The Point When Slasher Sequels Had to Stop

Today on my break at work I was going through a few random things online because I was trying to find a good movie to watch for later. Fact is I am not going out tonight because I am tired as hell, and after having sat through dinner with an aunt of mine the last hour and a half, I am now pretty sure that my ass is not leaving the house tonight. It is just how it is, but I’ll probably go out tomorrow. In the meantime, I am going to chill with a movie.

While I was looking I came across an interesting one: Hellraiser. Now, I realize it is almost Halloween and I will probably do a top 10 list of these movies in October, but it got me thinking about home many damn sequels have come out. There were eight Hellraiser movies. Halloween? Eleven. Nightmare on Elm Street? Eight, but there will be nine when the remake comes out. Friday the 13th? Twelve. What the hell?

Since these franchises are all major offenders of having too many sequels, I will try and determine the point these franchises should have stopped, because I am the Mang and I can do that here. Sorry, had to invoke my sense of self importance, but this is semi-important.

Halloween—Franchise should have ended at Halloween 3 unless different plotlines aside from Michael Myers could be explored. The first and second movies are essentially the same movie split into two different movies, and both are outstanding. The Michael Myers plot could have ended without a problem at the end of movie two. The sequels all are tied into the same basic premise and are not crucial to the success of the originals. Halloween 3 is severely underrated, and is actually a favorite of mine. It was never intended to be about Michael Myers, and because of that was not received well by fans of the original. I thought it was good though.

Friday the 13th—Franchise could have ended at Friday the 14th Part IV. You all know the story, most of you grew up in the 80s. The first involved the mother and the next three movies involved a revenge-filled Jason, with each subsequent movie picking up right from where the last left off. The rest, with the exception of Freddy v. Jason, I could do without. I do want to give some credit for Jason Goes to Hell, because after being taken down by the Feds, he was taken to a morgue in YOUNGSTOWN, OH. That’s right, we get all the murderers here, even the ones that cannot be killed after ten sequels.

Nightmare on Elm Street—This one is interesting because it could go two ways. Nightmare could have stood on its own without all the sequels. I thought the ending was very fitting. However, since Freddy is a villain of the dream world and cannot be killed technically, then every one of these sequels might have been justified, no matter how cheesy. It is a tough call.

Hellraiser—I was never a big fan of the Hellraiser series, although I enjoyed the first one. Honestly, the nature of the Cenobites and Pinhead invite a sequel because the puzzle box and Hell never went away. I would say this franchise could have ended on a decent note in its fourth installment Hellraiser: Bloodline, though I would have been happy to see it end at Hellraiser II.

Children of the Corn—I actually chose this movie to watch tonight because I have not seen it for ages. The original is either loved or hated. Frankly, it has become a cult favorite and is legendary in many respects, no matter how distasteful it may be. The sequels were just kind of silly, and quite honestly the premise behind this movie is a little silly too. This had six sequels, but I have to say they probably should have stopped at the original. Isaac and Malachai were decent antagonists, though they were as annoying as they were funny.

Saw—This franchise should not have even had an original, but that is just my opinion. Personally, I would have stopped this franchise at Saw II, but for some reason huge amounts of gore seems to sell, which is why I guess the following sequels were moderately successful. I was never into the Saw series, though a lot of my friends seem to be into it. I understand the psychological aspects that make up the plot line, but damn.

I realize there are other franchises out there to discuss, but these are some of the major ones I wanted to get to tonight.

When October comes around (and it is not too far off surprisingly), I will try and put together a decent list of Halloween movies. Most likely it will be Mang’s Top 10 because I like to think I have some influence over both the important and mundane. As you can probably already tell, I am a big fan of Halloween generally, so it should make for some interesting reading during October.

For now, enjoy your evening,

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Township Trustee and Conservative Capo of Youngstown