Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Received wisdom dictates that Bride of Frankenstein, James Whale’s own follow-up to his epochal Frankenstein, is one of the few sequels that actually outclasses the original. Bettering a film as magnificent as Boris Karloff’s first outing as the nameless monster is quite a tall order, and although I accept I’m in a minority opinion, I really don’t think the sequel comes anywhere close; instead of the all-conquering masterpiece I was expecting, it’s actually a bit of a curate’s egg. Read more

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Where do you even start with a film like Dawn of the Dead? Having already looked at Romero’s work in general, as well as casting a glance at some of the films he has inspired, it is all too easy to let his achievements speak for themselves and correspondingly difficult to confine any discussion of one of his offerings to the merits of that particular piece. This is especially so when you’re considering the second film in a series of four, all of which have their own messages but which are inextricably linked. It’s rather like trying to pull a vertebra from someone’s back (a metaphor which I trust will be deemed appropriate in a discussion of any movie involving Tom Savini); however well intentioned it’s really all going to go wrong. Try we must though. Read more

Return of the Evil Dead (1973)

Confusingly, Return of the Evil Dead has nothing to do with Sam Raimi’s trilogy of horror movies. Instead, it’s the rather odd english title given to Spanish director Amando De Ossorio’s follow up to his blind-zombies-on-horseback magnum opus Tombs of the Blind Dead. Made two years later, it’s a rather less original effort than its predecessor; nevertheless, it ups the pace of Tombs and is actually a lot of fun. Read more

Revolt of the Zombies (1936)

It is astonishing that the people behind one of the best films I’ve ever seen could also be responsible for one of the worst. After discovering the gem that is White Zombie I had high expectations of the Halerpin brothers’ follow-on, Revolt of the Zombies. Everything about it feels wrong, from the plot and pacing right through to the editing and casting. Though it was made four years after White Zombie it feels the more anachronistic of the two, and the Halperins seem to have forgotten everything that made their earlier offering the enduring classic that it is today. Read more

Saw II (2005)

In much the same way that The Blair Witch Project capitalised on its unexpected success by immediately rushing out a sequel, fans of the diabolical ‘Jigsaw’ had to wait for less than a year for the follow-up to Saw. In light of this it shouldn’t be too surprising that Saw II offers up very little in the way of fresh ideas, but should we really have expected anything else? After all, the strength of the original was in watching helpless victims being psychologically and physically dissected in fiendishly cruel ways. Is this enough to carry a sequel though? Read more

The Ring Two (2005)

Whichever way you look at it, it’s hard not to view The Ring Two as being a crushing disappointment. This follow-up to the US remake of the Japanese classic (you may need to draw a diagram to follow that) was passed over by several directors until it ended up in the hands of Hideo Nakata, the Japanese director who brought us the original Ring. Considering that the US film itself wasn’t too shabby, you could be forgiven for getting excited by this; unfortunately, The Ring Two is almost guaranteed to shake your faith in both the versatility of the original concept and in Nakata’s abilities as a director. Read more

The Spiral (aka Rasen) (1998)

The Spiral’s reputation seems to rest more on the film’s status - or lack of - than anything to do with the movie itself. Based on the second of Koji Suzuki’s Ring novels, Joji Iida shot the film almost back to back with Hideo Nakata’s peerless adaption of the first novel, and the results were released in Japanese cinemas simultaneously. But whereas Ring sparked what can only be described as an international phenomenon, The Spiral bombed, and was later overwritten by Nakata’s own Ring 2. Effectively exiled from the Ring saga - in cinema terms at least - the film has only recently been made available on DVD in the West,but remains relatively unknown. Read more