The horror genre continues to be a big draw for moviegoers worldwide, and a successful franchise can mean big bucks for a studio. In 2023, franchises like The Exorcist, Insidious, Saw, and The Nun have all released new entries that have brought audiences to the cinema. Unfortunately, and probably more so than any other genre, studios have often focused on quantity over quality and rushed sequels and freeboots to market without paying any mind to script quality.

Update October 11, 2023: This article has been updated by Yosra Ben lagha with even more great horror sequels in honor of the release of The Exorcist: Believer and Saw X.

For every Aliens and Evil Dead 2, there are 10 Leprechaun in the Hood and Jaws: The Revenge. To save yourself from being consumed by the hundreds of these unwatchable 'movies' lurking out there in the darkness, here are the very best horror sequels. Note that this will be for direct sequels, so films like Pearl or Prey, which are prequels, do not count.

Seed of Chucky (2004)

The Seed of Chucky cast.
Rogue Pictures

Seed of Chucky is the fifth film in the Child's Play franchise. The only thing scarier than monsters and zombies is ironically creepy-looking dolls, who can talk and say things like "killing is a hobby." Indeed, the infamous Chucky and his wife Tiffany are resurrected from their long death by their son Glen, who has no taste for evil. The parents' obsession about becoming human leads them to choose a surrogate, Jennifer, to inseminate. At the same time, they keep themselves busy by murdering everyone around them, cutting people's guts out, axing them, and putting them on fire.

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The terrified and pregnant Jennifer gives birth to a twin, Glen and Glenda. Chucky's family ends up killing each other. Only Glen survives after putting an end to his evil father. This sequel delivered everything the audience could be looking for in the Chucky franchise: the killing, the blood, the gore, the scary mood, and the dialogue to match it. It's definitely a sequel worth watching.

Return of The Living Dead 2 (1988)

Return of the Living Dead 2 (1988)
Lorimar Motion Pictures

Although it doesn't particularly live up to the horror, comedy original masterpiece, Return of The Living Dead 2 is amazing in its own right. It delivers an adult, scary, zombie-filled adventure under the leadership of a dorky kid named Jesse Wilson. The story begins with the US. military truck transporting barrels of Trioxin, and as they drop one of them in the river, the gas starts creating hungry, aggressive zombies. Jesse, who was already fighting off bullies, Johnny and Billy, stumbles upon the gas-leaking barrel and realizes that a life-threatening danger is upon them.

The movie beautifully captures the mood and matches the original movie's horror-inducing visuals but still adds to it a unique touch. In general, horror movies with children as lead have a special effect on the audience. It's always more scary when the target is a vulnerable little kid who is not just dealing with bullies but with dumb, unrelenting zombies attacking him from every corner. The 1988 sequel is terrifying and, on many occasions, disgustingly graphic in a way that provokes the delicious feelings of fright that every horror genre lover is looking for.

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Jason Lends a Hand in Friday the 13th Part Six: Jason Lives
Paramount Pictures

The sixth film in the Friday the 13th series looked to put the franchise back on track after the previous film featured a copycat killer instead of Jason. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives brings back the franchise's main antagonist, and with him, he gets a supernatural upgrade. Drawing inspiration from Frankenstein, director Tom McLoughlin brings Jason back with a bolt of lightning and now makes him a supernatural threat.

While it might not be as scary as some other entries, the movie gives audiences the perfect Friday the 13th formula with great kills and over-the-top performances. Jason Lives is arguably the last time the franchise was truly at the height of its power.

A Quiet Place Part II (2018)

Emily Blunt & Noah Jupe in A Quiet Place Part II
Paramount Pictures

A Quiet Place 2 used the same simple yet highly original and effective concept as the original. The movie reunites audiences with the family from the first movie as they strive for survival in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by sightless aliens with an enhanced sense of hearing. John Krasinski returns as the film's director as well as writer and producer. Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe reprised their roles from the first film, while Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou were added as new characters.

With almost no spoken dialogue, the movie amazes in its ability to create an engaging narrative through visual storytelling alone. Employing a less is more approach; even the monsters are rarely seen, but the audience is still biting nails and at the edges of their entire seats.

The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

Promotional poster for The Purge-Anarchy
Universal Pictures

The original 2014 Purge film was a somewhat enjoyable, by-the-numbers, home invasion thriller starring Ethan Hawke. The thing that really made the movie stand out, however, was the concept that led to the invasion itself; the actual purge. The Purge is a newly introduced annual holiday, a night during which all crime, including murder, is temporarily legal. The reasoning behind this seemingly insane law is that it allows people to release their pent-up aggression and become better, harder-working citizens for the rest of the year.

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As the series of films progresses, a number of conspiracies are introduced involving the upper-class elite and the implementation of the purge nights. While the first Purge mainly focuses on a singular home invasion, it's in the second movie, The Purge: Anarchy, that the scope of the purge concept is fully explored. What this basically means is that we get 100 minutes of masked maniacal mayhem reminiscent of John Carpenter's Escape from New York with hints of the 1979 cult classic The Warriors.

28 Weeks Later (2007)

28 Weeks Later
20th Century Studios

The aptly titled 28 Weeks Later is the sequel to the Danny Boyle-directed 2002 film 28 Days Later. Robert Carlyle stars alongside Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, and Idris Elba with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo taking the director's seat. The film takes place after the events of the first film: two young siblings break regulations to go on a hunt for their infected mother, which leads to the Rage Virus being reintroduced to London's safe zone, resulting in the expected insanity.

Although it never quite reaches the heights of the original in terms of characterization and drama, it's not far off, and it still pretty much delivers everything an avid zombie horror fan has grown to expect from a top-genre movie. While the first flick was a masterclass in utilizing a low budget to create an effectively terrifying horror, 28 Weeks Later had a slightly inflated budget, but what we lose in suspense and tension, we gain in all-out carnage.

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Final Destination 3 cast
New Line Cinema

The Final Destination franchise is an interesting one in that there is no villain per se. Instead, literally anything and everything is the potential enemy and could be the cause of your untimely death. Much like the other installments in the series, the movie begins with one of the lead characters having a horrific premonition of some sort of disaster in which multiple lives are lost. In this case, Wendy Christensen, played brilliantly by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, envisioned a roller coaster she and her classmates are riding being derailed. As a result of having this premonition, she is able to quickly act and save a number of lives that would have otherwise been lost in the crash. But, when your time is up, you can't escape your fate.

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An invisible supernatural force representing Death itself begins hunting the survivors. The fact that Death can strike at any given moment and can manipulate any inanimate objects in its wake to do the deed means that there's a constant sense of impending doom and anxiety present throughout. Whilst the plot adds little new to the series, the increased body count, elaborate set pieces, and added elements of dark humor make for one of the most entertaining entries in the Final Destination franchise.

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

A scene from The Conjuring 2
Warner Bros. Pictures

One of the more recent entries to this list, the franchise has become somewhat of a modern phenomenon of modern horror cinema. Since 2013, The Conjuring has been many installments in the supernatural-based Conjuring universe. While not quite matching the same level or critical success as the first, The Conjuring 2 was not at all far off, becoming one of the most highly rated horror sequels of all time. The film sees Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprising their roles as paranormal investigators, investigating the notorious 1977 Enfield poltergeist case in London. Not relying solely on jump scares like many of its supernatural counterparts have fallen victim to, the movie manages to build a constant sense of dread that haunts throughout in this expertly shot modern horror classic.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

10 Cloverfield Lane cast
Paramount Pictures

A film produced in 2016 is a claustrophobic psychological horror that tells the story of a young woman who, after a car crash, wakes up in an underground bunker with two men who insist that an event has left the surface of Earth uninhabitable. As the story progresses, the woman begins to feel more uneasy and captive as she questions the legitimacy of the men's claims. Has she been saved or has she been kidnapped? 10 Cloverfield Lane is an interesting entry on this list as it bears little to no resemblance, stylistically, tonally or plot wise to its predecessor, 2008's found footage sci-fi blockbuster Cloverfield.

With pretty much the entirety of the film shot in one location and focusing on just three characters, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman and John Gallagher Jr, it's lucky that each of these actors played their roles with tremendous conviction. John Goodman, in particular, delivers a possible career best as Howard, a man whose flashes of jealousy and rage slowly begin to come to the forefront of his personality as he does everything in his power to prevent the woman from leaving and exposing them to the dangers he's told her are outside.

Evil Dead 2 (1987)

Evil Dead 2 cast including Bruce Campbell
Rosebud Releasing Corporation

In 1981, Sam Raimi stunned the world of horror by creating the ultra-shocking, ultra-gory film Evil Dead on an low budget of just a few hundred thousand dollars. The film received high critical praise, won Raimi a legion of fans, and even earned the respect of the master of horror himself, Stephen King. The movie left audiences clamoring for more, and six years later, Raimi delivered in the form of Evil Dead 2. Part sequel, part remake, Evil Dead 2 sees the super charismatic, chiseled-chinned Bruce Campbell returning as Ash as he heads out to a cabin in the woods for some relaxation time.

This time he is joined by his girlfriend Linda, and, as expected, their trip is anything but relaxing. The pair are persistently, and outrageously haunted by the surrounding supernatural entities. Raimi had a slightly larger budget to play with this time around, and while it was still minuscule in comparison to Hollywood's blockbuster counterparts, he made every penny of it count. Admittedly, it appears most of the budget went on blood; Raimi took everything that made the original Evil Dead so enjoyable and cranked it up to 11.

Aliens (1986)

aliens 1986
20th Century Fox

More of an action-horror than the slow-burn, suspense-filled original 1979, Alien, Aliens, is another example of a sequel that, in a lot of people's opinion, surpasses the original. Ridley Scott's original was undoubtedly a game-changer and a masterclass in sci-fi horror. It was ahead of its time and influenced thousands of imitations over the following four decades, released to varying levels of success. When James Cameron took the reigns and stepped in to direct the sequel, he had some very large shoes to fill.

Instead of falling into the common trap of simply rehashing the original's ideas, he took a gamble and completely changed up the tone, style, and format. Needless to say, the gamble paid off. What we ended up with was Sigourney Weaver returning as an even more badass Ellen Ripley. The acting is on point, the effects are incredible (especially for the time), the score is ruminative, and Ellen Ripley is still one of the most iconic female leads in cinema history and should serve as an inspiration to anyone looking to cast strong women in action and horror movies.

Scream 2 (1997)

Scream 2 cast
Miramax

Scream 2 directed again by horror legend Wes Craven, takes place a year after the events of the first film as a copycat killer using the guise of the now legendary Ghostface wreaks havoc once again. The all-star cast includes original actors David Arquette, Neve Campbell, and Courtney Cox alongside new faces Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jada Pinkett-Smith. What makes Scream 2 such an entertaining ride is, like its predecessor, its ability to seamlessly combine the violence of the slasher genre with elements of comedy and mystery.

This time, the audience is treated to an extra layer of satire, and it perfectly sends up the clichés associated with the cash grab obligatory horror sequel. More than just parody, the clever satire doesn't feel forced and is at times surprisingly sharp. There are some genuine scares, and the plot keeps the viewers engaged throughout whilst all the time keeping its tongue placed firmly in its cheek, albeit hidden behind that iconic mask.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Dream Warriors
New Line Cinema

Freddy Krueger is one of the most recognizable villains in horror history, the clawed killer is literally the stuff of nightmares. It's easy to forget, however, how genuinely terrifying the concept of a killer that targeted teens in their dreams really was. There has been a never-ending supply of sequels and reboots in the A Nightmare on Elm Street canon and somewhere along the lines, they began to descend into all-out parody, and the goofiness took over.

Dream Warriors is arguably the one that got the tone closest to what audiences loved so much about the original. Freddy Krueger was scary, twisted, viscous, and sadistic, but there are still hints of his famous humor that trickle through in his one-liners and elaborate choice of outrageous kills. Although some parts may come across as a little dated, the practical effects as a whole still hold up surprisingly well by today's standards and the film still remains a classic.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Ewan McGregor as Dan Torrance in Doctor Sleep
Warner Bros. Pictures

If the original is as good as The Shining, the sequel cannot be that bad. Doctor Sleep is a look into the life of the remaining Torrance family members after the tragedy of the Overlook Hotel. The story centers mainly around Dan Torrance, who is thrust back into a world of supernatural horror while battling his alcohol addiction and an unhealed childhood trauma. He encounters Abra, a girl who shares his extrasensory and spiritual gifts known as the 'shine' and who lost her father to a group of cult activists known as the True Knot. This cult group, led by a vampire woman called Rose the Hat, kidnaps children with special abilities, especially those who have the 'shine' in order to steal their life force and achieve immortality.

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Together, Abra and Dan form an alliance to defeat the cult. A great deal of suspense, violence, and gore play into the movie, making it one of the best horror sequels, especially with a backstory of overcoming trauma and alcoholism. Long before Dan started fighting against the True Knot, he was fighting an equally horrific present of addiction and loss of self-control. From whichever way you look at it, Doctor Sleep is a true horror work of art.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Dawn of the Dead zombies enter in elevator in the George Romero film
United Film Distribution Company

Following the events that played out in George A. Romero's 1968 definitive zombie film Night of the Living Dead, the world has been devastated by the ever-increasing plague of flesh-eating zombies. Society has disintegrated, and the remaining survivors desperately seek refuge. Dawn of the Dead essentially repeats what made Night of the Living Dead a success, but on a larger scale. This time, the protagonists are trapped in a shopping mall as opposed to a cabin, and the hordes of zombies have increased exponentially in size.

While perhaps not as groundbreaking as the original, there's still a hell of a lot of fun to be had in Romero's follow-up. The practical special effects are particularly gruesome and may leave some viewers yearning for a time before everything effects-related was immediately sent to the CGI department. Additionally, and rather ingeniously, alongside the relentless gore and graphic violence, Dawn of the Dead manages to serve as a subtle social commentary on our materialistic society.