romeo and Juliet story only director Brian Yuzna could deliver. Curt Reynolds (J. Trevor Edmund) is madly in love with his girlfriend Julie (Melinda Clarke), and can’t bear to live without her. So much so that when a motorcycle accident claims her life, he takes her to his father’s military compound and exposes her to 2-4-5 Trioxin gas. Julie is successfully reanimated but finds herself battling an overwhelming hunger for human flesh. As the lovers flee from the military, Julie leaves a trail of devastation and undead corpses. This threequel shakes up the franchise in just about every way. Yuzna’s ability to balance extreme viscera with tender moments makes this entry soar.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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