The Terrible Twos: Five Legitimately Scary Horror Sequels

Even if all the good characters died in the first movie, these five flicks beat the odds.

“The Devil’s Rejects” (2005)
Directed by Rob Zombie

“I want you to pray to your God. I want you to pray that he comes and saves you. I want lightning to come and crash down upon my fucking head!” taunts psychopathic killer Otis B. Driftwood (Bill Moseley) to one of his captives. He and the rest of his sadistic family have been slowly torturing and killing a family of touring musicians, and when a couple of them try to fight back Otis dares them to beg to God for help that does not arrive. Provocative sentiments from any horror film, but particularly audacious coming from “The Devil’s Rejects” Rob Zombie’s sequel to his own 2003 film “House of 1000 Corpses,” a psychedelically cartoonish riff on “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

“The Devil’s Rejects” is something different: Zombie banishes the previous film’s boogeyman mythos (there’s not a single word in reference to its ridiculous big bad Dr. Satan) and instead tells a far creepier and more down-to-earth story about circles of violence, vengeance and victimization. He even dares us to sympathize with Otis’ brood when they become the targets of a deranged, vindictive sheriff (William Forsythe) in a sequence that’s clearly intended as a critique of America’s attitude toward torture post-9/11. When he’s satisfied that God isn’t coming to save his enemies, Otis announces, “I am the devil, and I am here to do the devil’s work.” And the devil is infinitely scarier than Dr. Satan.

“Evil Dead II” (1987)

Directed by Sam Raimi

Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead II” has a well-deserved reputation as a horror comedy, but just because the movie has some big laughs, don’t discount its ability to scare. I had until recently, when my wife reminded me just how creepy the film can be on its first viewing. She wandered into the room where I was watching “EDII” just in time to see poor Ed (Richard Domeier) become possessed by unholy evil. Before Evil d-Ed had even finished gnawing on Bobbie Joe’s (Kassie Wesley) scalp — before he’d even started eating her hair in big, messy clumps — the missus was out the door in horrified disgust.

Some scenes are hilarious and terrifying all at once. The film’s most overtly comedic sequence — Ash (Bruce Campbell) getting the stuffing beaten out of him “Three Stooges”-style by his own hand — ends with the film’s most transgressive image, our hero, face drenched in his own blood, gleefully chainsawing off his own hand and roaring “Who’s laughing now?!” At that point? Nobody.

“Hostel: Part II” (2007)

Directed by Eli Roth

They may be superficially scary, but many traditional horror narratives, particularly the ones featured in one ’80s slasher sequel after another, are actually kind of reassuring. They offer a clear route to salvation: hang on to your innocence (i.e. your virginity) and you stand a pretty good chance surviving until the next installment. It’s hard not to read Eli Roth’s casting of Heather Matarazzo — and his vicious treatment of her — as a rebuke to the absurdity of classical horror film morality. The former child star of “Welcome to the Dollhouse” plays Lorna, the impossibly naïve college student who joins her friends for an Eastern European vacation. “This village is so enchanting!” she says, oblivious to the fact that the hostel she’s bunking at is ground zero of a human slavery ring that kidnaps co-eds in order to sell them to wealthy businessmen looking for sadistic kicks.

In a conventional movie, Lorna would be the survivor who endures long after her more promiscuous friends in order to mete out a measure of justice (or perhaps vengeance). In “Hostel: Part II,” Lorna’s death is the centerpiece of the film’s most depraved sequence, as she’s slowly carved up by a naked woman who luxuriates in her blood. Survival in this world doesn’t depend on purity, but rather on wealth; the only people that are truly safe are those that can financially afford to be.

[Additional Photos: "Aliens," 20th Century Fox, 1986; "Dawn of the Dead," United Film Distribution Co., 1978; "Evil Dead II," De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, 1987; "Hostel: Part II," Lionsgate, 2007]

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