This weekend, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising hits theatres, bringing Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne back to the big screen as the married couple that moved in next to a frat house in the original.
This time around, instead of battling Zac Efron and David Franco, they’re trying to sell their house and combatting Chloe Grace Moretz and a group of hard-partying sorority girls that live next door. It looks like a literal “we replaced the boys with girls” remake of the original, which was good in a “stupid funny” way, but with less charm and freshness since, well, we’ve seen it before.
In honour of this unnecessary and probably not all that good sequel’s release, we’re dropping a list of some of the worst sequels of all-time in today’s edition of The Rundown.
As always, a couple caveats:
- If Part 2 was good, Part 3 gets spared, which means no Batman & Robin even though it was awful.
- This is a list, not a ranking; all these movies are bad and we’re not here to say which is the worst, just inform you that they’re all bad.
- We want to know which movies we left out, so hit us up on social media with your suggestions – @AmongMenMag on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Here we go…
Jaws 2 (and every other Jaws after that)
The original is amazing, even if the effects available at the time make it look hilarious now. The idea of a killer great white shark feeding on a beach community was terrifying and the movie itself produced a ton of outstanding lines and moments that have become cinematic classics.
Unfortunately, outside of the amazing tagline “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water” everything else about Jaws 2 was awful because it the exact same movie without any of the initial shock or classic moments.
The Hangover II (and The Hangover III)
Speaking of sequels where they reuse everything from the first film, but dress it up as something new, at least these guys had the kindness to move the second film out of Las Vegas, though they went back to Sin City for the third installment.
The best part of this middle piece of the Wolfpack Trilogy is Mike Tyson singing “One Night in Bangkok” at the end of the movie, but you have to sit through an almost note-by-note do-over in order to get there.
Step Up 2 (and every other Step Up after that)
This series is absolutely on my guilty pleasure list because for some reason, dance movies are my thing, but even an admitted fan can recognize that continuing the “misunderstood person who just wants to dance” trop for numerous iterations is weak.
The chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan and the freshness of the idea is what made the first one work. Every one since has been the same concept recycled in different locations with a slight twist and new lead, until All In where a bunch of the “Not Channing Tatum” leads connect to form the Voltron of dance crews in Las Vegas.
Anchorman 2
Making this film, like Ron drinking milk walking down the street on a hot day, was a bad decision.
The original was just that – original. Every piece of it worked perfectly together and the sound choice would have been to leave that glorious masterpiece of comedy to stand alone for the rest of time, but instead, they brought the Action News team back together and it, well, it made a lot of money, but plenty of crappy movies make a lot of money. Ask Michael Bay.
Teen Wolf Too
Teen Wolf is awesome – Michael J. Fox as a basketball-playing werewolf with a best friend’s name is Stiles and a crush named “Boof” in a feel-good comedy that taught us about being ourselves? What’s not to love? Teen Wolf Too, however, is hot garbage.
While Jason Bateman has enjoyed a terrific resurgence over the last decade, going the “He’s Teen Wolf’s cousin” route and replacing basketball with boxing in this sequel was terrible. As re-watchable as the original is on cable, the sequel is at the other end of the spectrum.
Taken 2 (and Taken 3)
Here’s an idea: maybe leave Bryan Mills’ family alone.
The original kicked off the “Liam Neeson Kills Everyone” collection that now includes two more Taken films, Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and A Walk Amongst the Tombstones. The plot is the same in all of them: someone wrongs Neeson, who then proceeds to beat the piss out of everyone that stands between him and vengeance.
They’re fun from a “let’s watch Liam Neeson clobber a bunch of people” perspective, but in terms of creativity and original ideas, look elsewhere.
Grease 2
This one nearly avoided being on this list because it was Michelle Pfeiffer’s first starring role and everyone is thankful for Michelle Pfeiffer, but you can’t follow up Sandy and Danny with this junk and not get mentioned.
When none of the major players from the first film want to come back, that should be a sure sign you’re venturing into dark territory. The failings of this film submarined an entire Grease enterprise Paramount had planned; that’s how bad it was.
Weekend at Bernie’s 2
Beachfront hijinks with a dead body works once, as it did in the original, but when you keep bringing a corpse out of the cooler for more slapstick adventures, you’re venturing towards “Worst Sequels Ever” territory.
When your tagline is “Bernie’s Back… And He’s Still Dead!” maybe you re-think rolling out the sequel. The studio didn’t and now this film as a 10% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Speed 2
Keanu + Sandy B + Bus with a Bomb = Unexpected Hit.
Sandy B – Keanu – Bus = Unmitigated Disaster.
Cruise ships aren’t as thrilling as speeding busses, Willem Dafoe isn’t as interesting as a bad guy as Dennis Hopper and Jason Patric is even less engaging and energetic on camera than Keanu Reeves. Not even the great Sandra Bullock could save this mess.
Hannibal
You can’t replace one of the lead characters with a different actor, especially not after the original actor won an Academy Award for the role. That was just one of the myriad problems with Hannibal, the follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs.
Jodie Foster opted out, so Julianne Moore took on the role of Clarice Starling opposite Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter in this nowhere near as good, over the top follow-up to that gem. The television show of the same name recreated elements of the film in its final season, doing a much better job with the source material.
