When the Sequel Slays the Original (Part 2)

A further look at the horror follow-ups that dared to outshine their originals.

Alright, we’re back to crush the OG entries from some beloved horror franchises and boost the ego of their second-borns. No need for a lengthy intro this time, it’s in the title and you know the drill. Shall we begin?

CHILDS PLAY 2—The sequel where Chucky stops creeping and starts cooking

Another potentially “controversial one” with the fans? I dunno. But if it is, sharpen your pitchforks, because I’m about to go to a blasphemous place you might not want to hear about. Earmuffs, Child’s Play devotees.

The original Child’s Play is perfectly fine. I totally respect it. It sets up a great concept for a franchise and gives us an iconic horror character, in semi-full form. But let’s be honest, it spends a lot of time focused on Andy and kind of tries to trick you into thinking he might be up to no good until Chucky finally shows up halfway through. There are slow stretches, and the kills are a little underwhelming (stove explosions and voodoo dolls?) Chucky, you can do better. Be more stabby! We like you most when you stab things.

So like a lot of successful franchises in their infancy, Part 2 is when the producers had their “Eureka! People really like this doll” moment—probably followed by “And I need a new Porsche” moment. So Child’s Play 2 was then greenlit to have a higher budget, and thankfully, they actually used it properly. Everything’s bigger, faster, and more fun. This is the moment where Chucky really becomes Chucky, as it’s the one you pop in for the prolific one-liners, far better doll effects, this, and yes—the schoolyard rumors are true— a scene where Chucky beats a teacher to death with a ruler.

That very redundant better sequel argument of “it’s faster and more fun” 100% absolutely applies here, but Child’s Play 2 also gives fans what they want: better characters/acting, more kills, cooler set design/atmosphere, and a hell of a lot more Chucky.

This one was also a USA Up All Night staple when I was a kid, syndicated constantly, so it’s baked into my horror brain. And a fun bonus memory: I had the Child’s Play 2 comic book, a cartoon frame by frame retelling of the film, which I bought at Half Price Books in the ’90s… until my dad threw it away for being “too violent.” But somehow, I got to keep the actual movie. One of life’s great unexplained mysteries.

PUPPET MASTER II— Less plot, more puppets

Charlie Band and Full Moon’s greatest franchise is an absolute mess when it comes to sequels, one of the most chaotic and frustrating experiences in horror history. We’re talking versus battles, crossovers, prequels, sequels, bottom-of-the-barrel cash grabs, reboots, “retro” entries, timelines that make zero sense, massive continuity issues, Corey Feldman, and even the guy from The Room shows up to lead one of these. Oh, and there are like 15 of these things. Strap in and bring a heap of mushrooms or a hefty bottle of happy pills if you ever plan to binge this franchise. Best of luck…you’re a better human than I.

For me, Puppet Master will always mean the original trilogy, which actually had some heart and maybe even some “budgets”. On a generous day, I’ll include Parts 4 and 5 in that mix as well. Everything beyond feels like a jumbled plastic fever dream, and I want little to no part of it.

So yes, this might sound like a cynical takedown of the franchise as a whole, but I’m actually here to make a case for Puppet Master II being better than the beloved (and very successful) original. And honestly, I think that’s 100% true. Why? Well, it’s a dead giveaway word in the name: Puppet. We came to see puppets…creepy puppets kill people, and PM2 delivers that way, way better.

The original Puppet Master plays almost like a stylized giallo, which tracks since it was shot by Sergio Salvati, who worked on a lot of Lucio Fulci films. There’s still some solid stuff here: stop-motion effects, a couple good kills, iconic music, and a moody atmosphere. But it also moves at a crawl, attempts to tell a real story, and treats the puppets like side characters. It’s basically The Big Chill, but with psychics and a so-so puppet attack every 22.5 minutes.

Puppet Master II, on the other hand, rolls up its sleeves and goes, “Cool backstory bro, but let’s get weird” It cranks up the kills, brings the puppets to the forefront, and even swaps out a gross leech puppet for one that barbecues his victims via a blowtorch; I’d call that a very solid trade off and the case is simple: more puppets, more mayhem, more fun.

So yea, when you deliver the puppets in a horror film called Puppet Master, the sun comes out and everything gets a lot brighter. Same-ish argument for the next one…

GHOULIES 3: GHOULIES GO TO COLLEGE—Finally, more toilet goblins, fewer occult dissertations

In an unbelievable M Night Shyamalan style twist, the original Ghoulies barely has any of the titular creatures in it. Even fewer than puppets in Puppet Master, I believe. At its core, the original Ghoulies is just a bizarre little flick about demons and the occult that probably would've faded into total obscurity—if not for the genius (and totally accidental) marketing campaign featuring that now-iconic Ghoulie popping out of a toilet cover. Hell, even that toilet scene is barely in the movie, as it was added after production wrapped, once the producers realized the ad campaign worked too well and scrambled to interject some life into a kinda lifeless film. That’s how Ghoulie-deficient this thing is. In a film called Ghoulies, reshoots were needed just to get soem actual Ghoulies in it. For shame.

Yes, everyone wears rad sunglasses at some point. Yes, there’s a quirky charm buried somewhere in there. But fun? Not much to be had. (Side note: it was all shot at the Waddles Mansion here in LA, which is now a public park/building you can actually hang out in. But I digress.)

Now Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College? That’s the big wonderful one. An absolute blast from start to finish, G3 takes the critters to, yes, college, where they drink beer, pull pranks, harass sorority girls, and kill someone with a plunger to the face. They even talk, smack each other around like the Three Stooges, and deliver a bomb in a scene that would make the Looney tunes proud.

More importantly: here we have Ghoulies in almost every frame and tons of toilet related Ghoulie shenanigans. They are quite literally born from a one this time. It’s like a zany ’80s sex comedy where someone said, “What if we threw some Ghoulies into the mix? Would that be ok?”

And the future star power here is also a little Shocking: Matthew Lillard, Jason Scott Lee, Marcia Wallace (voice of Edna Krabapple on The Simpsons who gets, ummmm, tongue tied here?) and a cameo by Kane Hodder.

In fact, all this Ghoulies 3 talk has me excited to do a standalone post on the film, so I’ll save my hero worship for that. In the meantime, throw away Ghoulies—the actual tape, not the cover (which is amazing, keep that)—and fire up Ghoulies 3 instead. One of my favorite horror movie crowd-pleasers of all time.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 4 + 6… honestly, most of them if you ask me

I sat on this one for a bit because, truthfully, it’s an unfair argument. So I’m not going to harp on it, but it does need to be addressed.

The original Friday the 13th is iconic, fairly original, and incredibly successful. It helped launch the slasher genre into the mainstream, and I respect the hell out of it. But let’s be honest: it’s kind of its own thing, a slasher whodunnit with pacing and acting issues, too many off-screen kills, and Jason—the character we all came to love—is just a soggy kid in the lake at the end. It’s the textbook definition of a franchise that didn’t know it was a franchise and everything that followed was built off a happy accident, a huge box office return, and a studio eager for more. Ask any of the original cast or producer/director Sean Cunningham, they’ll tell you the same thing. So yes, I almost feel bad including it here.

But every time I fire up a Friday the 13th marathon, Part 1 is the one I’m least excited to watch. And I know I’m not alone. It’s like having to pretend you love a friend’s band that you “kinda only like” as they open for a much better band you’d rather see—it’s not terrible, but deep down, you’re counting down the minutes till the next act comes on. That said, I’m not here to trash it. It’s a beautiful stepping stone to everything we came to love, and it’s absolutely not a bad film in its own right. It just ain’t better for a what a Friday fan is probably looking for.

Now that the Band-Aid is fully off, what are the superior Friday the 13th sequels? Most fans would point to Part 4 (The Final Chapter) and Part 6 (Jason Lives) as peak ’80s Jason: sharp, fast-paced, and packed with energy. Part 4 when Jason really became Jason and Part 6 is just so much damn fun. Part 2 is also far tighter and more brutal than the first and I even have a soft spot for 5. And Part 3 gave us the hockey mask and that amazing disco theme and even Jason Takes Manhattan has its moments. I’m sorry, horror purists, I love this franchise too much to lie to myself.

So no, this isn’t a hater post. Friday the 13th is sacred to me and should be to all horror fans, it laid the groundwork. But facts are facts: Part 1 walked so Jason could machete his way into sequel glory and become a global horror icon. Similar (ish) argument coming up here…

DAWN OF THE DEAD—This is what happens when Romero gets more money, and a food court

Ok, ok, some people struggle to separate “classic/iconic/original” from “best entry” when discussing horror franchises, much like the Friday the 13th conundrum. In my opinion, Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street nail being both, though I get the Dream Warriors love and I’m not mad at it. But Night of the Living Dead? Not so much.

Yes, it’s a stone-cold classic that changed the game: it redefined zombies, gave us a rare Black hero in horror at the time, put filming in Pittsburgh on the map, introduced George Romero, and even taught me the harsh reality of public domain nightmares. But honestly, of all Romero’s Dead films, which one would you actually want to rewatch regularly?

Enter Dawn of the Dead: faster, way more fun, packed with groundbreaking gore, Ken Foree, Tom Savini and a shopping mall. It’s bigger, bloodier, and, in my opinion, the superior film.

Still a masterpiece, and I was lucky enough to catch it in a theater recently with Goblin performing the score live. Truly incredible.

Bonus VHS trivia: I scored my copy in the mid-’90s at the Mall of America. Fitting, right?

TROLL 2—A sequel in name only… and yet a legend in every other way

We all know why this is here, so I’ll spare you the long explanation. But I do want to give the original Troll a little credit—for turning Sonny Bono into a tree, coining the name Harry Potter (maybe???), and somehow being a weird precursor to Seinfeld in a strange way.

That said, Troll would be just another goofy creature feature (think Munchie) if not for its iconically bad and notorious sequel, which has completely taken on a life of its own despite having no connection to the first one. Honestly, the ratio of people who’ve seen Troll 2 versus Troll has to be something like 50,000 to 1.

No contest. Troll 2 is the clear winner.

So there you have it. No Evil Dead II, crazy right? I just like the grittiness of the original more than most.

What you got? What am I missing?