Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life (2003)
The Sequel: The original adaptation was far from perfect, but few could doubt Angelina Jolie's action prowess, and this second half came with the promise of being smarter and slicker, now that the character was established and raring to go.
Why It's Terrible: Jan de Bont, who has one of the most striking directing career trajectories ever seen: from Speed to this over the course of five movies. The raw potential is there (Jolie is still aces) but the delivery is totally botched, resulting in a movie that's as long-winded and clunky as its title.
What They Should Have Done: Shoved Lara onto a bus that couldn't slow down.
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
The Sequel: Arriving a tardy 18 years after its predecessor, this is a pale retread which replaces Jon Belushi with John Goodman and an irritating kid. Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) is released from prison (again) and travels across the States creating an R&B supergroup.
Why It's Terrible: The music is its sole redeeming feature. There's none of the goofy charm that made the original such fun, and the big set pieces feel forgettably shallow.
What They Should Have Done: Skipped the movie altogether and edited it down to a concert flick.
Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
The Sequel: Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) is back, and she's suffering from 'risk addiction.' After being involved in a sexy car crash with Stan Collymore (yup), David Morrisey's shrink is sent in to penetrate her mind.
Why It's Terrible: Because without Paul Verhoeven at the helm, this doesn't have the balls to send a sly wink and a cheeky grin at its ludicrous premise, playing it boringly straight. Morrisey, Stone and Thewliss don't survive the assault on their dignity.
What They Should Have Done: Increased the ham…
Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
The Sequel: A bunch of young tourists head to Burkittsville for a tour of the site of the original film that became an unexpected, game-changing horror phenomenon. Shacked up in an abandoned cabin, the gormless bunch soon succumb to various forms of possession.
Why It's Terrible: There's a fundamental misunderstanding about what actually made the first movie such a terrifying treat: the mystery, the unseen, the shaky-cam realism. Not only does it fail on its own level, it disrupts the realism of its predecessor.
What They Should Have Done: Left it well alone. But if they had to cash in, couldn't they have sent in some investigators armed with camcorders, rather that resorting to past-it genre tics?
S. Darko (2009)
The Sequel: Unnecessary, unwanted, and pretty much ignored Part II to Richard Kelly's acclaimed angsty indie sci-fi.
Why It's Terrible: From the shot-for-shot poaching, to the ill thought out script, to the unbearably irritating lead (Daveigh Chase, from the original), this will offend newcomers and Donnie fans alike.
What They Should Have Done: Spent the money on promoting Donnie Darko (or its Director's Cut) in a cinema re-release.
Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
The Sequel: Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) is no longer with Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), but she's replaced him with another vacant gung-ho lunk, Alex (Jason Patric). The pair head off on an ill-fated cruise.
Why It's Terrible: Bullock's character is the only tenuous link between the two films, as unfortunately Jan de Bont was unable to summon any of the tension, thrills or wow factor of his earlier high-concept hit.
What They Should Have Done: Starting with a hijacked vehicle that actually appears to be moving fast, rather than gliding uninterrupted through Caribbean waters, would have been a start.
Teen Wolf Too (1987)
The Sequel: Remember Michael J Fox's Scott Howard, the adolescent lycanthrope who was prone to transforming into a hairy, fanged, charismatic jock? This is the story of his cousin, Todd (Jason Bateman).
Why It's Terrible: It's a beat-for-beat copy of the original, minus the wit and with basketball exchanged for boxing. The sappy message is as unconvincing as Bateman's body-fuzz.
What They Should Have Done: They should have learnt from the iffy animated series that it just doesn't work without Michael J Fox.
Son Of The Mask (2005)
The Sequel: The first film's facewear is washed up from a river, and Jamie Kennedy has the misfortune to be wearing it whilst impregnating his wife. Animated baby hi-jinks ensue.
Why It's Terrible: The first film hung it's well-done cartoon action on a fairly decent story. This dives straight into the OTT action with a deluge of dodgy CGI, a messy plot and no comedy talents.
What They Should Have Done: If they really wanted more Mask antics without Carrey, they should have returned to the comics for a darker, adult-orientated reboot.
AVPR: Aliens Vs Predator - Requiem (2007)
The Sequel: Following directly on from Paul WS Anderson's abysmal-enough sequel, the action continues when the hybrid 'Predalien' wreaks havoc on the Predators' departing ship.
Why It's Terrible: This has all the humanity and storytelling nous you'd expect from an unwanted follow-up being helmed by VFX maestros. Idiotic, insulting stuff, further tainting the beasts' cinematic legacies.
What They Should Have Done: Fast-tracked Ridley Scott's Prometheus .
American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002)
The Sequel: A young girl witnesses Patrick Bateman murdering her babysitter, so she offs the Wall Street killer (and any of the original's ambiguity) and takes on his mantle. Rachael then hones her craft by attending a serial killer-centric Criminology course. And sadly, yes, that is Mila Kunis.
Why It's Terrible: The movie's woefulness is even more apparent when held up against the sublime original. Gone is any satire, tension or black humour. What we're left with is a reputation-tarnishing stinker attached to the original by only a tacked-on intro.
What They Should Have Done: Couldn't Bateman have just shown up in another Bret Easton Ellis adap (like he did in the books)?
