Horror sequels

As I noted in earlier posts, a lot of horror sequels released straight to the direct-to-video market tend to generally function as completely standalone movies and do not tie-in to other movies beyond the shared title. The best examples that have immediately come to my mind are the House movies (although House IV is a direct sequel to the original movie), sequels to The Howling from the third movie onwards, and most radically different of all, sequels to The Curse

Granted, any measure of "success" is largely dependent on one's personal enjoyment of B-movies and how well one can cope with viewing a horror movie as junk food. As long as one doesn't take everything entirely seriously, there will be some fun to be had.

Horror anthologies are a television project. American Horror Story, Tales from the Crypt back in the day.

I just remembered another bit of incredible horror sequel weirdness.

Compare and contrast Food of the Gods (1976, American International Pictures, Samuel Z. Arkoff, and Bert I. Gordon shining their spotlight on Marjoe Gortner under the guise of an H.G. Wells adaptation)...

...and Gnaw: Food of the Gods II (1989, Carolco Pictures and the director of Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe)

Unless you're talking about a horror Anthology Film. Kwaidan springs to mind.

They mean a movie franchise/series that functions like a televised anthology series, like the original intended plan after Halloween II to release new, original, self-contained movies every October under the Halloween banner (which, obviously, didn't pan out after Halloween III wasn't as well-received upon its initial release). Naturally, there aren't really any "successful" horror series in terms of box office revenue or renowned name recognition, but there certainly are plenty of other "Halloween III's" out there and many franchises in the VHS and DVD-eras that have multiple stand-alone "sequels."

And, of course, there are plenty of horror-themed Anthology Films that spawned multiple movies. Creepshow, V/H/S, Trilogy of Terror and others all have at least one sequel. Apparently, there's also intentions to get a Trick 'r Treat 2 made that would be another two years off AT LEAST.

I know what they mean, and I was saying that horror anthologies pretty much are not a thing in cinema. But single Anthology Films are.

Getting back to Sleepaway Camp, I heard the reason for Return ignoring 2 and 3 is that the director didnt care much for the horror comedies that the series became known for. Reading the summary on wikipedia though, it looks like it's trying to be as over the top as possible, going beyond anything in the sequels (or even the first film).

I loved the first three films, but Return was... awful, and not even in a fun way. It being set and shot at an actual big camp that's in full swing is the only real positive that I can think of for it.

Leprechaun Returns Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxF1bseAF6I