10 sequels to classic movies that should be deleted from history
Sequels are a necessary evil that generate the money that trickles down throughout every level of cinema to keep the business ticking along, but it should go without saying that not every filmic follow-up is one that needs to exist.
Nobody in their right mind would consider mounting Apocalypse Now II, It’s a Wonderful Life: Origins, or Citizen Kane: Electric Boogaloo, but there’s only a very small number of seminal pictures that can unreservedly be called safe from sequels, remakes, reboots, or reimaginings.
If a film catches on with critics and audiences, turns a tidy profit, and makes a cultural impact, then there’s at least a 99% chance producers, executives, and studios will be circling like vultures to pick the bones and turn it into an ongoing property.
It’s become an increasing inevitability, but sometimes a movie is much better off left alone. The following ten classics all got a solitary sequel each, and it was one too many. There’s nothing wrong with a one-and-done masterclass in cinema, and every single one of these features took everything great about their predecessors and ran it right into the ground.
10 disastrous sequels to cinema classics:
10. Dumb and Dumber To (Peter and Bobby Farrelly, 2014)
The breakthrough comedy from filmmaking duo the Farrelly brothers also capped off Jim Carrey’s remarkable 1994, which began with the former sketch comic as a relative unknown and ended with him being anointed as the newest A-lister in Hollywood.
One of the most quotable and beloved comedies of its era, Dumb and Dumber packed plenty of heart into its puerile story, aided by Carrey and Jeff Daniels’ sparkling double act. For years, rumours of a sequel percolated, and everyone wished they’d never bothered when it finally arrived 20 years later.
Instead of the loveable and well-meaning idiots from the opener, Harry and Lloyd were nasty and mean-spirited figures who’d apparently lost every ounce of their charm in the two decades between. It arrived so late that nobody really wanted it anymore, and the end result was about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.
9. The Fly II (Chris Walas, 1989)
David Cronenberg’s grotesque body horror might have been a remake, but it would be an understatement to say it stood on its own merit as a top-tier tale of science running amok, and the story was definitively wrapped up by the time the credits rolled.
However, because it turned out to be so popular and profitable before finding an extended second life in home video, it was granted a sequel. John Getz was the only notable alumni from The Fly to return on either side of the camera, and the original crew were wise to distance themselves from the shoddy follow-up.
The final act admirably attempts to ape Cronenberg’s disgusting practical effects, but the overriding sentiment from the first frame to the last was that The Fly II didn’t do anything to justify its own existence, never mind that it was unforgivably dull for such a garish film.
8. Caddyshack II (Allan Arkush, 1988)
Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase crystallised themselves as three of silver screen comedy’s leading lights in 1980’s Caddyshack, a movie that wasn’t exactly crying out for a sequel.
Of course, the studio would disagree when the sports flick recouped its production budget ten times over at the box office, but by the time the sequel finally arrived eight years later – and without the majority of its key players – nobody cared.
Chase returned for a brief cameo, but he’d have been better off staying at home. An absolutely abysmal sequel and a certified disaster at the box office, the only real highlight of Caddyshack II was Kenny Loggins’ ‘Nobody’s Fool’, which did at least maintain the singer’s hot streak of ’80s theme tunes.
7. Basic Instinct 2 (Michael Caton-Jones, 2006)
A perfect storm of time and circumstance, Basic Instinct burst onto the scene when the resurgence of the erotic thriller was at its cultural and cinematic zenith, giving rise to less of a movie and more of a full-blown sensation.
There was controversy at the time, and there remains controversy now, but what can’t be argued is that Basic Instinct is an iconic film that took flight at the box office, infiltrated the pop culture consciousness, elevated Sharon Stone onto the A-list, and delivered pulpy – if occasionally problematic – thrills.
Fast forward a decade and a half, and Stone was back to shag Stan Collymore in a car, which sums up Basic Instinct 2. It didn’t need to happen; it shouldn’t have happened, and its lasting legacy is that of a flaming dumpster fire that was deservedly burned at the critical and commercial stake.
6. Grease 2 (Patricia Birch, 1982)
If Michelle Pfeiffer hates Grease 2 with an intense and burning passion, then it’s perfectly acceptable for everyone else to feel the same way, especially when she’s not wrong to feel that way.
The original continues to win over new converts with each passing generation, broke box office records as the highest-grossing musical ever made, spawned one of the bestselling soundtracks in history, and gave rise to a slew of songs that everybody knows the world over.
By comparison, what does the sequel have going for it? Not much, which is putting it lightly. It’s there, it exists, but at no point did it ever come close to stepping out of the looming shadow cast by its illustrious predecessor.
5. Speed 2: Cruise Control (Jan De Bont, 1997)
Jan De Bont made one of the most memorable directorial debuts in modern cinema when his very first tilt behind the camera yielded one of the greatest action movies of all time. Realistically, there was only one way to go from there, and it wasn’t up.
Speed is a masterclass in pacing that embraces the absurdity of its concept and plays it with a completely straight face, whereas the sequel is an abomination. Keanu Reeves dodged a bullet by declining to return, while Sandra Bullock continues to apologise for Cruise Control to this day.
It’s been said a million times before, but setting a movie called Speed on the decidedly slow-paced confines of a giant boat was a terrible call, but that was the least of the sequel’s problems when everything from script and performance to set pieces and excitement was so painfully lacking.
4. Staying Alive (Sylvester Stallone, 1983)
Through a modern lens, Sylvester Stallone directing the sequel to Saturday Night Fever seems like a questionable idea at best, but it didn’t take people long to realise it was a major misstep in 1983.
Saturday Night Fever landed John Travolta on the Oscars shortlist for ‘Best Actor’ and ended up as one of the highest-grossing R-rated movies of all time, and brought disco to the mainstream like never before without sacrificing the darker side of its story.
Staying Alive, meanwhile, is just crap. It’s got absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever, and it’s much better to pretend that there’s no such thing as a Saturday Night Fever follow-up because all it does is detract from the legacy of the original.
3. Blues Brothers 2000 (John Landis, 1998)
The list of people who were enthused by a new Blues Brothers movie without John Belushi was a very small one, and the vast majority of people on it were probably heavily involved in the making of the film.
The fact Blues Brothers 2000 was dedicated to several focal points of the original who’d since passed away was an obvious sign that there shouldn’t have been any logical reason to proceed with the next chapter in the musical saga, but John Landis went ahead and did it anyway.
A poor imitation of its vaunted predecessor, there’s nothing about Blues Brothers 2000 that’s even on a comparable level to the opener, never mind better. If push comes to shove, just watch the first one again.
2. American Psycho 2 (Morgan J Freeman, 2002)
Christian Bale was hired, fired, rehired, and then gave the breakout performance of his career in Mary Harron’s American Psycho, which at no point gave off the impression that it carried franchise potential.
Tell somebody who’s never heard of the sequel about it, and there’s a chance they might even doubt it’s real. Remember American Psycho? Yeah, there’s a second one where Mila Kunis is the serial killer, and William Shatner plays a former FBI agent and professor. That doesn’t even sound like a real movie.
It makes perfect sense that American Psycho 2 began life as a completely different film that had no connection to Harron’s cult classic until somebody decided to retrofit the whole thing into a second chapter, which helps explain why it exists as a black mark against the first film.
1. The Sting II (Jeremy Kagan, 1983)
The Sting marked the second and final onscreen collaboration for Hollywood icons Robert Redford and Paul Newman, and the movie lived up to the lofty expectations by delivering a classic heist caper.
It also won seven Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Original Screenplay’, and ‘Best Original Score’, and it was hard to see how anything about the slick, stylish, and eminently engaging thriller could be improved.
To hammer that point home, a sequel was released ten years later that made everything worse. Screenwriter David S Ward returned, but his golden touch had deserted him completely. ‘Best Picture’ winners don’t tend to get franchised very often, and The Sting II should be viewed as patient zero as to why.
