Terrible sequels

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Gibson's Alien 3 has been officially released as a comic book, novelization and audiobook. I listened to the audiobook -- highly recommended, very fun.

 

[billd91]

It might have been a bit disappointing, but worst? Worse than Highlander 2?

MUCH steeper fall.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

 

[Deset Gled]

A lot of these are examples aren't completely terrible movies, they just don't compare to what came before.

Hellraiser: Revelations. Now that's a sequel that is essentially unwatchable, following a couple of the best horror movies ever made (and a few mediocre entries to the franchise).

 

[Jadeite]

Zoolander 2

 

[Autumnal]

The Neon Genesis Evangelion movies. The TV series ends on a truly marvelous redemptive note - sure, they ran out of money and remaking it with more actual animation would be nice, but the story is basically perfect. It says “yes, the sacrifices weee worth it for where we end up, and no, no one must be miserable forever”. The movies then take that out back to pee on it and dump the remains in with the silage.

 

[Dioltach]

Stayin' Alive comes to mind.

 

[payn]

Anything after Terminator 2
Jurassic Park 2+

I actually liked Terminator 3 more than 2. (Everything after was bad though.)

 

[payn]

For me, terrible sequels have one consistent aspect, regardless of the franchise. Invalidating the first movie. There seems to be a tendency for filmmakers to want to put everything back to how it was at the start of the first movie, which leads to some incredibly lazy writing. Look at Ghostbusters II (Oh, no one believes in ghosts despite a giant stay puft marshmallow), The Force Awakens (Han's a smuggler again and Leia a rebel), Men in Black II (we're going to undo Tommy Lee Jones' character's happy ending), Jurassic Park/World sequels (John Hammond changed his mind like 3 times on whether a dinosaur park is a good idea, and he had all these secret business partners we never heard of). A good sequel develops themes and character arcs without pressing a reset button.

The urge to hit the reset button is particularly bad in television series.

 

[MGibster]

MUCH steeper fall.

This thread isn't about the most disappointing sequel it's about the worst sequel. As disappointing as Godfather 3 was, they managed to tell a cohesive story, most of the acting was fine, and the movie only looks bad in comparison to it's predecessors. Highlander 2 has no redeeming features as the story is nonsensical and it doesn't even work as a so bad it's good movie experience. Sean Connery demonstrated that you can't polish a turd with Highlander 2.