Sequels are infamous for either flopping or rising to fame. While there are many popular examples in whatever genre of your liking, the horror genre is well known for its recycled slop they call sequels. So, there’s bound to be a sequel or six for any popular horror movie. People want their money-makers to keep multiplying and bringing in more and more. These studios will endlessly slap together another Scream or Friday the 13th, so that as it carries its notorious killer and the barely breathing final girl, just so people watch and buy. Because of this, most horror movie sequels are passionless and can’t live up to their predecessor in the slightest.
No matter the genre of horror, nothing will save them from the consequences of fame. Whether it be a slasher, psychological horror, zombie, supernatural, or whatever people come up with, sequels are inevitable as long as it’s popular. But, what makes these movies so bad? No matter the love put in, this trash-talking must be a hyperbole. While that holds some truth, it’s no secret how illogical and messy sequels can get. Let’s take a look at Friday the 13th sequel, Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. A synopsis, albeit brief, reads “The eighth installment of the series follows Jason as he stalks a group of high school graduates on a ship en route to New York City.”. This is the eighth (out of 12 in total) installment in the Friday franchise, and a very bad one. I care very little about the protagonists because they’re so meaningless, everyone feels like your stereotypical slasher stereotypes but 10 times more unimaginative. And the plot isn’t much better. Jason goes off onto a boat and haunts a group of senior high schoolers, both with his murders and swamp boy visions, which also change a lot throughout the movie. It can bore you to death by the time it’s over, it’s watchable but very boring. the blood and kills themselves are so prudish even Mormons would want more.
But this is about how horror sequels devolve, so we’re jumping back to the second installment, Friday the 13th Part II, where Jason makes his debut. This sequel still follows campers, but five years later, and this time it’s a camp near Camp Crystal Lake where Jason is treated more like a campfire tale. Our final girl is Ginny, but instead of facing Pamela, Jason’s mother, she faces Jason himself. Slowly Jason kills off her group and camp counselors, though Ginny can fight back since Jason hasn’t evolved into some superhuman like he does later on. But instead of barely surviving throughout the entire movie, Ginny uses her smarts and briefly tricks Jason by pretending to be Pamela. Ginny is quite observant for a slasher protagonist. She was clever enough to trick Jason in a high-pressure moment when her life was on the line. Anyway, this safety doesn’t last long because she slips up and it’s back to running around trying to hide. It ends with Ginny being loaded into an ambulance, finally safe. This sequel holds up a lot more than Manhattan does, it could be a masterpiece in comparison. Though this minimal description doesn’t sound much better than Manhattan, it’s better in two ways. One, Jason isn’t superhuman, he can get hurt and be tricked. So he isn’t exactly invincible. Two, Jason is actually intimidating. In later sequels, he loses that fear factor since he’s an immovable force that will triumph and plough through. He keeps creepiness since he’s more realistic that way. Either way, Friday the 13th Part II is some weird little film with a smarter protagonist and creepy moments, it’s a fun watch if you want a simple sequel. The Friday franchise isn’t perfect, it’s far from it because of its sequels like Jason Takes Manhattan and its repetitive formula. Either way, Friday’s deeply flawed but it had odd and gory kills and was fairly insane as it dragged out too. So, people went crazy for it, it was full of tension, weirdness, and blood and guts like their audience wanted. It wasn’t that revolutionary, but not all movies have to be.
