In Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, the titular killer compares the inevitable return of slasher villains with the cyclical nature of classic curses. These masked murderers may get brutally killed at the end of each movie, but the necessary evil that they represent can never be truly vanquished, and that’s why they always come back. Sometimes in prequel form.
This obligatory return to the status quo also explains why scary movies tend to benefit more from prequels than nearly any other genre – especially when these prequels refrain from over-explaining the otherworldly elements that made these franchises scary in the first place.
With Peacock’s long-awaited Crystal Lake series set to debut on October 15, I’ve decided to come up with a list recommending five horror prequels to get you in the mood for the return of Pamela (and Jason) Voorhees.
As usual, this list is purely based on personal opinion, so don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite prequels if you think we missed a particularly memorable one. Just keep in mind that we won’t be repeating entries from our 2024 list of underrated prequels! While it won’t be included on this list, I’d also recommend checking out Full Moon’s Subspecies V: Blood Rise, which I covered in its own individual retrospective.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Whether it’s because of rising nostalgia for the 2000s or the ensuing couple of decades’ worth of lackluster sequels, what was originally regarded as one of the worst entries in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise has since been reevaluated as a deeply disturbing origin story for our favorite cannibalistic family.
While The Beginning has its flaws, especially where our airheaded victims are concerned, seeing R. Lee Ermey return to his most underrated role alongside the rest of the eerie Hewitt family more than makes up for any plot-based blunders. Squeamish viewers beware, however, as this is one of the most gruesome movies on this list!
4. Bereavement (2010)
Also known as Malevolence 2, Bereavement is the rare horror prequel that manages to develop an established villain as a vulnerable human being without taking away any of the original flick’s edge.
Taking place years before the previous movie, Bereavement follows the trials of a young boy after he’s kidnapped by a serial killer looking for a protégé. What follows is a deeply unsettling deconstruction of slasher tropes and one of the most unsettling movies on this list.
3. Saw X (2023)
A pseudo-vigilante story about John Kramer in Mexico wasn’t exactly what fans were expecting when it was first announced that the tenth Saw film was going to be a standalone prequel set between the events of the first and second movies, but Kevin Greutert‘s Saw X ended up becoming one of the most beloved entries in the franchise since the original trilogy – and with good reason!
Not only is it refreshing to see Jigsaw face someone arguably even more demented than himself, but the story gives genre veteran Tobin Bell plenty of opportunities to shine as our vengeful protagonist, even if the traps themselves could have been a little scarier this time around.
2. Insidious: The Last Key (2018)
Lin Shaye‘s compelling portrayal of the horror icon Elise Rainier is obviously the highlight of the entire Insidious franchise, so it stands to reason that the prequel revealing Elise’s tragic backstory would make it onto this list.
From Shaye’s heartbreaking portrayal of someone attempting to confront family trauma years after the fact to one of the best antagonists in the whole series, there’s a lot more to The Last Key than you might initially expect.
1. Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge (1991)
There’s something for everyone in the Puppet Master franchise, and everyone I know has a different favorite entry in Full Moon’s long-running horror series. However, while there are several prequels among these fifteen or so movies, Toulon’s Revenge stands out as the absolute best of the bunch.
A World War II-era period piece about a mystical puppeteer who gets his titular revenge on a group of Nazis, Puppet Master III is way more entertaining, not to mention more emotional than it has any right to be. And even if you don’t agree with me that it’s better than the original, you have to admit that the flick deserves praise for introducing the world to the fan-favorite Six-Shooter.
