Why yes, Freddy you are, just like this batch of horror movie sequels I’m about to slash my way through.
In most cases regarding film franchises and sequels to blockbuster films, a trilogy is usually the answer and the most notable way to wrap up a movie series. It’s pretty damn rare for a movie to break that trilogy trope, entering into a fourth film and beyond that. Well, the 80s slasher movies era, I’d say, are solely responsible for a pitfall of sequels that broke all the rules that came before it. Friday the 13th was the first of the slasher films to stick its impervious middle finger to the rule of three and laid out the groundwork for a brigade of horror movies to follow. Of course, they weren’t the first film property to ever do this, as the Universal Monster films along with the Abbott and Costello crossovers offered a myriad of sequels and continuities to their previous installments. Jason was just the one to resurrect the flow of sequels beyond just three.
And he’s really good at resurrecting shit. Including himself.
Myers tho… I never want to hear Halloween and Resurrection in the same sentence ever again.
Anyway, some of these part-fours are better than others, and in some horror franchises like The Omen and Psycho, Part IV was their downfall and a rather unsatisfying ending to their retrospective counterparts. However, as the slasher genre ran dug a rabbit hole of sequels that continues on to this very day with movies like SCREAM and SAW, they created a shift in the horror movie game saying that more is never enough and really changed the way things had happened up to that point, whether they continued in a positive way or not. That being said, let’s forego the bad and take a look at the five best Part Fours of the horror game that not only satisfied our craving for our beloved franchises’, but had us clamoring for MORE.
If you’re new here, I’m just gonna start with the goddamn obvious.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Holy Blonde-Haired Michael Myers, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. After the commercial failure of Halloween III: The Season of the Witch, Moustapha Akkad, took control of John Carpenter’s immortal classic and gave fans what they wanted six years after the third movie bombed with viewers- The return of Michael Myers as well, the title so boldly states so audiences KNEW they were coming to see Myers come back from what was certain death to fuck up the lives of everyone in Haddonfield. A disfigured Dr. Loomis is back and on the trail of pure and simple evil as he hunts down his only heir left-niece Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), daughter of Laurie, who had died eleven months earlier.
Halloween 4 has no damn business being as great as it was, but it is, perhaps, the best of all these part fours’ mentioned. We have a beautiful aesthetic that puts the viewer right there in the film with you, not to mention one of the best openers to any horror movie- ever. Rachel (Ellie Cornell), a final girl who is terribly underrated and probably the most relatable and likable character of the whole film series. And a highly satisfying ending that WOULD have been the absolute tits had the franchise decided to move forward with Jamie taking Michael’s place, like an heir to the boogeyman throne. But ya’ know, Revenge fucked all that up, and gave us the Thorn storyline instead. If I wanted to watch a Thorn timeline, I’d watch The Omen movies, thank you very much.
Ahh, well at least we have this one, and I’ll die on the hill of stating that Halloween 4 is the absolute GOAT for sequels and nostalgia as a whole, what with all the 80s’ feel to it that just brings you back to your childhood on Halloween day and night. ERM, without being chased up on a roof by your crazy uncle, that is. Or maybe you had a weirdo uncle like that? I don’t know. Either way. It’s the best and you can’t tell me any different.
A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
In that same year, the highly anticipated follow-up to Dream Warriors, which was a damn masterpiece all on its own, was delivered to our eyeballs at the peak of Freddy-Mania. Dream Master, which follows the last of the Elm Street/Westin Hills teens and their group of friends into a whole new nightmare, was the biggest audience draw of the NOES franchise, ranking in a box-office gross of almost 50 million-only to be surpassed by Freddy Vs Jason sixteen years later. Those numbers backed up the greatness that is Dream Master, giving us a fresh new spin on the Springwood Slasher by mixing in a bit of light humor with sheer terror.
Freddy’s sick sense of humor first appeared slightly in Dream Warriors, but he really took it to another level in part 4 with those one-liners.
Alice (Lisa Wilcox), the film’s new heroine, is much like Rachel Carruthers. She’s incredibly relatable, especially for us introverts, and a total badass who finds her strength within herself, and well, with the help of her deceased friends. Also, incredibly underrated and hell she shouldn’t be. Not many people escape the claws of Freddy and managed to do so not once, but twice. Alice rules and can stand shoulder to shoulder with Nancy any damn day of the week.
Plus, Dream Master has a Dramarama song in it. Automatic win.
Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter
This might be a hot take for some Jason fans out there, but The Final Chapter for me, is by far superior to part 2 and 3. I know many might not share my sentiment, but whether you agree or not, I think we can all unanimously be of the same mind that part 4 of the Friday the 13th films, rules, and it rules HARD.
I can’t really explain why I seem to favor this one over the previous two, not counting the original of course, but maybe it’s because since this was supposed to be the final Friday film, hence the title, they ramped up the gore, the kills, and the nudity along with some actual likeable characters you want to root for. The previous Friday films, did have some decent characters of course, but you weren’t crazy invested in them like perhaps Tommy (Corey Feldman) and his sister Trish (Kimberly Beck), who offered some light-hearted moments and even some character development throughout the movie. We also have Crispin Glover, who does a whacky dance that I think all of us horror fans have tried to replicate at least once, and the cool as hell Ted White as Jason, who, like others mentioned in this article, doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his contribution to the franchise.
The film also opens up with what I think is, right behind Jason Lives of course, as the coolest intro to ANY of the Friday films of the series. Nostalgic recapping of the first three movies in a homicidal instrumental montage? Yes please. We need more of these.
Saw IV, or The Continuing Adventures of Jigsaw, The Guy Who Really Loves Messing With This One Extremely Incompetent Police Department Who Can Never Catch Him, Even After He’s Already Dead. Whichever you prefer.
I think if you’re going to try and pass the torch from one homicidal maniac to another, SAW IV is a good example of how to do it and do it well. Part 4 of Jigsaw’s torturous tale is even more violent, if at all possible, than the previous three, and that says a lot when the third film has one of the most fucked up traps Jigsaw ever concocted-The Rack. Seriously, fuck that scene.
With John Kramer (Tobin Bell) and Amanda (Shawnee Smith) now dead, that doesn’t mean the punishments are over. Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is still alive in the clutches of someone ELSE carrying on the work of Jigsaw and Agent Lindsey Perez (Athena Karkanis) and Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) are brought in on the case. Lieutenant Daniel Rigg (Lyriq Bent) is being framed as Kramer’s helper so he goes on the run and finds himself in the middle of Jigsaw’s shenanigans in a game of his own. The movie ends with one of the most WTF twists not seen since the first movie and a violent death you’ll not soon ever forget. Really incredible writing and they went to such painstaking lengths to sort of sew everything together to provide us with an amazing degree of continuity.
Some people think the SAW movies are nothing more than torture porn. I say those people fail to realize the deeper messages sprinkled throughout the series. With SAW IV, it’s a clear criticism of health insurance in the United States and the logic healthcare uses to determine whether someone is fit to live. Inserting these sorts of commentaries within a film like SAW is not only ballsy, but brilliant.
Speaking of ballsy, truly, the most horrific scene in that film is John Kramer’s dick. That’s something no one wanted to see, you bastards.
While I’m not TOO keen on changing an entire formula of what made a movie works in the first place, I guess there’s only so far you can go with the premise of a killer doll and how many times his soul is going to get stuck in a pseudo My Buddy plastic body. So what do we do? Bring in his female counterpart who is definitely more crazy than he is, all the while worshiping Martha Stewart and making Swedish meatballs in between murders.
Chucky (Brad Dourif) is back thanks to his old girlfriend Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) and some voodoo for dummies. But the rekindled courtship doesn’t last long, and Chucky gives Tiffany a taste of his own medicine by killing her and transferring her soul into a doll, pretty much to spite her. The now fate-intertwined pair must both find human counterparts to finally free themselves, and the pair pretty much fall in love all over again while doing it.
I mean, it’s totally a toxic love, but hey, I’m here for the shit show.
Bride of Chucky is a far cry from the first film, as the original 1988 horror flick served to scare the shit out of people, and scare the shit out of us it did. But, I gotta say, adding Jennifer Tilly to the franchise and turning it into a campfest actually worked and it worked well. We laughed our asses off at the theater when this came out and I still do 25 years after the fact. I’ll never get over the fact this movie had the straight BALLS to have a doll sex scene. Well, shadow humping but still. It was goddamn weird and wild.
Bride of Chucky ushered in a whole new era for the killer doll without making it stale and it really was the smartest way to do it. Also paving the way for the Chucky series we have now.
Tiffany said it best, “Barbie, eat your heart out.”
As you can see, the power of four is not to be fucked with in the horror genre friends. Some other notable nods are The Final Destination and I’m gonna go there- Puppet Master 4 (hey it’s a fun movie, don’t judge me). Thoughts on my assessment here, nuggets? Or feel free to tell me I’ve lost my fuckin’ mind. Either way it’ll be fun time for both of us!
Nightmare Nostalgia 