The Hidden II (1993)
The Original: An alien parasite inhabits different humans and goes on a killing spree, stealing money and proving to have a fondness for Ferraris. All the while, he is tracked by an alien police officer with the same ability (but without the fondness for Ferraris).
The Sequel: While the evil alien from the first film is dead, he left behind some hatching eggs. A plot point we’d probably be more invested in if this sequel didn’t kill off all the survivors from the first film within the first 20 minutes.
Possible Fan-Edit: It turns out that those survivors didn’t die after all and they were in fact aliens too. In fact everyone is an alien. And the earth isn’t really earth. And everyone can just get on with living their normal everyday lives just like they were before.
Fay Grim (2006)
The Original: Henry Fool , a relatively low-key effort from indie auteur Hal Hartley, with witty dialogue and an impressionable, ambiguous ending.
The Sequel: Made 10 years later, Fay Grim is a direct sequel in that it features several of the same characters, but is a completely separate film in that it swaps out the reserved character study of Henry Fool in favour of being an espionage thriller. And that ambiguous ending? Cleared up within the first 10 minutes of this follow-up.
Possible Fan-Edit: No other way to get round this other than to go down the ol’ ‘it was all a dream’ route.
Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground (2009)
The Original: Elijah Wood leaves the shire and moves to London, where he learns how to be a violent football hooligan.
The Sequel: Follows the story of Dave Bjorno from the first film – a Green Street gang member who was arrested following the events of the first film. Unfortunately, for reasons only known to the filmmakers, his prison is decidedly US-flavoured, complete with orange jumpsuits. Also, the main cause of friction between prisoners is handily resolved at the end thanks to an anticlimactic game of footy.
Possible Fan-Edit: The final football game between prisoners gathers a crowd itself, all of whom turn violent and become hooligans themselves. Y’see – it’s a vicious circle.
Troll 2 (1990)
The Original: Several years before J.K. Rowling made her squillions, Troll told the story of a young boy named Harry Potter Jr who is suddenly thrust into a magical world of wizards, witches and magical creatures. Just sayin', J.K. Just sayin'.
The Sequel: It’s not even a proper sequel – it was an original film called Goblins, which the studio lost faith in and rebranded as a sequel to Troll . Something of a problem, considering that there aren’t any trolls in it. And what IS there is evidence enough to support the claim that this is one of the worst movies ever made.
Possible Fan-Edit: Professor Dumbledore shows up to teach a class of Hogwarts about the difference between trolls and goblins. Then Harry experiences some magic-related hijinks with Ron and Hermione, or something.
Look What Happened To Rosemarys Baby (1976)
The Original: Polanski-directed horror movie about a woman who is unwittingly pregnant with the spawn of Satan. The film's main message seems to be: 'Never trust kind, elderly neighbours'.
The Sequel: After being adopted and growing up in a brothel, Rosemary’s baby – now a grown young man named Adrian – comes to terms with the fact that he is Lucifer’s child and worries about living up to expectations. Because of COURSE the son of Satan would want his father to be proud of him.
Possible Fan-Edit: Satan himself rises up from Hell in search of Adrian. When reunited, they catch up on old times and go out to the park to play catch.
King Kong Lives (1976)
The Original: A remake of the classic 1933 monster movie, this time combining stop motion effects and a guy in a gorilla costume with dodgy animatronics.
The Sequel: Completely sideswiping the dramatic ending of the original, it seems that Kong isn’t dead after all but is actually in a coma and in desperate need of a blood transfusion, overseen by Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Amy Franklin. Luckily, an adventurer manages to capture a giant female ape for the transfusion, but the two Kongs end up escaping together and embarking on some kind of big ape destruction-rampage.
Possible Fan-Edit: Godzilla turns up and challenges to fight King Kong for the honour of his new lady friend. Kong wins and the two hairy lovers retire to the jungle to grow old together picking out each other’s fleas and eating them.
Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)
The Original: A comedy-horror film starring Warwick Davis as an ickle leprechaun taking gruesome revenge on those that stole his gold and a young Jennifer Aniston as someone who will regret this movie for the rest of her career.
The Sequel: The Leprechaun is inexplicably on a different planet and gets attacked by space marines. He then takes vengeance on them by killing them off one-by-one after first appearing on their spaceship by violently emerging from one of the marine’s penis.
Possible Fan-Edit: Warwick Davies sees the opportunity to link this franchise with his other more famous film roles in Star Wars , and we see a film in which the Leprechaun faces off against that other little green wizard, Yoda.
The Amityville Curse (1990)
The Original: An outright terrifying film based on true events about a family who move into a house with a dark past and experience 'paranormal activity'.
The Sequel: Takes place in an entirely different house in Amityville, thus negating the whole “based on true events” angle and implying that the entire town is haunted.
Possible Fan-Edit: A twist at the end of the film reveals that this new house was actually the murderer’s holiday home where he also killed people.
The Birds II: Lands End (1994)
The Original: Hitchcock's brilliant tension-laden thriller about winged squarkers suddenly turning on the human race. We're pretty sure this film is the main reason why people freak out every time a pigeon flies remotely near them.
The Sequel: A made-for-TV film about a couple coping with the death of their son until a small flock of untrained birds give them reason to widen their eyes a bit in shock… and that’s all. Essentially, it’s the same story as the original, only with different people – and that includes star Tippi Hedren making a cameo as an entirely different character.
Possible Fan-Edit: Tippi Hedren reveals herself to be original character Melanie Daniels, who has spent her years in between fighting in a huge-scale war between birds and humans. She is armed to the gills and says things like “Birds of a feather die together” through gritted teeth while aiming a shotgun.
Home Alone 4: Taking Back The House (2002)
The Original: A fun family Christmas film that provided heart and slapstick gags in equal measure. It also marked star Macaulay Culkin as a kid who would definitely succumb to the pressures of childhood acting and take to drugs early on in his short-lived career.
The Sequel: Kevin McAllister is now played by new kid in the house Mike Weinberg and, with his parents now divorced, he spends Christmas with his dad and soon-to-be stepmother – but, of course, Sticky Bandit Marv (now played by French Stewart) also has his eye on the house. This film makes the strange step of keeping all the same characters but recasting them and ditching the continuity of the earlier films.
Possible Fan-Edit: Macauley Culkin makes a pleasing cameo as the troubled youngster next door. Kevin McAllister is scared of him at first, but they ultimately become friends and celebrate the holidays together.
