Sequels, what a concept! Across the history of film, there's no more varied bunch than the one found under the sequel umbrella. The existence of The Empire Strikes Back, Batman Returns, and Mad Max: Fury Road has proven some sequels can easily top their predecessors. The existence of Rocky V, Anchorman 2, and Terminator Genisys has proven some sequels are abominations better left forgotten. There's a wide range here, but there's no category more near and dear to my heart than underappreciated sequels. These are film follow-ups that are pretty good to downright great, but for one reason or another don't get the love they deserve or, more often, people don't even know they exist in the first place.
No more! Below, we recommend and respect the most underrated sequels of all time.
Scream 4
The hill I am most willing to die on, stabbed over and over again by the Ghostface of public opinion, is that Scream 4 is Good, Actually! On the 15th anniversary of the original Woodsboro massacre, Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to her hometown to promote a recently-written self-help book—a comically terrible decision spurred on by her wily publicist, Rebecca Walters (Alison Brie)—just as, wouldn't you know it, a new Ghostface killer starts yet another spree. But this time, the killer isn't just following a horror movie blue-print; he's following the rules of your classic too-deep-into-the-franchise horror sequel. Yes, Wes Craven gets a bit too cute with the concept on occasion. But A) He earned it, and B) Scream 4 proves to be just as prescient as the first one, playing with everything from the concept of going viral, to live-streaming, to the cultlike atmosphere at those 48-hour MCU marathons, way before any of those things were "things." Take a stab at this one if you haven't already.
The Exorcist III
Exorcist II: The Heretic is an affront to film and maybe God and is best exorcised from your brain immediately, so it was kind of a surprise when Exorcist III came along and happened to be one of the scariest movies of all time. Written and directed by William Peter Blatty—who wrote the original Exorcist novel and based this film off its follow-up, Legion—Exorcist III disappointed originally because it doesn't really follow your basic exorcism formula. Instead, it brings back Lt. William F. Kinderman (George C. Scott), who investigates a series of grisly, demonic murders in Georgetown that fit the M.O. of long-dead serial killer, James "The Gemini" Venamun (Brad Dourif, chilling as always). You'll want to steel yourself going into this one, so it might help to know that Exorcist III, with exaggeration, contains one of the best jump scares ever crafted.
Blade Runner 2049
A totally normal thing to do is wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking about how Blade Runner 2049 only did pretty good at the box office, meaning thousands of people missed out on seeing this visual feast on a big screen. Denis Villeneuve's decades-in-the-making sequel to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is one of the most gorgeous pieces of sci-fi in the last 20 years, a tapestry of neon and grime that earned cinematographer Roger Deakins his first Oscar win. (An absurd conversation for another day.) Even if photography isn't your bag, there's still a twisty noir mystery at the center of the film as replicant blade runner K (Ryan Gosling) seeks to unravel his own past and a massive conspiracy at the same time. If you're somehow still not sold, Harrison Ford wears a T-shirt you could buy for $4 at Target for the duration of his screentime and it's the coolest thing anyone has ever done.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
The first Gremlins movie is an odd amalgam that shouldn't work but does, a Christmas creature feature that manages to be both zany and dark. Gremlins 2: The New Batch said "fuck all that it's Looney Tunes now" and everyone involved promptly lost their damn minds, producing a film that can only be described as "if the first Gremlins mainlined cocaine." I mean, I could explain this, or you could watch the greatest Key and Peele sketch of all time. The New Batch continued the adventures of the furry little Mogwai Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandel), who multiplies into a nastier brood of gremlins inside a Manhattan office building. None of the rules in the first film matter. There's just Bat-gremlins now. Christopher Lee is here. Hulk Hogan is here. Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a cult classic for the ages.
Psycho 2
There are people out there, such as my colleague Allie Gemmill, who hold Psycho II higher than Alfred Hitchcock's original slasher masterpiece. While I wouldn't go that far, I do often find people don't even know Psycho II exists, much less that it's a cerebral, thrilling follow-up featuring yet another fascinating turn by Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. Directed by Richard Franklin, Psycho II picks up 22 years after the first film, with Norman released from a mental institution and returning to the only place he's ever known, the Bates Motel, to try and live a normal life. Sadder and more sedated than Psycho, the sequel still manages to satisfy anyone who wants to catch up with Mother's favorite and get a few jolts in the process.
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
A fun game to play is to show someone who knows nothing about Bill & Ted the first film, and then ask what they think happens in the sequel. Because one million times out of one million, I doubt someone says loveable humanity-saving slackers Ted Logan (Keanu Reeves) and Bill Preston (Alex Winter) are straight-up murdered by their evil clones and then beat Death personified (William Sadler) in a game of Battleship. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is wild, wonderful, and if I may be so bold, a better film than Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It's just funnier, weirder, and roughly 69% more excellent, these are the historical facts.
Aladdin and the King of Thieves
If Disney wants to keep remaking the Aladdin series after the success of its live-action reboot, it can skip right the heck over Return of the Jafar and do Aladdin and the King of Thieves, the genuinely exhilarating sequel from director Tad Stones. Scott Weinger and Linda Larkin reprise the roles of Aladdin and Jasmine, whose wedding is interrupted by the infamous Forty Thieves and their leader, Cassim (John Rhys-Davies!). The first of the series to feature a brand new soundtrack, King of Thieves has one key component that makes it work: Robin Williams returned to voice the Genie, a performance that cannot be replicated for all the wishes in the world.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
Like the hulking murderer at its center, the Friday the 13th franchise has a reputation for getting more rotten the longer it shuffles along. Which is fine and all, but ignores the fact that the best Friday the 13th film came a whopping six movies and six years into the series. Part VI: Jason Lives is a freaking blast from the moment writer/director Tom McLoughlin resurrects Jason Voorhees (C.J. Graham) with a Frankenstein-inspired bolt of lightning. Jason Lives is the first entry to shove a bit of genuine action next to all that slasher goodness—there's an honest to goodness truck flip that results in one of the most iconic F13 images of all time—as well as some pre-Scream meta-humor that worked like gangbusters with a straight man like Jason. This is the peak of the franchise, before our favorite undead hockey enthusiast spent a quick 15 minutes in Manhattan and set off for outer space, but it's also just an endlessly fun horror flick that proves a machete can still be sharp after six whacks.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Yes, let's get it out of the way right up front. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch features exactly zero (0) scenes featuring Michael Myers. Dude doesn't even cameo. Not even after the credits. The third film in the franchise attempted to turn Halloween into an anthology, with writer/director Tommy Lee Wallace departing the slasher genre and doing witchcraft with a sci-fi twist. And folks, it rules. If you can get past the Myers-less muck you're in for countless tricks and treats in this bonkers story of mask-maker Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) and his complex plot to perform an ancient Celtic ritual and murder thousands of children. If you've ever skipped the "skippable" Halloween, trust that you're missing out on a gory good time.
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
Another day, another Rose Byrne-fronted comedy that remains criminally underappreciated. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising finds the Radners, Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Byrne), once again going to war with a rowdy set of neighbors, this time the sisters of Kappa Nu led by Shelby (Chloë Grace Moretz). Everyone 1000% came to play for Neighbors 2, a film filled to the brim with undervalued all-timer comedic performances, including Zac Efron's genuinely heartbreaking portrayal of Teddy Sanders, the frat bro who finds out what life after frat'ing feels like. Just a gem. I occasionally just sit and think about Zac Efron being blasted into the roof of a garage by an airbag four years after seeing this film.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
No sequel was ever gonna' touch the inventiveness of A Nightmare On Elm Street even with a ten-foot Freddy arm, but Wes Craven's New Nightmare—arriving ten years and six sequels after the original—came the closest. There is no Scream without New Nightmare, an ultra-meta horrorshow that sees original Nightmare actress Heather Langenkamp playing herself, plagued by a real-life Freddy Kreuger who has escaped from the twisted tales of Wes Craven. Robert Englund once again reprises the iconic slasher role but with a whole new design, looking like the Springwood Slasher spent a few months at Gold's Gym. After the Nightmare sequels had reached peak Jester Freddy, New Nightmare pulled off the impossible by making the character scary again, all while having a blast with the conventions of your classic horror sequel.
Curse of Chucky
The second movie on this list to feature the great Brad Dourif. Rate Brad Dourif higher, you fools! So the weird thing about the Child's Play franchise is that there really isn't an outright "bad" apple in the bunch, and quite possibly the best entry of them all is a direct-to-video film that arrived 25 years after the original. Curse of Chucky is the only Child's Play film to combine all the positives of the series into one film. It's an ultra-effective slasher with great practical kills and one heck of a spooky locked-house set design, but is also features slapstick comedy, yet another all-time voice performance from Dourif, and the best human protagonist in the franchise by a mile. (Played, appropriately enough, by Nica Dourif.)
Shanghai Knights
Years after he'd already been cemented as a Hong Kong action icon and brought his buddy-comedy chops overseas with Rush Hour, Jackie Chan simply did not need to go this hard. But he did, for us. Shanghai Knights, the sequel to the perfectly fine Shanghai Noon, is a guilty pleasure action-comedy on speed. Directed by David Dobkin, the film sees Chinese Imperial Guard Chon Wang (Chan) and outlaw Roy O'Bannon (Luke Wilson) heading to London to avenge the murder of Wang's father (Kim Chan). In the immortal words of Stefon, Shanghai Knights has everything. The Jackie Chan Stunt Team just flinging themselves through every piece of the set possible. Fann Wong as Wang's sister, Chon Lin. Owen Wilson being bemused by British culture. Aiden Gillen as the snootiest possible villain and Donnie Yen whipping ass. Shanghai Knights got kind of lost in that early-2000s shuffle, but it's absolutely worth digging up.