The history of legacy sequels is a mixed bag, including when it comes to the horror genre. We’ve had some incredible legacy sequels across all genres, from Top Gun: Maverick to Mad Max: Fury Road, but there have also been some widely panned ones like Dumb and Dumberer and Son of the Mask.
The horror genre is no stranger to this setup. In recent years, we’ve had more legacy sequels than we ever expected. The likes of I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre missed the mark but thankfully, several of the modern horror legacy sequels were great.
Curse Of Chucky (2013)
Nobody expected the Child’s Play franchise to return with a vengeance the way it has. After three movies in four years, Bride of Chucky took a few years to release in 1998 and then it wasn’t until 2004 that another entry arrived. By then, it seemed dead but Curse of Chucky quietly brought it back.
In 2013, Curse of Chucky arrived on VOD and it brought the franchise back in a great way. In it, Nica (Fiona Dourif, the real life daughter of Brad Dourif, who voices Chucky), learns that the titular doll owned by her niece might be behind the bloodshed going on in her life.
Reviews for Curse of Chucky were very positive, including the highest Rotten Tomatoes score since the original. Cult of Chucky followed with an even better reception and now there’s a Chucky TV series that has continued the franchise’s impressive legacy.
Alien: Romulus (2024)
The Alien franchise is an interesting one to consider. It is certainly mostly set in the sci-fi genre but there are plenty of horror elements, especially when you look at the original entry from 1979. Alien is, undoubtedly, a terrifying horror film.
Although we’ve had several installments of the series over the years, Alien: Romulus feels like a spiritual successor to the original. It carries many of the same horror aspects and is probably the scariest entry since the one from 1979. Part of that is due to the talented director.
Fede Álvarez directed Alien: Romulus and his history of success in the genre ensured this would be scary. It helps that the cast of Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, and Isabela Merced were more than up to the task. From the classic Xenomorph to the unsettling hybrid at the end, Alien: Romulus is high quality horror.
Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
One of the most consistent movie franchises, regardless of genre, is Final Destination. There really isn’t much of a difference in quality among the installments, at least through the first five, which all came out between 2000 and 2011.
When Final Destination: Bloodlines was announced for 2025, we thought we’d get more of the same. Instead, this ended up being the most well-received entry by a pretty significant margin, sitting at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the closest installment outside of it at 52%.
Final Destination: Bloodlines worked because it brought back the overdramatic kills the series is known for, while also introducing an intriguing angle regarding Death coming for different generations of families. It gave us something fresh while not straying from what we love, which is ideal.
Saw X (2023)
Like Final Destination: Bloodlines, Saw X pulled off an impressive feat. It’s the rare case of the legacy sequel actually getting a stronger critical reception than any of the films that came before it. However, the main difference is that it isn’t even close in this franchise as Saw X blows the rest out of the water.
Most of the entries in the Saw franchise received poor reviews, even if they were box office hits. The series attempted a reboot of sorts with Spiral: From the Book of Saw in 2021 but that missed the mark. Saw X was more of a risk because of that, yet it ended up working brilliantly.
Saw X is a prequel, meaning characters like John Kramer and Amanda Young were able to be the focal point. Saw faltered after killing off John in Saw III, struggling to find ways to incorporate him. Saw X didn’t have problems with that and it made for a well-told, engaging film.
Evil Dead (2013)
The Evil Dead franchise is another that is remarkably consistent. The first film is a horror classic, the second expertly blends comedy into the mix, and the third goes full-on camp, making for one of the best comedies of the ’90s. After that, the franchise mostly remained dormant.
That changed in 2013, when Fede Álvarez directed a new Evil Dead. In some ways, this feels like a remake of the 1981 movie, but it has been confirmed to be a sequel, especially since Ash’s car is at the cabin where the plot takes place.
Evil Dead forgoes the comedy avenue the series had gone down, delivering non-stop frights. The practical effects used for some of the horror scenes make everything feel all the more realistic. Add in all the gore and this is not easy to watch but it’s great horror.
Candyman (2021)
Candyman feels like one of the more underrated horror series in history. Not enough people talk about it, despite delivering relatively consistently solid slasher horror over the years. Between 1992 and 1999, there were three entries and then nothing until 2021.
This new iteration of Candyman was fantastic and was helmed by one of the best horror directors out there, Nia DaCosta. She’s a rising star in Hollywood and projects like Candyman are why. This legacy sequel is set between the second and third installments from the ’90s.
Candyman benefitted from DaCosta’s steady hand, as well as a tremendous cast. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was fantastic as the protagonist, while Teyonah Parris and Colman Domingo led a heralded supporting cast. The 84% Rotten Tomatoes rating is the highest of the series.
Doctor Sleep (2019)
Pretty much everyone agrees that The Shining is one of the greatest horror movies ever made. Reviews for it are strong, it’s held in high esteem, and people seem to only appreciate it more as time goes on. Stephen King seems to be the only person who doesn’t like The Shining movie.
His disdain for the film made it seem unlikely that his sequel, Doctor Sleep would get adapted but that happened in 2019. Horror master Mike Flanagan was behind the camera for it and made sure that everything was as chilling as it could be.
Doctor Sleep follows a grown-up Dan Torrance, who is traumatized by the events from the original film and uses his psychic abilities to help another young psychic. The true star of this movie is Rebecca Ferguson, who delivers a startling performance as Rose the Hat, stealing the show.
28 Years Later (2025)
In 2003, 28 Days Later helped revolutionize the zombie genre. A few years later, 28 Weeks Later delivered a solid sequel but then we didn’t hear anything about Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s franchise for nearly two decades.
2025 saw the arrival of 28 Years Later, which is a tremendous sequel. It indeed takes place 28 years after the initial outbreak and the events happen in a post-apocalyptic world in the British Isles, which are under indefinite quarantine. It keeps the harrowing aspects that made the first two so good.
What takes 28 Years Later over the top is having Boyle back in the director’s chair. He knows how to set the mood and imbue each scene with the level of anxiety to really make it click. The film was a major success and 2026 is already bringing us another sequel, directed by Nia DaCosta.
Scream (2022)
The Scream franchise is another one with an impressive level of consistency. Fans loved the trilogy that ran from 1996 through 2000 and a decade later, Scream 4 arrived and is criminally underrated. That said, it felt like the end of the series as we know it.
2022’s Scream changed that and brought things into the modern era. The movie wisely used a lot of things we’ve learned about horror over the years, from new tropes to play into to the history of similar legacy sequels, to satirize the genre.
Of course, while Scream nails the comedy bits, the key to the franchise is horror. This entry nails that, with a chilling opening scene involving Jenna Ortega that defied expectations, the devastating death of an iconic character, and one of the series’ best plot twists.
Halloween (2018)
It’s hard to think of a movie series that has gone through more changes than Halloween. The first two movies can work on their own, there’s a third entry that’s its own thing, some sequels are basically a trilogy, there’s the Rob Zombie installments, and that’s only naming a few.
In 2018, we got Halloween, which is a direct sequel to the original film from 1978. That means everything we’ve seen over the years doesn’t play into it. Instead, we follow Laurie Strode facing off with Michael for the first time in 40 years.
With aspects like impressive long takes and not shying away from brutal murder, 2018’s Halloween has so much working for it. Jamie Lee Curtis is also great as a reclusive Laurie who was traumatized by Michael and trained for decades to fight him if he ever returned.