Top 10 Horror Movies (That Never Had a Sequel)

This 1986 horror film from Fred Dekker remains one of the all-time best horror comedies. In the film, an alien parasite turns the residents of a college campus into “creeps” – violent, mind-controlled zombies, if you will. It’s just as funny as it is gory, with several quotable lines and memorable scenes. Also, it stars the always amazing Tom Atkins, so that’s another plus.

In the original ending of the film, a sequel was set up with the appearance of an alien ship hovering above in the sky. However, this ending was nixed in favor of a cheap jump scare, and the film underperformed at the box office. Likely for these reasons, an official sequel has never been produced, but the film has since developed a cult following.

If you’ve seen this movie, you know it’s certainly a one-of-a-kind horror film. A mixture between a mockumentary and a slasher film, Behind the Mask focuses on an aspiring serial killer whose homicides are being documented by a journalist and her team. Inspired by famous slasher movie villains, the masked murderer picks off teenagers one-by-one in a way that would make Freddy and Jason proud.

The ending of the film sets up a sequel, strongly hinting the murderous antics of Leslie Vernon will continue. It would be rather appropriate, too. By continuing on through sequels, Leslie would be so much more like the horror villains he admires. Still, while writer/director Scott Glosserman has shown interest in the past about making a sequel, Behind the Mask 2 has yet to enter production.

Jim Wynorski’s classic horror film Chopping Mall plays out pretty much just how it sounds. A group of teenagers hole up in a shopping mall past closing to party all night long. Unfortunately for them, the mall’s security system malfunctions, sending patrolling robots on a killing spree as they go hunting for humans.

It’s fun to think about a follow-up to Chopping Mall with evil robots going haywire once again in a new location. They could even up the ante by having them turn murderous during the daytime with the mall filled with customers. But this film would be the last we would ever see of the Killbots.

The Monster Squad is a fun horror film with a unique concept, and it holds up to this day. In the movie, a group of kids team up to take on a team of Universal Monsters including Count Dracula, The Mummy, The Gill-man, The Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s monster. An entertaining film with a cult following, it would seem the idea is ripe for a franchise with at least two entries. Of course, that never came to be.

While no sequel to the movie was ever made, a reboot almost came to fruition. In 2010, Platinum Dunes was set to produce a modern remake of The Monster Squad. However, possibly due to the negative fan reaction to that idea, the project was scrapped.

Released in 1981, this classic flick came out right at the dawn of the slasher movie trend in horror. Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers had set the stage for characters like My Bloody Valentine‘s masked miner to pick off victims in their own bloody movies. Tons of slasher movies would pop up over the next decade, but one of the most memorable is My Bloody Valentine. Unusual for a classic slasher movie, however, the story was never continued in a follow-up film.

What’s painful about this entry is that an actual sequel almost happened. Original director George Mihalka wrote the script for a sequel called Return of the Miner, set 30 years after the events of the original. The surviving characters from that film would also be returning in major roles, making it as official as you can get. But when Lionsgate bought the rights to the property, they shelved Mihalka’s script in favor of a remake.

Though it’s perhaps more of a parody film, Shaun of the Dead is one of the all-time most popular zombie movies. Coming out years before The Walking Dead would bring the undead into the mainstream, films like this one were helping to popularize the horror sub-genre. It boasts a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes (extremely impressive for a zombie flick), is still talked about often to this day.

As beloved as the film may be, no serious plans for a sequel have ever been proposed. In 2017, co-writer and star Simon Pegg joked about doing a follow-up called From Dusk Till Shaun, but this was nothing more than “pub talk.” That seems to be the closest we’ve ever come.

The Burning is essentially a rip-off of Friday the 13th, but at the same time, it’s a really rad slasher film. Seeing something special in it, Tom Savini even turned down working on Friday the 13th Part 2 to do the FX for this film instead. Inspired by the real-life urban legend of Cropsy, the film is about a notorious murderer slaughtering teens at a summer camp.

It very easily could have been the start of an ’80s slasher film series, but the story of The Burning would conclude with one movie. Perhaps the reason why we never saw The Burning 2 was because it was just too much like Friday the 13th. Being stuck in Jason’s shadow wasn’t doing Cropsy any favors, and the legendary maniac never found his way back to the big screen.

While Ashley J. Williams will forever be Bruce Campbell’s most iconic role, Elvis Presley isn’t too far behind. In this truly bizarre feature from director Don Coscarelli, Campbell (as an aged Elvis) teams up with a man claiming to be JFK to save their retirement home from an ancient mummy. Horror fans ate it up, and many were hoping to see a sequel.

In this years since release, Coscarelli had attempted to develop a sequel. Initially, Campbell was interested in reprising the role of Elvis, with the part later attached to Ron Perlman. Unfortunately, the proposed movie seems to have died in development hell, but the comic book sequel Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers was released in 2018.

It’s showtime! Everyone loves Beetlejuice. Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder star in this classic Tim Burton film about an obnoxious ghost who appears once his name is spoken three times. It was popular then and still seemingly just as popular now, but although the film spawned a cartoon spin-off, there’s never been another movie.

Interestingly, Burton was interested in making a sequel called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian in the early ’90s. As the years went by, however, it became clear that the movie was never going to be made. Still, Burton and Keaton both have expressed interest in doing another movie one day, but as of 2018, no official steps have been made.

Arguably the all-time greatest horror comedy, Killer Klowns from Outer Space has a special place in the hearts of many horror fans. It’s over-the-top and certainly a lot of fun, but can be genuinely creepy as well for those afraid of clowns. The cult classic film from Charles, Edward, and Stephen Chiodo has maintained a large following over the years, so it’s utterly baffling why there’s never been any kind of sequel.

The Chiodo brothers have been trying for decades now to bring us a follow-up to this movie. Failing to get the ball rolling on another film, the Chiodos later began looking into the idea of developing a TV series. Despite their best efforts, however, we have now gone 30 years with no sequel to Killer Klowns from Outer Space.