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Audiences love seeing their favorite on-screen heroes in new and interesting situations, the result often feels like a fresh and exciting take on familiar characters. On occasion though, a sequel strays too far from the original and retroactively ruins elements of its predecessor.
There is considerable risk when changing the course of a franchise, most sequels tend to give audiences more of what they know, but that sometimes leaves the series feeling stale and out of ideas. Others don’t play it quite so safe, those filmmakers take a bolder approach, switch things up, and keep fans on their toes with expectation-defying installments.
10 Alien Swapped Horror For High-Octane Action
A genre switch can work wonders for a film series, and the sequel to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror classic Alien is a perfect example. In 1986, James Cameron took hold of the franchise and gifted audiences with one of the greatest action sci-fi pictures to ever grace the big screen.
Aliens is a full force fist-pumping action movie, complete with blockbuster set pieces, no-nonsense badass characters, and instantly quotable lines, including the iconic “Game over man, game over!” from Bill Paxton.
9 Filmmakers Had Another Stab At It With The Evil Dead’s Sequel
Sometimes a franchise doesn’t get things quite right the first time around. In the case of The Evil Dead, one vital ingredient was missing from the original film: comedy. The sequel Evil Dead II treads a very similar plot path, but this time with laughs aplenty.
The more humorous approach unleashed a powerhouse performance from leading man Bruce Campbell as Ash, cementing him as one of horror’s MVPs. The Evil Dead franchise went from strength to strength, becoming an entertainment juggernaut, spawning sequels, remakes, video games, and TV series.
8 From War Vet To War Machine, Rambo Left Its Dramatic Roots Behind
Due to John Rambo’s frequent mowing down of nameless enemies in 4 of the 5 films focused on Stallone’s combat savvy character, it’s easy to forget that Rambo was once a deeply traumatized, and violence-averse veteran of the Vietnam war.
The original movie in the Rambo franchise, First Blood, is a dark, slow-burning emotional character study with a surprisingly low body count. As the times changed though, outrageous action and wise-cracking tough guys became Hollywood’s big-ticket, and Rambo had little choice but to adapt to keep theatres full.
7 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Added Merriment To The Macabre
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre stands as an iconic festival of terror, it’s atmospheric, macabre, and grounded in horrifying realism inspired by actual serial killers. In 1986, the horror classic received a sequel in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and it was a wild departure from the original movie.
TCSM 2 borders on being a parody of its predecessor, with black comedy and over-the-top gore being featured throughout. Gone are the semi-realistic teenage victim characters, replaced by eccentric (thought extremely watchable) performances from the likes of Bill Mosely and Dennis Hopper.
6 Robert Rodriguez Took His Guitar-Playing Gunman From Mexico To Hollywood
Robert Rodriguez made one of cinema’s most admirable and amazing leaps into Hollywood with his debut feature El Mariachi, which was allegedly made for the astonishingly low amount of just $7,000. Rodriguez’s Mexico Trilogy would continue with 1995’s Desperado, and the franchise switched from Spanish to English.
The gun-toting guitar case remained, but the budget ballooned, as did the box-office returns. Desperado also launched an illustrious career for Salma Hayek and further warmed American audiences to the eclectic talents of star Antonio Banderas.
5 The Unique Concept Of The Purge Wasn’t Fully Realized Until Its Sequel
The first entry into The Purge franchise is essentially a home invasion thriller, and with a budget much lower than its sequels, the movie failed to really capitalize on its excellent concept.
The sequel, The Purge: Anarchy took a different approach and set the entire franchise on course with its action and survival horror elements. The results were a strong improvement over the original film, and the on-screen crime sprees have never looked back, The Purge franchise now boasts multiple films and a two-season TV series.
4 Beneath The Planet Of The Apes Proved Charlton Heston Irreplaceable
Though it can be argued that the sequel to Franklin J. Schaffner’s Planet of the Apes was mostly an inferior retread of the original classic, Beneath the Planet of the Apes momentarily steered the franchise away from socio-political commentary in favor of action.
The sequel also made the mistake of utilizing a new main character, and while James Franciscus did a respectable job, he was no Charlton Heston. The original’s star did appear in a supporting role, but this only served to highlight Franciscus’ flaws and inferiority to the cinema legend.
3 Friday The 13th Was Originally Horror Without The Hockey Mask
If fright fans were to carve themselves a Mount Rushmore of horror villains, Jason of the Friday the 13th franchise would be a strong contender for a place amongst the evilest of antagonists. What casual viewers may not be aware of though, is that the Jason we know and love did not appear until the franchise’s second installment.
In the original Friday the 13th, there’s no hockey mask in sight, just a deranged mother seeking revenge over the death of her young son, and that young son would go on to become the machete-wielding psycho that defined the entire franchise.
2 Return To Oz Headed Down A Brick Road Of Dark & Dreary
Fairuza Balk may have shown undisputed talent from a young age, but she and the rest of the cast and crew that made Return to Oz had gigantic ruby slippers to fill when making a sequel to The Wizard of Oz. The 1939 original is a beloved classic, one of cinema’s most iconic films, so a new installment over 40 years later needed to do something to stand out and avoid being buried under comparisons to the original Oz adventure.
The switch chosen was to embrace the darkness, Return to Oz is creepy, disturbing, and often downright terrifying, a far cry from the bright, colorful, and jolly original.
1 The Terminator Came Back, But As An Unstoppable Action Hero
As Aliens proved, James Cameron knows a thing or two about injecting new life into a franchise. In 1991, Cameron played a similar trick with his Terminator series, taking the horror and slasher elements of the first film and transforming his sequel into one of the greatest action movies of all time.
This wasn’t the only major change, as when The Terminator’s villain seemingly returned, audiences were pleasantly shocked to discover that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cyborg was no longer the hunter, he was now a heroic protector of the Connor family.
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