The 20 worst sequels of all time

   We've gone over the best sequels and now it's time to look at the ugly flip side- when things go horribly wrong. A great sequel enhances the reputation of the original. The worst ones put a stain on it that never comes out. Now there are a million bad sequels out there, but you won't find "Police Academy 6" or "Friday the 13th Part VII" on this list because nobody cares about those horrid franchises. They were never good. Horror sequels were largely ignored because they could easily fill up the whole list. Every movie on this list is the sequel to a good or great film. A few of these films broke the hearts of moviegoers who are still trying to figure out how something so good went so bad. It's like when a romantic relationship goes sour. Please excuse the occasional profanity here but it's completely justified.

20. "Staying Alive"(1983)
If you ever wondered how John Travolta's career fell into such a huge slump in the '80s, this Sylvester Stallone directed sequel to "Saturday Night Fever" should help clear things up. Sly put JT through his Rocky workout regimen, but he must have left all of Tony Manero's charm and likability on the cutting room floor. He's now a boring jerk trying to make it as a dancer on Broadway. He finally lands a role in the appropriately titled "Satan's Alley", possibly the worst musical/dance number in the history of film.

19. "Beverly Hills Cop III"(1994)
In the mid '80s, Eddie Murphy was the hottest comedian alive and the first "Beverly Hills Cop" was the 5th highest grossing film of the decade. Ten years later, a visibly disinterested Murphy sleepwalks through this third installment with none of the wit or charm he displayed in the first two films. Instead, we got a series of dull gunfights, explosions and car chases. Watching "Cop III" felt like running into a long lost friend and realizing he's not that cool anymore.

18. "Little Fockers"(2010)
Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller got paid $20 million each for this. Owen Wilson got $15 million for three scenes that weren't funny. Barbara Streisand got $10 million and Dustin Hoffman banked $7 million for 7 days of work. Are you as angry as me yet?! The title is misleading- this is not a cute story about the Focker kids. In fact, there's no story at all. But there is lots of cheap humor and stupid slapstick. Halfway through, I had a hard time remembering what I ever liked about these characters. By the end credits, I had only three words- Fuck the Fockers.

17. "The Next Karate Kid"(1994)
Hillary Swank sure didn't look like a future two-time Oscar winner when she replaced Ralph Macchio in this wholly unnecessary and unwanted fourth film in the KK series. Pat Morita dispenses more tired fortune cookie wisdom to Swank's Julie-san in this desperate attempt to put a new spin on the well-worn formula. About as much fun as a kick in the nuts.

16. "Predator 2"(1990)
"Predator" fails as a franchise in general. Only the 1987 original has any merit. When Arnold Schwarzenegger and director John McTiernan passed on this first sequel, that should've been the end of it. Instead we got Danny Glover looking lost without Mel Gibson, lots of mindless violence, and little else. And that should have REALLY been the end of it. But Hollywood didn't learn it's lesson from this flick's poor reception and is inexplicably still trying to squeeze a few more bucks out of the dreadlocked alien creature. Talk about beating a dead horse.

15. "Live Free or Die Hard"(2007)
John McClane is suddenly indestructible in this belated, watered-down fourth installment in the DH franchise. A PG-13 Die Hard? Really?! A cyber terrorist plot? How exciting. Justin Long's hacker sidekick added insult to injury. Throw in Kevin Smith and half-dozen absurdly over the top action sequences, and you've got a total betrayal of everything that made this series great.

"Get me the fuck outta here!"

14. "Terminator Salvation"(2009)
How was that Michael Bay wannabe McG allowed to dismantle James Cameron's classic creation? There may have been a good movie to be made about the future war between mankind and the machines, but this is NOT that movie. It's a dreary "Transformers" ripoff from the man who gave us "Charlie"s Angels: Full Throttle", and Christian Bale's infamous off-camera rant was way more compelling than anything that happened onscreen. Consider this franchise terminated.

13. "Escape from L.A."(1996)
Kurt Russell and director John Carpenter greatly overestimated the public's affection for Snake Plissken when they waited 15 years to produce a sequel to 1981's "Escape from New York" which, let's face it, was just a cult movie at best. The lame story was a rehash of the first film and the cheesy action and effects just didn't cut it in 1996. Heck, this wouldn't have cut it IN 1986. Snake was back, though. Pity no one cared.

12. "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde"(2003)
I admit that Reese Witherspoon won me over as lovable ditz Elle Woods and the 2001 original was a harmless and pleasant diversion. She graduated from Harvard Law yet she's even dumber in this insipid sequel than she was at the beginning of the first film. The character goes from cute to cloying very quickly and the insultingly stupid plot sends her to Capitol Hill and then on a search for her pet Chihuahua's birth mother. Seriously.

11. "Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction"(2006)
Sharon Stone really only made two good movies in her long film career. Despite a staggering amount of flops, she somehow remained a star. For several years, she clung to the hope of reprising the role that made her the hottest actress in the world for a very brief period in the early '90s. Michael Douglas and just about every leading man in Hollywood wisely passed on the opportunity to perform graphic sex scenes with the 48 year old in this pathetic sequel that finally put Ms. Stone out to pasture.

10. "The Bad News Bears Go to Japan"(1978)
The 1976 original is a comedy classic, the first sequel "Breaking Training" is barely passable, and this third installment is completely unwatchable. Nobody involved with this pitiful production was even trying anymore and Tony Curtis mailed in his performance as the new coach of the misfit Little Leaguers. The definition of a cash grab, yet it totally bombed at the box office. Bad news indeed.

9. "Caddyshack II"(1988)
You will never hear a kind word said about this dreadful sequel to the much loved golf comedy. Many have simply blocked it from their memory, but the stench still lingers. Chevy Chase showed up to collect his paycheck but the rest of the original cast had the good sense to stay away. Jackie Mason is not funny and Dan Aykroyd is beyond irritating in a woeful attempt to mimic Bill Murray's iconic groundskeeper. There's a price to pay for selling out. There's a reason why Murray still gets so much respect in the industry while Chase and Aykroyd... well, don't.

8. "Blues Brothers 2000"(1998)
"The Blues Brothers" may have been a popular comedy hit in 1980, but NOBODY was asking for a sequel 18 years later. I can get past the title and the fact that it was released in 1998, but not the terrible song and dance numbers that go on forever and the fact that a voodoo queen turns Dan Aykroyd(yeah, him again) and John Goodman into zombies. In the opening credits, the film was dedicated to the memory of John Belushi and John Candy. I heard they tried to have their names taken off it from beyond the grave.

7. "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace"(1987)
Two words- Nucleur Man. "Superman III" wasn't much better, but the cheap look, silly plot, and cartoonish performances in this lackluster fourth entry killed the Superman film franchise for 19 years. To make matters worse, the original cast is all present. Even Gene Hackman is rendered powerless in the face of such outright mediocrity. This was a depressing swan song for Christopher Reeve's once-great Man of Steel.

6. "Alien Resurrection"(1997)
The much maligned "Alien 3" is a masterpiece compared to this ugly mess. Intended to make up for David Fincher's sins in 1992, it did the opposite and made things worse. Much worse. French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a hack, bringing back Sigourney Weaver as a clone of Ripley was a dumb idea, and Winona Ryder looks like she got lost on her way to a romantic comedy and wondered on to the wrong film set. It's safe to say that Weaver nearly making love to the creature was one thing that fans of the series never wanted to see. This was no resurrection. The "Alien vs Predator" flicks may have pissed on the franchise's grave, but this was definitely the burial.

5. "Exorcist II: The Heretic"(1977)
The sequel to the scariest movie ever made wasn't the least bit scary. The original is a landmark in the horror genre. This was laughed off the screen four years later. A confused-looking Linda Blair is still troubled by the Devil and new cast members Richard Burton and Louise Fletcher are wasted in supporting roles. The finale is stuffed with bad special effects and is completely devoid of logic. The only reason this isn't higher on the list is because most people just pretend it doesn't even exist.

4. "Jaws: The Revenge"(1987)
Perhaps no sequel shits on the legacy of the original more this idiotic fourth "Jaws" film. This turd resurfaces on cable quite often and therein lies the danger. Some kid is gonna watch this because he heard that "Jaws" is a great movie and his only reaction will be, "WTF". I know because this was my introduction to the legendary Great White. Lorraine Gary reprises her role as the now widowed Ellen Brody who realizes the shark is stalking her family as she moves from Long Island to the Bahamas. That's right. Michael Caine and Mario Van Peebles appear in embarrassing roles and the absurd finale was shot on a Universal Studios backlot.

3. "Speed 2: Cruise Control"(1997)
There must have been something in the water in Hollywood in 1997 when every follow-up was being planned. Director Jan de Bont destroyed his action franchise before it even got started when he decided to do "Speed" on a cruise ship. Those things go slow, Jan. Very slow. A bland Jason Patric replaces the beloved Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock annoyingly reprises her role as Annie. Not even Willem Dafoe can salvage things as the obligatory psychotic madman. I'm not even sure what his evil plot was. This movie sank and stank.

2. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"(2008)
God, where do I begin? This one may hurt more than any other. We waited 19 years for THIS?! Forget about the "Star Wars" prequels. "Crystal Skull" is nothing short of tragic. Nothing about this film worked. I felt like I was watching an SNL spoof of Indiana Jones. First of all, 66 year old Harrison Ford was too fucking old to reprise the role that made him a superstar nearly three decades earlier. Karen Allen smiles for no reason and clearly hasn't acted in about 15 years. The story sucked. The villains were weak. There wasn't one good action sequence. There's CGI gophers, ants, and aliens to top it all off. Who would have ever thought that Shia LaBeouf would be the least offensive thing in this cinematic equivalent of grave digging? The real villains were Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

1. "Batman & Robin"(1997)
This HAD to be no 1. It's awful-ness is epic. It may not be the worst movie on this list, but it does inspire the most venom and hatred and the fall-out was so massive and far-reaching that it put the breaks on the entire superhero genre for a few years. The textbook example of how to ruin a franchise, director Joel Schumacher turned Tim Burton's dark, intense Bat-flicks into a cartoonish, homoerotic camp-fest. George Clooney's Batman smirks a lot and doesn't seem to have an ounce of torment. Uma Thurman is ridiculously over the top as Poison Ivy and Arnold Schwarzenegger's terrible Mr. Freeze effectively removed him from the A-list. Chris O'Donnell and Alicia Silverstone's young careers never recovered. Hell, Coolio and the Smashing Pumpkins disappeared, too. Legend has it that an irate fan was ejected for yelling, "Death to Joel Schumacher" at a crowded screening on opening night. I couldn't have said it any better myself.


Dishonorable mentions

"Bad News Bears in Breaking Training"(1977)
"Jaws 2"(1978)
"Grease 2"(1982)
"Jaws 3-D"(1983)
"Superman III"(1983)
"National Lampoon's European Vacation"(1985)
"Arthur 2: On The Rocks"(1988)
"Robocop 2"(1990)
"The Two Jakes"(1990)
"Look Who's Talking Too"(1990)
 "Three Men and a Little Lady"(1990)
"Alien 3"(1992)
 "Robocop 3"(1993)
"Look Who's Talking Now"(1993)
"Batman Forever"(1995)
"The Evening Star"(1996)
 "Home Alone 3"(1997)
 "Vegas Vacation"(1997)
"Species II"(1998)
"Nutty Professor II: The Klumps"(2000)
 "Men in Black II"(2002)
"Matrix Revolutions"(2003)
 "Ocean's Twelve"(2004)
 "Be Cool"(2005)
 "Shrek the Third"(2007)
"Spider-Man 3"(2007)
"Ocean's Thirteen"(2007)
"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps"(2010)
 "The Hangover Part II"(2011)