The worst movie sequels of all time.

This article from Entertainment Weekly got us thinking about the worst movie sequels ever made. We thought, "Why not expand the debate beyond one man's opinion? IMDb's scores are an objective-as-possible measurement of everyone's opinions."

Defining the terms is our biggest challenge. Once the evaluation is removed from the realm of barroom arguments and held to a standard of measurement, it's essential to define precisely what is being measured. There are several ways one might interpret the phrase "worst movie sequel." The two main questions that need to be answered are:

• Should the term "sequel" be confined only to immediate successors, or should it include subsequent films in a continuing franchise?
• Should the term "worst" be defined as "worst overall" or "steepest decline from the original"? Big difference. The Phantom Menace and Godfather 3 are substantially worse than the films that spawned them, of course, but are actually better movies than some of the other "originals," like Dirty Dancing.

We decided that "worst movie in a franchise" is a separate question from "worst sequel," so we eliminated such possibilities as Moonraker, Batman and Robin, The Godfather 3, Jaws 3-D and that ridiculous Jason in Space thingy. We elected instead to define "sequel" as "the immediate follow-up." That left us with only two questions to answer:.

1. Which sequel represented the greatest drop-off in quality from the original?

2. What is the worst overall movie which was a sequel to another movie?

 

What was the worst immediate sequel, as determined by the steepest drop-off from the original? The Entertainment Weekly article did a pretty good job in general, but included an egregious omission. The worst sequel is pretty obvious, if you think about it. There is one and only one case in which one of the worst movies ever made, an indefensible and laughably bad movie, is a direct sequel to one of the highest-rated movies ever made, and it can be summed up in one word: "EEEEEEEEEEEE-ville." Although The Exorcist 2: The Heretic is far and away the worst sequel ever made, as defined by the degree of drop-off from the original, the EW article didn't even include it in the Top 25. Here is our review. Memorable dialogue: " I was possessed by a demon. Oh, but it's okay, he's gone now!" "Pazuzu, king of the evil spirits of the air, help me to find Kokumo!" (And my other Beach Boys albums.) "I've flown this route before. It was on the wings of a demon." (Or maybe it was on Delta. Either way, I remember they lost my luggage.) "You've got to fight that demon that's inside her! It's preventing her from reaching full spiritual power!"

EEEEEEE-ville!

What is the worst overall movie which was made as a sequel to another movie? The top two spots here go to bad movies spun off from other bad movies, Troll 2 and SuperBabies, but the remaining choices drop down from the previous list. We think the EW article probably should have mentioned two films which finished extremely high on both lists: Love in Paris and The Howling II: Werewolf Bitch. Hey, you can't go wrong with Sybil Danning (right, in Howling 2). Highlander 2 might also have been a better choice than some of the ones they listed.

NOTE: The EW article also included one sequel which is arguably better than the original, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, but that doesn't seem like a very important error because Havana Nights does suck. It's just that both films suck. In fact, they siphon canal water through a rusty garden hose.

 

Reader comment:

The chart of biggest drop-offs is missing some films that I believe should be there.