Top 10 Worst Sequels

by Eric Melin on July 21, 2009

in Top 10s

Our Top 10 list today comes from Will Dawson, whose Top 10 Worst James Bond Flicks list still generates lots of comments. J.D. and I both did a Top 10 list of that rare thing—the successful sequel—a while back (Eric’s Top 10 Best Sequels & J.D.’s Top 10 Best Sequels), and Will is looking at the other side of the coin today. We even had blogger Andrew Reed write a list of Top 10 Unfairly Maligned Sequels, in which he sticks up for one of the movies on Will’s list! If you’d like to contribute a Top 10 list of your own, send it to eric@scene-stealers.com. Here’s Will:

The sequel has been one of Hollywood’s most time honored inventions. However, in recent years, due to the fact that Hollywood has been running out of ideas, the sequel has come to represent a kind of dread to how bad it will be and makes people wonder “Why the hell did they make a sequel to that?” Anyway, here is a list of the 10 Worst Sequels of all time, which will make you wonder, “Why the hell did they make a sequel to that?”

robocop 2 199010. Robocop 2 (1990)

To tell you the truth, I kind of do appreciate “Robocop 2” for its sincere camp value, and the movie is really campy. Such plot devices as Robocop talking about the merits of good hygiene, a 10-year-old drug dealer that swears like a sailor, and a little-league baseball team that rob a TV store all come to mind. However, these reasons are exactly why the movie is so bad to begin with. The first “Robocop” was an effective satire about law enforcement and what it meant to be human, while this one tries to be serious a criminal drama but ends up becoming an unintentional comedy with the clichéd message “Crime doesn’t pay…especially if you mess with Robocop.”

Cain: You Want Me?
Robocop: Dead or alive.
Cain: One of us must die.
Robocop: Alright, dead then.

nerds  2 in paradise9. Revenge of the Nerds 2: Nerds In Paradise (1987)

Taking off from the classic film “Revenge of the Nerds”, the writers decided to put the nerds in sunny Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where they run into the same old enemies and engage in the same old sex-jinks. Although I do admire the producers for bringing back some of the original cast (unlike other movies on this list), the movie is a just rehash of the first one with the notable exceptions that the nerds are in “paradise” as it were, and Anthony Edwards has less of a role. Anyway, haven’t the nerds already gotten revenge in the first movie? Did they really need to get revenge in the second one? Oh well…..

Booger: Excuse me, miss. I just want you to know that I don’t intend to sleep with another woman until I’m back here in your arms with my head resting between your creamy thighs.

airbud golden receiver8. Air Bud 2: Golden Receiver (1998)

Oh man, I just wanted to write “The dog plays football!!!!!” and just get it over with, but I’ll delve into the mess that is “Air Bud 2.”. Basically Air Bud’s owner is on a football team that sucks so they enlist the help of Air Bud to play football, and it turns out Air Bud is super good at football. Beside the fact that non-humans cannot play high school football because it is against the rules, AIR BUD IS A FUCKING DOG AND HE DOESN’T HAVE FUCKING HANDS, thereby he CAN’T CATCH THE FOOTBALL!!!! And don’t give me this crap about how he catches it through his helmet with his mouth–if Air Bud was a real dog that did that in real life, the force and speed of the ball landing in Air Bud’s mouth would make Air Bud’s neck snap or break his teeth. Did I also mention that the dog plays football?

Coach: I’ll tell you one thing boys, that ain’t no golden retriever….that is a golden receiver!

matrix reloaded 20037. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Oh man, I remember when the hype for this was so big in high school and I remember being really pissed off when I didn’t see it in theaters, but anyway I rented it on DVD and I thought “Well … that sucked.” “The Matrix Reloaded” has a lot of problems that I’ll sum up in a few details: convoluted plot, bad dialogue, over-reliance on special effects, one of the worst sex scene/montages in film history, too much techno music, too much philosophy, and too much Keanu Reeves. Especially too much Keanu Reeves.

Morpheus: Tonight, let us shake this cave!!!!

jaws 26. Jaws 2 (1978)

After the colossal success that was “Jaws,” I suppose you had to make a sequel to it, and although this movie has one of the best taglines in film history (“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water …”), it still is one of the worst sequels of all time. The shock factor of the shark scenes have become cliché by this point and the emphasis on the film was focused on Chief Brody’s stupid brat kids who get stranded in a sailboat whilst the shark encircles them. This makes the viewer root for the shark to eat said brat kids. You also hope that the spirit of Robert Shaw as Quint the Shark Hunter is going to show up to give Brody some spiritual advice, but he does not, which leaves the viewer with this mess of a film. I guess the reason why “Jaws 2” isn’t as fairly maligned as it should be is because of the horrendous films that followed in the series: “Jaws 3-D” and “Jaws: The Revenge.”

Chief Brody: (to the shark) Alright, you big bastard! Come on! I’ve got something for ya’ now! That’s it! Attaboy, come on! Right over here!

the sting II 19835. The Sting II (1983)

OK, here is a list of how to make your sequel automatically suck: release your it 10 years after the first film, don’t get any of the original cast members back, and think that just because it shares a title with one of the most beloved films of all time, people will go to the theater. Well guess what? “The Sting 2” is guilty of all of these things and it sucks. In a bit of puzzling casting, Paul Newman and Robert Redford (who were perfect in the original) are replaced by Jackie Gleason and Mac Davis. Even Robert Shaw is replaced by Oliver Reed. (It appears that the producers decided to cast the next hardest-drinking actor behind Robert Shaw, who had died of drinking by that time.) Also, why would you try and sting the same person again that you did in the first one? Wouldn’t you think that the “stingee” would notice that these were the same guys who were conning him from the first movie? Unfortunately, the film still shows up on cable every now and again, so beware.

highlander 2 quickening4. Highlander 2: The Quickening (1991)

Ok, so in the original “Highlander,” Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is an immortal who wins the prize of being the top immortal by cutting off the Kurgan’s head and becomes mortal and goes off and lives with his love interest. In “Highlander 2,” it turns out that the immortals are all from a distant planet that neither of them can remember and that MacLeod was not the one who won the prize and, in fact, there are other immortals about ready to fight MacLeod to win it. Combine this with bad special effects (even for the time), the fact that Sean Connery returns after his character was killed in “Highlander,” and an absurd plot line about the Ozone layer depleting (hey, at least it was prophetic), and you have “Highlander 2”: a giant colossal piece of crap. Russell Mulcahy (the first film’s director and this film’s director) walked out of the premiere and put together a new cut of the film called The Renegade Version, which basically got rid of all the elements about immortals being from space….but even The Renegade Version is still crap. This quote basically sums up the entire film:

Louise Marcus: Okay, now let me just see if I can get this straight. You come from another planet, and you’re mortal there, but you’re immortal here until you kill all the guys from there who have come here … and then you’re mortal here … unless you go back there, or some more guys from there came here, in which case you become immortal here … again.
Connor MacLeod: Something like that.

blues brothers 20003. Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

Ok, I’ll give Dan Aykroyd and John Landis some credit, at least they wanted to press on with the characters and take the series in a new direction, but it’s hard to do it when two of the most iconic actors in the series are dead. Seriously, this film is so unfunny that you would rather have a pineapple violently inserted up your nose then having to sit through just a minute of this movie. The sad part about this is that it appears as though Aykroyd was hoping that this would hopefully restart the series, but there’s just one problem: The Blues Brothers are not The Blues Brothers without John Belushi or Cab Calloway and trying to move on without them was a horrible mistake.

Elwood: Uh, ma’am, we’re the Blues Brothers. We do blues, rhythm & blues, jazz, funk, soul. We can handle rock, pop, country, heavy metal, fusion, hip hop, rap, Motown, operetta, show tunes. In fact, we’ve even been called upon, on occasion, to do a polka! However Caribbean is a type of music, I regret to say, which has not been, is simply not, nor will ever be a part of this band’s repertoire.

european gigolo2. Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)

The first “Deuce Bigalow” wasn’t going to rewrite film history, but at least it was mindless entertainment for an hour and 40 minutes with some good scenes. This movie, however, is terrible. The script appears to be written by a bunch of hormonally crazed 15-year-olds who don’t know anything about sex. The stereotypes are rampant and typical (woman from Chernobyl has penis for a nose, Dutch people are portrayed smoking weed, etc.), and the fact that this is a Rob Schneider movie make this film absolutely one of the worst movies I have ever seen. If you ever want your significant other to break up with you, plop this in the DVD player and watch.

Heinz Himmler: I am Heinz Hummer. I’m the gigolo with the most below. Okay? I can give you a Filthy Lopez like you never had before. I could give you a Cambodian Creamsicle… that will make you scream all night. Okay? But not now because I’m busy. So leave me alone, bitch.

aykroyd caddyshack 2 19881. Caddyshack 2 (1988)

Oh god, this movie is quite possibly the worst movie I’ve ever seen. Every committable offense you could make in a sequel is made: No original cast members (with the exception of Chevy Chase, who basically took the money and ran), a bad script, and the fact that none of the cast members appear to be interested at all make this film so very horrid. Jackie Mason, Robert Stack, and Dan Aykroyd are poor substitutes for Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray–and you know you have a problem when this movie is rated PG, and the gopher is the most compelling character. Now, excuse me while I put in the original “Caddyshack” and try and forget about “Caddyshack 2.”

Capt. Tom Everett: If I pull the arrow out, will you p-please s-suck out the poison?
Ty Webb: Let me get this straight. You pull it out, I suck. Is there any money in it for me?

Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of Scene-Stealers.com, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and contributor for The Pitch. He’s former President of the KCFCC, and drummer for The Dead Girls, Ultimate Fakebook, and Truck Stop Love . He is also the 2013 Air Guitar World Champion Mean Melin, ranked 4th best of all-time. Eric goes to 11. Follow him at:

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{ 22 comments }

1 Reed July 21, 2009 at 7:31 am

Great list! I’m glad to see that at least one of the movies from the Unfairly Maligned Sequels (http://www.scene-stealers.com/top-10/top-10-unfairly-maligned-sequels/ ) made it into this list. How can they be maligned if nobody says they’re terrible? Incidentally, Robocop 2 was going to be in that list, but then I saw it again and just couldn’t go through with it. I wanted to, though. I assume that you ruled out any third movie because Robocop 3 is quite probably the worst film in the history of the universe.

I dragged my dad to Revenge of the Nerds II when I was 12. I’m not even sure if I’d seen the first one yet. He was unamused.

No love (hate) for Wayne’s World 2? I think I dragged my dad to that, too, now that I think about it. Hmmm. I owe him an extra fathers’ day present.

Man, I had totally forgotten about Caddyshack 2. Now I find myself curious about it and wanting to watch it again. You’re saying this is a terrible idea? OK, I’ll try to forget about its existence all over again.

2 Alan Rapp July 21, 2009 at 9:06 am

Good idea and some nice choices, but what’s with the bad sequels to bad movies like Bigelow and Bud (and I’d argue Nerds as well)? The originals were bad, why be surprised or disappointed that their sequels sucked as hard or harder?

3 Will July 21, 2009 at 9:27 am

The reason that I chose Bigelow and Bud was that although the originals weren’t that great, they were at least mildly entertaining. The problem I had with the sequels was that they tried to sucker the audience by saying that it was good as the as orginal, which means it was going to be 1:40 of mindless entertainment….mindless yes, but absolutly horrible. Also some honorable mentions include “Pirates of the Caribbean 2”, “The Whole 10 Yards”, “Conan The Destroyer” and “Porky’s 2: The Next Day”

4 Mitch July 21, 2009 at 9:40 am

I agree with Alan. Movies that are as bad as Deuce Bigalow should not have their sequals referenced in any social circle. I love The Sting 2 on the list, simply b/c The Sting is one of the greatest and most underrated (or at least under watched) films of all time. The fact that a sequal was made to that movie was bad enough…but for it to be as horrible as it was, brought shame to the title of the original.

5 Laurie July 21, 2009 at 10:40 am

When I saw the topic today the first thing that came to mind was “The Whole 10 Yards”. I really liked the “The Whole 9 Yards” but the sequel was just so horrible. I am glad you gave it an honorable mention.

6 steven g. July 21, 2009 at 10:42 am

The list was just ok, lacking a bit. The list is obviusly a large idea to tackle since in the scop of film history their has been so many God awful sequels. I would agree with some of the above posts. Choosing sequels of films that were already considered awful seems like saying comparing crap to crap oppose to diamonds to crap. I would have liked to see that creative progression in the list.

7 Laura Lorson July 21, 2009 at 11:40 am

Halloween 3: Season of the Witch. I can’t believe this film was written by the guy who wrote the BBC’s Quatermass series. This is the first movie I ever saw that made absolutely no sense. 1982, starring eternal HITGs Tom Atkins and Dan O’Herlihy. Plus, the big reveal is that apparently children’s heads explode if they wear a Silver Shamrock mask and some kind of TV signal gets sent out using a Commodore 64, or something. And the exploded heads? Full of snakes. Really, I’m making this sound far more awesome than it actually is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_III:_Season_of_the_Witch

8 Will July 21, 2009 at 12:57 pm

The truth is that we can all have different tastes in the original films that these sequels followed….maybe I could have left off Air Bud and Deuce Bigalow, but the fact that these movies are so awful and are among some of the worst “films” I have ever seen, I had to include them….to not include them on a list of worst sequels would be like leaving off “Godfather Part II” and “The Empire Strikes Back” on a list of good sequels.

More honorable mentions also include: The Toxic Avenger II, The Karate Kid II, Universal Soldier: The Return, Meatballs 2, Psycho II

9 kyolin July 21, 2009 at 7:20 pm

Where’s Transformers 2- ROTF in this?

10 Greg July 21, 2009 at 11:08 pm

Why didn’t u put Batman and Robin or Hannibal on there

11 Reed July 22, 2009 at 8:08 am

Come on, Laura, Halloween III has a great ending, and the acting is pretty decent throughout. The concept is utterly ridiculous, but if you can accept the utterly ridiculous concept, the movie has its merits.

12 Will July 22, 2009 at 8:17 am

In response to Greg and Laura:

The reasons that Halloween III and Batman Robin didn’t make it on the list is that they are not technically sequels, they are the third and fourth films in a franchise and not a sequel. Also I haven’t seen Hannibal, but if I have I may have put it on the list.

13 kt July 24, 2009 at 2:25 pm

nice list. just seeing the title of some of these films makes me wince. and when i finally scrolled to reveal Caddyshack 2! oh the horror! please don’t mention it again. Caddyshack is one of my favorite movies; and i would really like to keep the reality of that awful sequel existing blocked from my consciousness.

14 Ethan July 27, 2009 at 2:30 pm

Im sorry at no point during this list did I see Basic Instinct II. I call shenanigans!

15 Kari August 23, 2009 at 2:21 pm

dont forget all the disney sequels

16 Jennifer September 3, 2009 at 1:00 pm

How about Grease 2 and Arthur 2: On the Rocks?

17 Will September 4, 2009 at 12:19 pm

I actually forgot about Grease 2 and Arthur 2! Those totally would replace Deuce Bigelow and Air Bud….

18 Beth Adams September 14, 2009 at 7:07 pm

Laura, why don’t you shut up moaning and go watch the “masterpiece that is Halloween II, lol. Halloween III is great and Nigel Kneale did a great job on the script. What exactly is unbelievable about stealing a rock from stone henge and taking it to California to grind it down into microchips, splashing a dash of black magic on it, and implanting it into a mask which will kill millions of children and return Halloween to it’s ancient and evil rites. We don’t decide these things you know, the planets do.

19 Eric Melin September 14, 2009 at 9:53 pm

The planets indeed, Beth.

20 Will September 15, 2009 at 9:07 am

I only hope that Rob Zombie will follow the original “Halloween III” format instead of going back to the whole Michael Myers story line….

21 Lucas October 16, 2010 at 11:43 am

Roocop 2? 3 was by far worse

22 Ben November 28, 2010 at 6:25 pm

Matrix reloaded??? That was my favourite of the trilogy! Revolutions was by far the worst

Should be replaced by scary movie 2 or The butterfly Effect 2 imo

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